How To Handle A Hurricane

If you were adventurous and read my post, Let's Talk Hurricanes, then you already know quite a bit about them. What I didn't discuss was how to prepare for one and what to do during a storm. So, let's talk about that now, shall we?

The first thing to understand is the difference between a hurricane watch and a hurricane warning. The American Red Cross explains that a hurricane watch means that within 48 hours meteorologists expect hurricane conditions to reach that area. Once that time period becomes 36 hours, until hurricane conditions arrive, the watch becomes a warning.

The National Weather Service tells us that a watch means we should 'be on guard'! Keep an eye on the weather reports, go over your emergency plans with your family, and get ready! Then the warning means "this is it, get ready 'cause here it comes"!

There is plenty to do to prepare before any hurricane watches or warnings. Like I have mentioned in my other posts about preparing for bad weather, How To Prepare For Tornado Season and Flooding - It Could Happen To You, it is essential that your household have a family communications plan and an emergency kit. Ready.gov, a preparation and information site managed by FEMA, can walk you through creating your own kit and developing your communications plan.

There are three main areas we are going to focus on in this post: preparing for the storm, what to do during the storm, and recovering from the storm. I gathered information from three sources to present to you: American Red Cross, National Hurricane Center/NOAA, and Ready.gov/FEMA.

Before a storm

• Develop a family communications plan.
• Build your emergency kit.
• Find out if your home is in an area that is vulnerable to wind, flood, and/or storm surge.
• Find out if there are any levees or dams that could affect your residence.
• Be prepared to have to cover your windows. This may mean installing storm shutters or just having plywood on hand to cover the windows. Tape will not prevent your windows from breaking! 
• Consider installing straps to your roof! Let EHow.com walk you through it!
• Trimming trees and bushes around the house will make them more wind resistant, and take off dead or dying limbs that may come down during high winds.
• Make sure rain gutters and downspouts are clear!
• Consider reinforcing your garage door. Wind inside a garage can do some expensive structural damage!
• Make sure you have a place to bring in any outdoor items, such as patio furniture and garbage cans. Anything that can't be secured outside must come inside!
• Consider purchasing a generator.

Storm is coming!

• Listen for updates and information from the National Weather Service & FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN!
• Secure items outside and bring in anything that cannot be tied down.
• Close hurricane shutters and doors, or place plywood over the windows and doors.
• In case the power goes out, turn your refrigerator and freezer all the way up and try to open them as little as possible. This way, if the power does go out, your food will stay cooler for longer.
• Make sure your car's gas tank is full.
• Unplug all the small appliances and shut off the propane tank, if you have one.
• Fill the bath tub and other containers with water, so that you have water to flush the toilet, or to wash with.
• Review your communications plan, and ready your emergency kit!
• Consider evacuation if:
• the authorities tell you to leave the area.
• you live in a mobile home, or other unstable structure.
• you live above the 10th floor of a building.
• you live in an area prone to flooding, such as the coast or a flood plain.

Storm is here!

• If you didn't evacuate:
• Stay inside and away from windows and doors!
• Close the doors INSIDE your home!
• Like with a tornado, stay in an interior room on the lowest floor of the home and take cover under a sturdy object like a table.
• Try not to use your phone, unless it's an emergency, of course.
• Be on the alert for tornadoes. As we learned in my post, Let's Talk Hurricanes..., the spiral rain bands can spawn tornadoes.
• Don't be fooled by the eye of the storm! It may seem like it's over, but it's not. Once the eye passes the hurricane winds will come back at full force!

After the storm

• Keep listening, or watching, for weather reports and updates.
• Be on the alert for possible flooding even after the storm has passed.
• If you evacuated, don't return until an official has told you it is safe to do so.
• Try to stay off the roads, but if you must drive go slow and avoid flooded or washed out roads and bridges.
• Keep a look out for downed power lines. If spotted, stay away from them and report them to the power company.
• Take pictures of any damages to your home or belongings, for insurance purposes.
• If the power is out use flashlights, DO NOT USE CANDLES. (This is a new one for me! We always lit candles when I was a kid, but then again we had bad snowstorms, not hurricanes.)
• Don't drink the water until you know that it is safe.
• Throw out any spoiled food, and remember, better safe than sorry. Trust me, not much is worse than food poisoning!
• Again, stay off the phone.
• Make sure you be careful, and protect your pets!

Feel free to check out all three websites that I used, for more information. Hurricane season is coming, so we might as well start getting ready!

Thanks for reading and be safe!

How To Prepare For Tornado Season

Well, tornado season is truly upon us. As I type this blog post people out in the Plains are preparing for possible tornadoes from a storm coming out of the Rocky Mountains tomorrow. So, perhaps it is time to discuss how to prepare your household for a tornado.

