Fahrenheit531 

CliffordK

When I was in Missouri, I heard lots of tornado sirens, but never saw an actual tornado.

But, inevitably I'd be out for an afternoon ride, and hear the sirens blast all around me.

If I was in a wheat field, then I could lie flat on the ground face down, and probably be OK. Ditches better, but flat on the ground is probably fine.

The problem is that inevitably I'd be going through a wooded area along the Katy Trail.

So, still, as above, first try to escape, second head for a ditch.

But, also realize the extreme danger from flying/falling debris.

So, head for the open as much as possible, then hit the deck.

Odd thought. The Katy Trail more or less followed the Missouri River. Not always close to the river, but in places one might be < 100 yards away.

Water isn't necessarily safe from thunder, lightening, and etc. But, perhaps it would be safer than being in a wooded area.

canklecat

Laughing only because I've done this. When I first moved back to Texas as a teenager after growing up around the US, I'd never seen a dust devil before. For years whenever I saw one I'd take off running and jump into the middle of 'em. Once it lifted me a few inches off the ground. And, yup, being pelted with pebbles and debris. Kinda like body surfing in a roiling tide, except a little more painful. But less likely to drown too.

canklecat

Yup. I finally ponied up for a subscription to Dark Sky after hearing so much hype about its hyperlocal forecasting. And it really is pretty good.

Saturday and Sunday here were supposed to be continuously pleasant with almost no chance of rain, sunny, warm, a bit windy. But I woke up so achy Saturday I had to skip a planned event ride. Could hardly breathe without pain from back spasms. It's very familiar -- anytime there's an approaching front with sudden changes in barometric pressure, I get sinus headaches and body aches wherever I've been injured before.

But there was nothing in the forecast for bad weather. I checked three weather apps -- nada. But my body was telling me something was up to no good. And I noticed my old dial barometer was showing a drop. After dark I felt a little better and walked a mile for errands. The sky was clear, it was comfortably cool and dry, wind around 10-15 mph, pretty typical spring weather here.

But near midnight Dark Sky chirped up a warning of an impending t-storm. A few minutes later I noticed a flash outside, some rumbling thunder and sudden downpour.

After that front passed a couple hours later my sinuses, back, neck, etc., felt better. The barometer inched up a bit toward normal.

I used to laugh at my grandparents when they'd claim they could feel bad weather approaching by how their joints felt. My granddad would clutch his knee or back and say "There's a blue norther comin'!"

I'm not laughing now. But if they were alive they'd probably get a laugh out of me experiencing the same thing more than 50 years later.

I'd recommend the paid subscription service version of Dark Sky over the body-barometer.

greatscott

Move to California...ok, fine, some state that doesn't have tornados, or hurricanes, and has lower home taxes, that's where I would go. Tornados and Hurricanes I want no part of, sure I get the occassional earthquake that so far as long as I've been alive in the area I live it's never caused any damages, tornados and hurricanes on the other hand cause damages every year, No thanks. So yes I would move away from areas that are subject to those.

seypat

Here's the reality. Those things and the storms that produce them are usually moving at least 30 mph. That's a 1/2 mile a minute. Think about that. If you spot one over in yonder field it will be on top of you in a couple of minutes max. You need to react as quickly as possible. A good weather app will notify you when storms are in your area. You can curtail the ride until they are gone.

stardognine

Stay out of Xenia, Ohio, for sure. They have a pretty bad tornado reputation. And Kansas of course. 😉

qcpmsame 

Nice thought, but all 50 states have had a tornado at some point in time, and during weather record keeping. We can run (cycle/ride,) but we cannot hide, it seems

Life on the central Gulf Coast-- year round, quickly forming t'storm and tornado possibility year round. Spring and summer t'storms are called popcorn storms around this part of the SE United States, they can occur very, very quickly, and even an F0-F1 tornado will ruin you entire day if you happened to be in its path. Straight line winds form these storms reach 50-60 mph regularly, classifying them as a severe thunderstorm.

