Hearing a Tornado = Tornado?

I do agree with Mikey, Heidi and all...Most of the ones that I really heard well were real close (1/4 mile or less) except the Pierce City tornado on 05-04-03 which was about 1000 yards away....But others were as quiet as a mouse...I don't know why they are different....Maybe it's what they "ATE" before I heard them....:D

BTW....GREAT PHOTOS MIKEY!!!!
 
I'm with you guys, I've only ever heard the sound from one tornado. The Canistota, SD Sept 16, 2006 tornado sounded like a large waterfall, like standing next to Niagra falls as it passed in the field in front of us!

20060916_T1_8.jpg
 
I was southeast of Tulsa (near Kellyville) on May 29, 2004 when I heard what sounded like a jet engine revving swooshing sound and it was actually pretty loud. I thought at the time it was a tornado but I am certainly not 100% sure. A F3 tornado was within 2-3 miles (at most) of me at the time (confirmed through video timestamps and NWS damage survery). It could have been RFD I suppose but I doubt it. I would think RFD would be more of a continuous roar instead of being the revving swooshing noise. A few mins later I got this:

http://realclearwx.com/images/9rrr.jpg
 
Mikey Gribbles post:
"If you just "think" you might have heard one, then you didn't IMO. There will be no doubt left in your mind when it actually happens."

Your right. I sometimes hear the sound in my head when I am lying in bed and its very quiet. Very unearthly.
 
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The roar of a tornado (especially a strong or violent tornado) is not too easily duplicated unless you find yourself on the runway behind jets taking off. It is the most intimidating noise I have ever heard, and it was so intense you can physically feel it in your chest. The Edgar NE F3 tornado certainly had that roar, and there was no mistaking that the tornado was in the back 40 and closing in. RFD roars are often much more progressive and I have yet to hear a RFD/gust front blast roar that equals what a strong tornado produces.
 
Shane Young said:
Interesting indeed. http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cach...ves&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us&client=firefox-a

There must be some more current info out there somewhere, too.

I've wondered how this'll pan out.
Click to expand...

That's a great find, Shane, but I couldn't see photos or graphic displays on the version I linked to--can you see it on yours?

Those Chaparral Physics Model 2's record down to .08Hz--that's WAY down there in the nerve damage risk area if enough gain is applied. I think there was a WWII study involving 7Hz signals that could cause humans to lose control of their bowels; it was being studied for anti-personnel and psych warfare usage, but they never found a way to channel the sound away from friendly troops, since low frequency sound by nature tends to eminate spherically while high frequencies tend to beam.

Which makes me wonder why the low freq wouldn't be more audible (or feel-able) at various points around a big vortex, unless wind pollution of the sound skews it.
 
"7Hz signals that could cause humans to lose control of their bowels"

Really! Maybe we could find a way to mount something on the front of car that can do this. Kind of a backup horn in case the regular one isn't getting the job done.
 
Shane Adams said:
Wow Jarrod, you're gonna be a busy man this year, posting scoffs after all the "possible" tornado LSRs that will make it across the wire in 2008. Hope you've spent time with your family, because you won't be seeing them much :-)
Click to expand...

My post had nothing to do with "all" of the possible tornado LSRs. I have no problem with possible tornado reports...but this one is different. I know an LSR is preliminary, too. It just seems unusual that they'd send this particular one out. No one can determine if there may be a tornado based on what they hear. Like other posters have said, the sound could be caused by lots of things.

I've seen lots of unusual LSRs (particularly hail and flooding ones) but at least they are all based on visual proof (like when the hail hit the beer can off of the moving motorcycle).
 
rdale said:
Why not just LSR it as a wall cloud?
Click to expand...

Wall Cloud is not a valid LSR event per the directives.

That said, like has been mentioned, LSRs get thrown out after the fact all the time once the event has passed and time has allowed for further scrutiny. This really seems like much ado about nothing.

Standard disclaimer applies, obviously.
 
Joe Nield said:
This really seems like much ado about nothing.
Click to expand...

I'd just rather a wall cloud be displayed to the viewers as a wall cloud or something non-tornadic... When it shows up as a tornado, I think it can cause confusion.

Standard disclaimer applies - why do people think that a forum discussion is "much ado" in the first place :)
 
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