How To Prepare For Tornado Season

• Prepare your yard by having any dangerous trees or tree limbs removed.
• Build a safety kit - check out FEMA's Build a Kit page!
• Food
• Water
• Battery-powered or crank radio
• Flashlight and batteries
• First-Aid kit
• Whistle
• Dust mask, plastic sheeting, and duct tape
• Moist towelettes, garbage bags, and twist ties
• Wrench or pliers
• Can opener
• Maps
• Cell phone and charger
• See website for more information
• Have a tornado safety plan:
• Pick the safest room in your house that all family members and pets will go to when a tornado may be coming. The best place is in a storm cellar or basement. If you don't have either option, then pick a room toward the center of your house, on the lowest floor, without doors or windows. 
• Mobile homes are not safe! If you have time, go to a shelter or the closest sturdy building. Plan your possible safe places ahead of time.
• FEMA's Ready.gov has a template that makes it very easy for you to create your own family emergency plan. I am going to make one for my home!
• Practice tornado drills so that everyone knows how to react to an approaching storm.
• Consider building a safe room.
• This room could be in the basement, the garage, or in a first-floor room in your house.
• There is a lot more information at the Ready.gov website under the "Preparing a Safe Room" tab. This includes a pamphlet and a manual for those of you who may be interested in taking this precaution.
• Know if your community has a tornado siren and what it sounds like.
• When you hear reports of a storm coming, make sure you store away loose items like yard/patio furniture and toys. If you can't move the item indoors then make sure you tie it down and secure it as well as you can.

Here are the two sites I used to gather information. As you can see, I color-coded them for you! There is so much more information at both these sites, so please check them out, especially if you live in a tornado-prone area!

American Red Cross: Tornado

FEMA's Ready.gov: Tornadoes

Being prepared for an extreme event, like a tornado, can mean the difference between life and death. Make sure you and the members of your household are prepared and knowledgeable. And of course, don't take any unnecessary risks! 

Stay safe this tornado season! I want you and your home to be around to prepare for the next tornado season, and the season after that, and the season after that, and the season after that...

6 Popular Tornado Myths

As I was researching tornadoes for recent posts I kept coming across popular tornado myths. I thought it would be fun to scour the internet and find the most interesting myths. Here is what I found and the sites that I found them on!

1. Opening the windows will equalize pressure so that your roof doesn't fly off.
     -Don't do it! It won't help and just wastes your precious evacuation time. By the time pressure becomes an issue the winds of the tornado are so severe that it is probably already blowing shingles off the roof, breaking the windows, and throwing debris through the walls. You may see arguments to the contrary, but really, do you want to stand there debating with yourself about pressure? Or, do you skip the windows and just get you and your family to safety? ^{1 2}

Photo from article by Meteorologist Brent Watts

2. Tornadoes only happen where the ground is flat. I live in a mountainous region, so I don't have to worry about tornadoes. They also do not strike in large cities or cross rivers.
     - Wrong! While not as common, tornadoes have been reported in mountains and in cities! They also have no fear of water. ^{2 3 5}

From NOAA article Overpasses and Tornado Safety

3. If you are on the road and a tornado is coming, hide under an overpass.
     -Do NOT do that! Ground level is not a safe place to escape a tornado. The higher you are, the stronger the winds! An overpass may offer some protection from debris, but it could also draw debris from the storm. Wind speeds can also increase under an overpass because it acts like a funnel. If you cannot outrun the tornado then you are much better off lying in a ditch and covering your head. ^{1 2 4 5} 





4. A tornado is coming, the safest place to wait it out is the southwest corner of the house.
     -Not exactly... This was once thought to be the safest corner because less debris would land here. Now the safest place is thought to be the interior-most room on the lowest level of the building. The farther away from windows and exterior walls, the better; this will best protect you from debris. The lower you go the lesser the wind speeds. ^{2 3 4 5}

5. You can always see a tornado coming.
    -Wouldn't that be nice! Sometimes the rain is so heavy that you can't see the funnel cloud through the storm. Tornadoes can even cause damage before the funnel cloud has touched the ground. Have you seen pictures of a tornado hovering above ground? This doesn't always mean the tornado hasn't touched down, you just might not be able to see the air swirling at ground level. Remember, it is the dust and the debris swirling around in the air that makes a tornado visible! ³

Photograph by Ian Wittmeyer

6. If the sky turns green, a tornado is coming.
   -Well, maybe. Turns out this is still up for debate. Seems to be that if the sky turns green a tornado may be coming. This may occur when green hail clouds accompany the storm, or maybe the red light from a setting sun reflects off blue clouds... though I could have sworn red and blue  made purple... anyway, it is suggested not try to predict tornadoes based on the color of the sky, instead listen to weather and news reports, and heed all warnings! ⁴




I hope you have enjoyed these tornado myths. Do you know of any that I may have missed? Or, do you have any questions about tornadoes? I would love to look into it for you and get you answer!