I have Weather Channel's app and NWS/NOAA weather radar app on my cellular. Drainage ditches and other low depressions are my friends, rain is fine, winds are okay up to a point (25mph or so,) lightning---no way. Ridden in Tropical storm winds, Hurricane Cat 2 and higher are cycling verboten.

Bill

CliffordK

If one could take a tangential direction, one could likely ride out of the way. But, that is assuming the tornado isn't tracking right down the road one is on, or there is a good side-street one could turn on.

On my road bike, under ideal conditions, I can punch it up to 30 MPH. But, only for a few seconds. Perhaps a bit longer if chased by a charging grizzly, or tornado.

Even so, after a minute or so, I'd be pretty toasted.

Tornadoes often jump, or at least "touch-down" somewhere, so one can't expect to always see it coming.

CliffordK

Some of the California earthquakes have been particularly destructive.

Of note was the double deck bridge collapse in one of the last big earthquakes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1989_L...eta_earthquake

Of course, on a bike, if one found oneself in the situation, one might be able to get out the side before it came down.

And, California wildfires may well be the new norm.

California isn't completely immune from Hurricanes and Typhoons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...nia_hurricanes

Here, we had the Columbus Day storm or the "Big Blow" shortly before I was born.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columb..._Storm_of_1962

The maps seem to indicate that it tracked up the coast without making direct landfall in Oregon/Washington.

Nonetheless, it caused a fair amount of damage, and the next one could be worse.

The Southwest has also struggled with a perpetual water shortage. Using more water than rain falls in a half dozen states.

The Golden Boy 

Exactly why is it a stupid question?

Jeff Wills

My brother lives in the Bay Area and experienced the Loma Prieta quake. He was on his way home from his work... since he's a geologist, he turned around and went back to work.

Vancouver, WA, where I live now has had a couple tornadoes. They're the "cold-core" variety so they rarely get above EF0. One hit town and tore up the Vancouver Crew boathouse in 2008: https://history.columbian.com/tornado-of-2008-2/

DrIsotope

So let's look at those California numbers, then.

Loma Prieta earthquake, 1989, damage ~$6B USD
Northridge earthquake, 1994, damage $13-45B USD
Loss claims, suppression, and clean-up of 2018 widlfires reckoned to be around $9B USD.

Then let's just consider just the hurricanes of 2017.

Hurricane Harvey, 2017, $125B
Hurricane Maria, 2017, $90B
Hurricane Irma, 2017, $100B

...so yeah, I'll stick with the earthquake risk-- with the San Andreas Fault line is maybe 2 miles from my house. Hurricanes are all but guaranteed.

sunnyone

You said you were in 2. What about the second one?

ThermionicScott 

If you're an Iowan, you stop what you're doing and find the best place to watch it go by.

seypat

Just to make sure we keep the cycling content going here, I grew up in the Wichita Falls, Texas area. Wichita Falls is home to the Hotter N Hell Hundred cycling event/weekend.

https://www.hh100.org/

That area also used to be an epicenter for tornadoes and all around violent, crappy weather. I think some of that has shifted to the east in present day.

