5 Tornado Myth Busters That Will Save Your Life

Tornadoes can be dangerous, and even deadly. 

Many people often think they're invincible, that tornadoes won't impact their life, but that's not true. Invincibility is temporary, planning is permanent.

Midland's Meteorologist, Bruce Jones takes a look at some of the most common myths about tornadoes and shares the myth busters that could save your life. 

Myth #1: This area is protected from tornadoes

The United States averages 1,300 tornadoes per year, and although certain states and certain areas (think “Tornado Alley”) are more prone to tornadoes, twisters have been reported in all 50 states, even Alaska.

The state with the most tornadoes per 10,000 square miles is Kansas, but since Texas is much, much larger than Kansas, it normally counts more tornadoes per year, because more area, catches more storms.

The important thing is: they can happen anywhere.There is no evidence that any place is protected from tornadoes by myths, legends, rivers, highways, hills, mountains, or bluffs. 

The November 6, 2005 tornado that hit Evansville, Indiana crossed the winding Ohio River 3 times.

In July of 1987 a violent tornado left a 24-mile track of destruction through Wyoming’s mountainous Teton Wilderness, crossing the Continental Divide at an elevation above 10,000 feet.

Despite assurances that Burnett’s Mound protected Topeka, Kansas from tornadoes, a massive EF-5 tornado churned over the top of the mound on June 8, 1966 and bulldozed a path across the heart of the city, narrowly missing the State House and capitol dome.

Myth #2: "Tornadoes always go around us."

Even in the heart of Tornado Alley, the mathematical odds say your home will not be destroyed by a twister in your lifetime.

On average, in Kansas you could reside in the same house for 200-300 years and never be directly struck. After that length of time, you would come to the conclusion that tornadoes “go around us”, because of all the Kansas twisters of the past 300 years, not one of them hit your house.

They either went north, south, east, or west of you….as if you lived inside a protective bubble. But do you? Live in that home long enough, and you WILL get hit.  Think of it as standing in the middle of a road, on the double yellow line, assuring yourself you are safe because so far, every car has whizzed past you. Your tornado year just might be THIS year, so be ready for it.

Myth #3: You can't have tornadoes this time of year.

Most states have a Severe Weather Awareness Week in the spring, before the advent of the primary tornado season.

It’s a time for homeowners, business owners, hospitals, and schools to review their plans for responding to a tornado warning.

Although the majority of tornadoes occur in the spring, there’s a secondary tornado season in the late fall and winter, as the upper level wind patterns adjust between seasons. That means you could have Christmas lights on your house or a Thanksgiving turkey on your table or be counting down the New Year, yet have to seek shelter because of severe weather.

We need to remind people of the risks of secondary season and off-season tornadoes because they can be even more deadly. After all, if you aren’t expecting it, you won’t have your guard up. 

On Christmas Eve 1982, just 6 hours before midnight, a tornado obliterated a mobile home near Eastwood, in southern Missouri, killing a man and injuring his wife. They were living in the mobile home because 3 weeks earlier their house had been destroyed by a tornado on that very spot.

Myth #4: "There is an outdoor siren nearby. It will alert me." 

Outdoor sirens are designed to alert people who are standing outdoors. They are not effective at warning you indoors, even if located nearby.

After all, when you are in deep sleep, and thunderstorm rain or wind is buffeting your house, will you hear that outdoor siren? And if you do, what does a siren tell you?

NOAA Weather Radio was designed to be an indoor tornado siren. When it goes off, it alerts you with an attention tone you cannot sleep through. Then it tells you what they warning is, where the storm is located, which direction the storm is moving, cities in the path of the storm, and its arrival time at each location. Most importantly, it directs you to take immediate shelter.

All of this happens inside your home, where you and your family live, sleep, and take cover. Nighttime tornadoes are the deadliest because some people never get the warning.

Make a NOAA Weather Radio, like Midland's WR120 the indoor tornado siren in your home, and you're less likely to miss a life-saving alert. 

Myth #5: Open the windows to equalize the pressure.

Yes, there is low pressure inside the tornado funnel. We frequently hear reports of people’s ears popping when a tornado passes over, and even in the 1890’s we had a measurement of the drop in air pressure when the great St. Louis tornado blasted through the city, so we know low pressure is a real thing.

On the Fujita Tornado Intensity Scale, an EF-2 tornado is one which completely de-roofs a well-built home. The fact that a roof suddenly peels off a home, or that sections of a roof are seen to disintegrate as they go airborne, led many to believe that the low air pressure inside the tornado had “exploded” the house, and anything that could “equalize” that low pressure could better protect the house.  

We now know this is nonsense. In fact, keep your windows and doors closed and locked because the very worst thing you can do is to allow wind into your home.

Roofs are nailed on to prevent them from collapsing down or out, not to resist upward pull. Allowing tornadic wind into your home (by opening windows) creates an upward push against the ceiling and roof, encouraging the home’s destruction.

When your weather radio announces a tornado warning, use your time wisely. Get children and pets into their safe place, stay low, and protect your heads. Do not waste valuable time opening windows. Doing so only invites wind into your home and increases the chance of EF-2 damage…the complete loss of your roof.

Most people survive tornadoes, and your odds of doing so go up when you have multiple ways to receive warnings, have an action plan, and quickly get to shelter. 

Do what works, and avoid what doesn’t. That’s how we build a Weather-Ready Nation.