Common Tornado Myths

[Chris Frost]

My favorite of myth of all around here is:

"Tornadoes can't cross the river."

 

[calvinkaskey]

Sounds like more of an old person problem than anything. The minds of older people are pretty concrete...little to nothing will change their minds.

While we're mentioning tornado myths:
-You can't outrun a tornado in a car
-Tornadoes don't hit native American burial grounds

YEAH it's pretty easy to outrun some tornadoes. It doesn't seem too uncommon for a tornado to move less than 30 mph and if you are near a highway that isn't congested not many tornadoes are going more than 60 mph.

 

[Jeremy Den Hartog]

Valley locations would increase the chance of a tornado. Here in New York I'm convinced that around Albany area the tornadoes and thunderstorms are more intense due to Albany being only 42 feet above sea level where the surrounding lands are into the thousands of feet.

I doubt valleys have much to do with tornado genesis....

 

[skipper bennett]

Growing up in my hometown, Mineral Wells, Texas; the saying moved around through us in school days -" If a tornado ever hits Mineral Wells it will be horrible because once it gets into the valley it will never be able to get out!". The downtown and older neighborhoods are between two forested mesas we call mountains. Apocalypto.

 

[Todd Rector]

My favorite of myth of all around here is:

"Tornadoes can't cross the river."

I live near Des Moines, IA, which is at the confluence of TWO rivers. It's unbelievable how many people in this area believe Des Moines is safe from a tornado because of the rivers. Ironically, I first heard this myth from my mother in 1974, an hour or so before a tornado hit the town of Ankeny, 10 miles North of Des Moines.

I was 11 at the time, but in retrospect I wish I had thought to point out that even if a tornado wouldn't cross a river, it could still do a lot of damage before it reached the river.

 

[Dan Robinson]

- "Tornado Alley" is just the Great Plains region.

 

[Stephen Szulborski]

Anyone from Michigan should know these 3:
1. We don't get big tornadoes in Michigan.
2. Lake Michigan will kill any storms that cross it.
3. The water will protect us, with a respect to storms changing course near the lakes or dying.

 

[Steve LaBelle]

Not one mention about a tornado's affinity for trailer parks in this thread? Wow!

 

[Mike Stropkovic Jr]

Usually when I'm speaking with a myth believer, I can shut the conversation down with the phrase "I can think of at least 8 examples of why that's not true." They tend to not want to hear more and change the subject. Again, concrete minds.

Personally, I think it's fascinating that virtually every area of the country has their own local insignificant geographical feature that "protects" their town (and only their town, usually). It reminds me of how early civilizations all had their own similar elemental gods. Despite zero global travel, they all believed largely the same thing.

 

[Drew Terril]

I had to debunk myths yesterday at work when they were talking about the storms. It's crazy

 

[Jake Orosi]

I live near Des Moines, IA, which is at the confluence of TWO rivers. It's unbelievable how many people in this area believe Des Moines is safe from a tornado because of the rivers. Ironically, I first heard this myth from my mother in 1974, an hour or so before a tornado hit the town of Ankeny, 10 miles North of Des Moines.

I've heard this myth before too; it's also my favorite because it's so arbitrary. I can understand someone coming to believe that "storms always split before they get to this town" because they observe that happening over time - with a little dose of confirmation bias of course. But to decide that the reason tornadoes don't strike a location is "because two rivers come together there" - where does that even come from? You may as well decide that tornadoes can't hit a town whose name begins with (choose your favorite letter).

When I was a young child, I distinctly remember hearing that not only the basement, but specifically the southwest corner of the basement, was the safest place to hide from a tornado. The explained logic was that most tornadoes move in a southwest-to-northeast direction, so debris would be "thrown away from you instead of toward you". Of course this ignores that wind blows toward a tornado, and that tornadoes are tightly rotating windstorms, meaning wind can be blowing in any direction depending on where exactly the tornado is relative to your position.

Another thing I remember hearing is that you should open your doors and all your windows during a tornado, to "equalize the air pressure" and keep the tornado from destroying your house. I suppose this is an artifact from back when tornadoes weren't very well understood. In reality, it is the force of wind that is the agent of damage after all, and not air pressure differential - there is a differential but it is not strong enough to vacuum the roof of your house off of the walls.

 

[Steve LaBelle]

I've heard this myth before too; it's also my favorite because it's so arbitrary. I can understand someone coming to believe that "storms always split before they get to this town" because they observe that happening over time - with a little dose of confirmation bias of course. But to decide that the reason tornadoes don't strike a location is "because two rivers come together there" - where does that even come from? You may as well decide that tornadoes can't hit a town whose name begins with (choose your favorite letter).

When I was a young child, I distinctly remember hearing that not only the basement, but specifically the southwest corner of the basement, was the safest place to hide from a tornado. The explained logic was that most tornadoes move in a southwest-to-northeast direction, so debris would be "thrown away from you instead of toward you". Of course this ignores that wind blows toward a tornado, and that tornadoes are tightly rotating windstorms, meaning wind can be blowing in any direction depending on where exactly the tornado is relative to your position.

Another thing I remember hearing is that you should open your doors and all your windows during a tornado, to "equalize the air pressure" and keep the tornado from destroying your house. I suppose this is an artifact from back when tornadoes weren't very well understood. In reality, it is the force of wind that is the agent of damage after all, and not air pressure differential - there is a differential but it is not strong enough to vacuum the roof of your house off of the walls.

I had completely forgot about this myth until you mentioned it. They didn't completely think that one through did they? It's very possible if not probable that a direct hit on your house from a tornado would be in the SW corner of it if it's traveling in the typical NE manner.

 

[Michael R.]

I live in what people call the "Downriver Area" in Michigan, just south of Detroit.

Everyone claims Downriver has this "bubble" which protects us from storms. I just roll my eyes and dread the day that bubble gets popped and people fail to take a warning serious.

Anyone from Michigan should know these 3:
1. We don't get big tornadoes in Michigan.
2. Lake Michigan will kill any storms that cross it.
3. The water will protect us, with a respect to storms changing course near the lakes or dying.

 

[Mike Johnston]

But to decide that the reason tornadoes don't strike a location is "because two rivers come together there" - where does that even come from?

It's part of an old Indian legend. Used to be famous in Wichita where the confluence of the Little Arkansas and Big Arkansas rivers is. Myth was perpetuated for generations, long after people should have known better.

 

[Todd Rector]

The wife and I went to Kansas City over the weekend. We took the hotel shuttle to a restaurant, and I commented about downtown KC being hillier that I remembered. The shuttle driver (20ish male) immediately volunteered a nugget of knowledge about how the hills and the river keep KC safe from tornadoes. He went on to say how flatter areas like Joplin are the danger spots and get hit by tornadoes all the time. Wife was watching me out of the corner of her eye, waiting for me to pounce out of my seat. I decided to just nod and play along rather than engage in a scientific discussion, but I about bit my tongue off trying to restrain myself.