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Imagine being at work, all day you’ve heard the sound of driving rain, the skies are dark and now it’s starting to hail. While it’s bad weather, you can’t just leave work every time the sky looks threatening. You’ve just heard that the National Weather Service has upgraded your area from a tornado watch to…
Everyone knows tornadoes are risky. Thanks to Hollywood, we know that tornadoes can be dangerous, even deadly.At their least worrisome, an EF0 tornado can cause mild damage to outbuildings and small sheds, and take shingles off of roofs. At the other end of the Fujita scale, an EF5 tornado can have winds 200-300 mph and…
When it comes to measuring the intensity of tornadoes, you may have seen an “F5 tornado” referenced or an “EF5 tornado.” So, what is the difference, or are they essentially the same? Let’s take a closer look.The F and the EF reference the Fujita scale and the Enhanced Fujita scale (EF scale). Both of these scales…
The statement in the headline of this post is correct, despite the belief of many that the best place to be in a tornado is underground. In fact, it has been known for some time that above-ground storm shelters are a safe and cost-effective storm shelter solution for homeowners to survive an EF5 tornado.According to a research paper…
If your company is in the market for a tornado shelter, chances are, you’ll want to get multiple quotes and find out what’s available before making your purchase.If you’re a small company with few employees, that might be an easy task; in fact, you might not even need a large commercial tornado shelter. In that…
In 1998, FEMA published a guide called “Taking Shelter From the Storm.” The publication, currently in its Fifth Edition, includes construction plans and specifications for building a storm shelter safe room for your home. It is officially called FEMA P-320, but is most commonly referred to as FEMA 320.The tornado shelter construction plans are still…
Most of the time, when we think of tornadoes, we think of deafening thunder, crashing hailstones, and, sometimes, green skies. (These are supercell tornadoes.) But, with a certain type of tornado – those caused by hurricanes – none of that is the case. Hurricanes and tornadoes have a complex relationship. Some hurricanes produce few or…
Before you buy a tornado shelter, there’s one fundamental question that you must know the answer to, “How many people do I need to protect?” Which may lead you to ask, “How do I determine what size tornado shelter to buy?”How many people will be in your tornado shelter?When the shelter is for your home,…
Want near absolute safety in a tornado or hurricane? Install a safe room or community storm shelter. That’s the advice from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA), which has established guidelines to make sure community members are safe during extreme-wind events. Those FEMA guidelines for the design and construction of community safe rooms are based…
It’s National Preparedness Month, but how prepared will you be when a tornado touches down in your area? As you may have read, the area known as tornado alley is changing, and tornados have touched down in all 50 states.If you live in an area where tornados are a common occurrence during parts of the…
You are under a flash flood warning, and it is pouring rain outside. Suddenly, you hear the sound of tornado sirens. Should you use an underground tornado shelter?The answer is a bit more complex than one might imagine.This situation actually occurred in Big Sandy, Texas, on the morning of August 22, 2022, as a tornado…
September is National Preparedness Month, created by the federal government to encourage Americans to prepare for hazards of all kinds. At Survive-A-Storm, we understand safety and the importance of being prepared.What’s Your Tornado Plan?Will you be at work or at home? What’s your plan? How will you prepare? In our personal lives, that might mean…
Tornado Alley is a concept that seems simple but is a bit complex. Traditionally, tornado alley has been depicted as a stripe of states north-south through the Great Plains. The illustration from Wikipedia (below) is typical. But we now know that depiction is incomplete. The map below, from Tornado Archive, is a new map of…
Did you know? The year 2022 is the 50th anniversary of storm chasing.In the spring of 1972, two meteorologists from the National Severe Storms Laboratory and Notre Dame University came to the student chapter of the American Meteorological Society at the University of Oklahoma. At the time, I was a meteorology student. They requested that…
Jo: [We’ll] get a profile [of the tornado’s structure] for the first time.Dr. Reeves: What will that do?Jo: If we know how tornadoes work, we can design a warning system.Dr. Reeves: Aren’t there warnings already?Jo: Right now, it’s three minutes. If we can get this information, we can increase it to 15, give people a…
The following article was originally published in March of 2017. It has been updated to include relevant information and topics. There is never the perfect plan for an emergency, and sometimes that is very clear in the aftermath of a natural disaster like a tornado, hurricane or other severe storm or event.
Tornadoes are one of nature’s most elusive and almost mystical phenomena. As a result, a large number of myths have developed around them throughout the decades. Unfortunately, those myths can put you and your family in great danger if a tornado approaches. So, we’ll run down some of the most common:Tornadoes will not strike …
What caused this latest setback in the United States’ baby formula shortage? A derecho.”Abbott Laboratories said it has paused baby-formula production at its plant in Sturgis, MI, after recent thunderstorms flooded part of the facility, causing another setback for the company’s efforts to help alleviate a nationwide formula shortage.”Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Robert Califf…
Tornadoes are far deadlier than most realize. Until the Weather Bureau began tornado warnings in the 1950s, tornadoes caused triple-digit death tolls surprisingly often. It is estimated that during a bad year, such as 2011, total tornado deaths in the USA might exceed two thousand if warnings didn’t exist.While tornadoes have happened in all 50…
How Sheltering Saved Lives in These Similar Tornadoes Seventeen deaths versus zero deaths. An important tornado safety lesson was gleaned from the recent tornado affecting Wichita and Andover, Kansas. On April 29, 2022, a strong tornado touched down in the far southeast part of the City of Wichita at 8:10 pm. The 2022 tornado moved…
The Survive-A-Storm blog is an informational hub for storm and tornado safety. As the leading manufacturer and distributor of commercial and residential storm shelters in the United States, Survive-A-Storm, is proud to announce that it has teamed up with one of the nation’s most well-known and respected meteorologists, Mike Smith. Smith will be contributing to the Survive-A-Storm…
Imagine working in a warehouse with the sound of hailstones pounding the roof, while thunder periodically roars. You check the radar on your smartphone but it is just a mass of confusing colors. Apprehension rises among the staff as something feels “off.” Suddenly, the sound of wind becomes deafening as the west wall begins to…
Weather patterns are changing and the last few years have been some of the most active and deadliest for tornadoes. So, what can you do to prepare if you are worried that you and your family might be in the path of upcoming severe weather, like hurricanes, tropical storms, or tornadoes? For starters, begin with…
Tornado warnings and when it’s safe to come out. Being under a tornado warning is a stressful time. The thought of your home being damaged, eerie sirens screaming, and deep concern for your family by themselves is enough to get your blood pressure up. But, being in an unfamiliar location such as a bathtub, closet,…