Here are the sites I used to bring you these popular tornado misconceptions, please check them out for more information.


¹NOAA - National Climatic Data Center
²TornadoProject
³The Weather Channel - Tornado: Myths
⁴AccuWeather - Top Five Tornado Myths Debunked
⁵Stormhorizon.org - Tornado Myths & Tornado Reality


Stay tuned for future posts on tornado safety tips and how to prepare for this season's storms!

Firenado! No, it's not a Syfy film...

Ok, so massive swirling columns of air are pretty interesting. Water spouts, which are a type of tornado over water, are pretty cool too.

But then, I saw this video:

A fire tornado! It is absolutely amazing, and I just had to know more about this incredible event. So, off to one of my favorite sites to gather information, HowStuffWorks. Got some great info from this site once again!

(National Geographic also has some amazing pictures and more information on the topic.)

Turns out that even though I had never really heard of fire whirls or fire devils before, they are actually pretty common! They just aren't documented very often because of the extreme conditions in which they occur. When there are large disaster fires, wildfires, and even house fires most people don't stick around to watch! It's hot, it's smokey, and just plain dangerous. If you know a firefighter though, ask him or her if they've ever spotted a firenado! 

These fire twisters may look like tornadoes, but aren't! They are actually a type of whirlwind. A whirlwind also looks a lot like a tornado, but isn't one. Alright, let's back up a little.

There are two types of tornadoes: supercell and nonsupercell. A supercell tornado has to come down from a thunderstorm, it has to make contact with the ground and have winds of over 65 miles per hour. The nonsupercell tornadoes are the waterspouts and the landspouts. These come from clouds that aren't thunderstorms yet and may never even develop into storms. They don't last as long and are weaker.  

Whirlwinds are not tornadoes because they don't come down from the sky, instead they come up from the ground! Hot air from the ground rises rapidly and starts spinning. When that happens it can kick up dust, dirt, and debris giving it the look of a small tornado. 

So, a fire tornado is actually a whirlwind that develops because a fire has caused the ground to heat up. The swirling air shapes the flames that become trapped in the core of the swirling air.  

Not a true tornado but still pretty cool!

It's a Twister! It's a Twister!

I find tornadoes utterly fascinating. I expect that it all started with The Wizard of Oz; the 1939 version of course! I watched that movie a lot when I was young; I still watch it. When my sister and I were kids I remember her being freaked out when Dorothy sees Miss Almira Gulch turn into the Wicked Witch while in the twister. This was always my favorite part of the movie.

Then when I was about twelve the movie Twister was released. I fell in love with both the movie and tornadoes in general. There is a certain destructive beauty in these swirling columns of air, dust and debris.

We Got Cows
Twister — MOVIECLIPS.com

Since tornado season is starting I thought now would be a great time to post about these potentially devastating acts of nature.

Once again Climate Central has proven to be a wonderful resource. Here is a short video provided on the organization's webpage: Extreme Weather 101: Tornadoes | Climate Central. Unfortunately, I could not embed the video into this post and couldn't find it on YouTube. I encourage you to check it out though!

I also found an interesting article on Climate Central by Urooj Raja, a research analyst for the organization. Her article What the 2013 Tornado Season Has in Store for the U.S. provides a look into this coming year and helps to explain some of the recent tornado trends.

Two years ago, 2011, had a record number of storms and was very deadly, but then 2012 had much fewer, and less deadly, storms. It seems the drought suffered by states that see high tornado activity helped to suppress the formation of the twisters. Tornadoes spawn from storms, and storms need precipitation. High temperatures and drought means less moisture in the air, so fewer storms. Some areas appear to still have drought conditions, so it is possible that these areas will see decreased tornado activity this season as well.

She also introduces a tornado tracker in her article! How fun!! When you go to the website there is a map and a place to select a date. You can see tornadoes that were confirmed that day, or go back and look for past activity.

Raja brought up one other point that I thought was interesting. She stated that there is no consensus on whether or not climate change is affecting tornadoes. The thought is that since the increased temperatures leads to more moisture in the air that there will be more storms. But, Raja also says that wind shear, which is essential for tornadoes may decrease. So, while there may be more storms due to the moisture in the air, we may see less tornado formation because of the decreased wind shear.

It will be interesting to see what happens this year with tornadoes. We will definitely be coming back to this toward the end of the season to see what occurred and what the experts are now saying.