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| CHEAT SHEET |
5 WAYS TO STAY SAFE IN A TORNADO
Average number of tornadoes
that touch down in the U.S.
in a typical year
By Kim Cross
TORNADOES
Twister season is here, and it pays to be weatherwise. The author of the new book What Stands in a
Storm shares tips to keep you and your family safe.
3. Get as low as
possible to ride out
the storm. A basement or
underground storm shelter is
ideal. Otherwise, find a small,
windowless room on the lowest floor near the center of the
house.
4. Cover up. Wear a helmet and shoes, and get under
a sturdy piece of furniture or a
mattress to shield yourself
from flying debris.
5. Stay in touch. If you
lose power, receive and share
warnings via your smartphone
or social media: Update via
Twitter and Facebook, watch
livestream TV coverage and
text family when phone lines
are overloaded.
Though official tornado records only date back to the 1950s,
twisters have fascinated people since long before Benjamin Franklin
“Every home needs an NOAA Weather Radio so you
chased one—on horseback—in Maryland in 1755. These rapidly
won’t miss the warnings. And good smartphone apps
rotating columns of air are produced by less than one percent of thunderdesigned to pass along severe weather warnings are a
storms, but they don’t just form in so-called Tornado Alley in the
Midwest and Deep South. “Tornadoes have been observed on every contigreat alternative, like MyWarn or WeatherRadio.”
nent and in every American state at every hour of the day and in every
—James Spann, award-winning meteorologist
month of the year,” says Charles A. Doswell III, Ph.D., a meteorologist
for ABC 33/40 in Birmingham, Ala.
and severe storms research scientist. Twisters are rated on the
Enhanced-Fujita scale from EF0 (the mildest) to EF5 (the
strongest), based on the damage they leave behind.
| WIND 101 |
What causes tornadoes? We’re still learning. Scientists
HOW A TORNADO DEVELOPS
know the atmospheric conditions present when twisters
form (see “Wind 101,” right), but the exact recipe is
unknown. A tornado watch means tornadoes are
likely, while a warning means it’s time to
take shelter. Weather radars scan the
skies, but a tornado isn’t confirmed
until a person sees it. That’s why
meteorologists also rely on a nationwide network of 290,000 volunteer
“storm spotters” trained
to identify signs of tornadoes (such as strong
rotation) and report
Highest recorded tornado
“ground
truth.” To bewind speed (measured remotely
come a storm spotter,
by Doppler radar)
Award-winning journalist Kim Cross is the author of What Stands in a Storm: Three Days in
visit nws.noaa.gov/
the Worst Superstorm to Hit the South’s Tornado Alley (Simon & Schuster).
skywarn and find
a class near you.
302 mph
See Parade.com/tornadoes for a list of the most infamous U.S. tornadoes.
6 | MAY 31, 2015
© PARADE Publications 2015. All rights reserved.
GRAPHIC COURTESY OF THE WEATHER CHANNEL
1,200
1. Don’t rely only on
sirens. Take cover if you do
hear a siren. But be aware that
sirens typically warn across entire
counties (and may not apply to
your exact location) and often
can’t be heard inside. Instead, get
a weather radio (with a cellphone
charger) and a GPS-based weather
app that will wake and warn you if
you’re in the path.
2. Avoid mobile homes
and cars. These are two of the
most dangerous places to be in a
twister because they’re unstable
and easily destroyed. Get out of
the car or mobile home and into a
building or an underground shelter. Overpasses provide little
protection. Only as a last resort,
lie in a ditch or depression, covering your head, until it passes.