https://www.weatheringtexas.com/wich...lls-tornadoes/

I lived in Wichita Falls From 1967 to 1978 when we moved southeast of there into Clay County. On June 5th of 1989 I was supposed to leave Texas to start a new life in Virginia. I had finished college at the local university in Wichita Falls.(Midwestern State University) I had my belongings in a U-Haul outside with my car behind it on a 2 wheel towing trailer. Just me and a trusty German Sheperd waiting to leave in the morning. The house sat on it's own on 100 acres. It had a 19 x 30 living room that ran north/south with a rock fireplace on the south end. Slab foundation and rock on the outside. It also had double pane security windows that were 12-20" wide and 5-6' ft. tall on the north and east side of the house. Right after dusk that evening, the sky got ominous and the wind started picking up. Then it really picked up. The dog was yelping to come in so I let him in. We had 3 trees we had planted in the front yard that were about 3-4" in diameter. I looked outside and they were bent over parallel to the ground. I made a dash to get my car off the trailer and into the garage. Too late, the hail had started. It wasn't that large, marble to golf ball size, but the wind was pushing it so hard it was too dangerous. I retreated back inside the house. I couldn't hardly get the door closed because of the wind and vacuum that was being created. I watched the hail crack all of the windows in my car and the U Haul. It blew a couple of the car windows out as well. It also cratered the bodies of the car and the truck like a styrofoam egg carton. Good thing I bought trip hazard insurance on the truck. Then the power went out. The moon was up so there was plenty of light. Then comes the locomotive sound people talk about. Then the windows on the north side of the house blew out. The hail was coming through them and bouncing off the fireplace 30ft away just like bullets in a war/gangster movie! That's when I had my Lieutenant Dan/Forrest Gump moment. Then the roof started tearing off on the north end of the house. It seemed to go on for a while with the dog and I in an interior hallway watching those hail stones pinging off the fireplace. Then it got still/quiet and it was gone. I walked outside the next morning and all of the vegetation around the house was shredded to ground level. Those 3 little trees were no more. You could see the path to the house and away from it. I had to stay for a couple of days more to get the insurance people squared away with the house. Then the dog and I set out on the journey for RVA in that cratered U-Haul pulling my cratered car. The guy and the U-Haul place and the insurance adjuster on my car had never seen any damage like that. End of story.

Riveting

Try to get the segment KOM!

Last ride 76 

Is this a trick question?
1) Check the weather before going out.
2) Ask for shelter at the nearest house.
3) Determine it's current direction and move tangentially.
4) Hope my wheels can handle the cobbles of the yellow brick road...

USAZorro

There was something about that place that just didn't seem right in September of '91. I had already been stuck underground in a BART train in a BART station during the Loma Prieta quake in October of '89, but Wichita Falls seemed to be a place where everyone was watching whomever came in to spend a night. I would rather go through another earthquake than get the feeling that I was in a horror film where the empty stares of the mute denizens followed you everywhere. Thankfully, it was just for one night, and I was back on my way in the morning.

As for tornadoes, the guidance to stay low is generally good, but I've been in several tornado warnings where the rain was very, very intense. Drainage ditches could flood quickly, so don't go crawling into a culvert that might not give you an easy escape.

seypat

Not a forgiving place for non locals/out of the ordinary folk, especially back in the day. Not really even a forgiving place for the locals either. Car trouble could mean real trouble. Better to keep moving than to take your chances there. You could say that about a lot of places in that region. The wife and I got that same feeling you got one time in White City, New Mexico. We stayed there one night to tour Carlsbad Caverns the next day. It was something straight out of a vampire movie like Dusk Till Dawn. We walked to a diner to get some food. We were met with the same kind of experience you had. Hungry stares like we were going to be eaten that night. We hoofed it back to the hotel before dark and boarded the door with a chair. Didn't even look outside for fear of what we might see. Really creepy.

obrentharris 

I have nothing to add to the collected wisdom and witticisms regarding tornadoes. Our California tornadoes are wimpy affairs compared to what some of you folks see: Appear out of nowhere, tear off a couple roofs, then dissipate into thin air.

But if you want to know which pump to carry to fend off a charging dog or how to avoid running over a squirrel I'm your man.
Brent

CliffordK

I've heard about those Vancouver tornadoes. I think there have been a few, but generally not very destructive. Not enough trailer parks?

The Northwest is due for an earthquake to put California to shame.

RobbieTunes

Steer into the slide....
maybe tighten that helmet strap a bit.

thinktubes 

Park the bike and finish up the lawn before it rains?

greatscott

I know exactly how destructive an earthquake is, but the issue is the frequency of damage, and hurricanes and tornadoes a re more frequent. While perhaps all states might have tornadoes the closest Cali gets to those that I've heard about are water spouts off the ocean. Alaska has had only 2 tornadoes in known history of such things, but that's the last place I would move due to the cold.