Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[grandpadoc]

   We are about to start our trip and will be riding through the Texas Panhandle to OKC this week. I've Googled the topic and this is what I've found so far:

1. Do not seek shelter under a highway overpass.
2. Seek shelter under a highway overpass.
3. Chain your bike to something and jump in a ditch.
4. Ride away from the Tornado if its coming at you, cause the rain and hail are on the back end.
5. Seek underground shelter.
6. Duck and cover and kiss you ass goodbye.
7. If your riding in to a potentially ugly storm; stop before you get to it.

[Buy early]

 We are about to start our trip and will be riding through the Texas Panhandle to OKC this week. I've Googled the topic and this is what I've found so far:

1. Do not seek shelter under a highway overpass.
2. Seek shelter under a highway overpass.
3. Chain your bike to something and jump in a ditch.
4. Ride away from the Tornado if its coming at you, cause the rain and hail are on the back end.
5. Seek underground shelter.
6. Duck and cover and kiss you ass goodbye.

6

if you've stayed on the road until you actually SEE a tornado, you're pretty well hosed. Seek shelter when you start to see real dark clouds and check the weather for alerts. If there are no tornado warnings, then suit up in rain gear and ride on through if you wish.

[9 1/2 Beers]

Good timing for this thread 

[mrmagloo]

On a bike, why would you not want to instinctively try to alter course in the opposite direction?

[9 1/2 Beers]

"It's just not natural to ride straight into a storm "  110 Mofo

[naitram]

definatley #1




you can see the effect in this one  

[grandpadoc]

On a bike, why would you not want to instinctively try to alter course in the opposite direction?

Some say those suckers can hit speeds of 70+mph, so outrunning them could be a crap shoot I would think.

[Twolanerider]

I've been close a few times Lou.  A couple buddies are chasers with some relationship to NOAA and I've run with them a few springs.  That can be nuts.  But have ridden to or through some bad cells and close to a couple tornados on the road over the years too.

Have been told repeatedly by weather geeks and engineers that the old "hide under a bridge" thing is a bad idea.  If the storm is so bad and so close you've got to hide then bail out and get low.  Under a bridge might be dry in a bad rain.  But those that ostensibly know have convinced me it's a venturi that will suck all kinds of debris right at you in a tornado.

From times having been close to storms if you can see them you're quite frankly probably ok.  You'll have time to stop, cut across a median and head the other way if it's front of you.  If it's behind you just keep going.  If you can clearly see the funnel at any distance you'll have time to react.  

What's hairy is when you can't see it.  Rain wrapped funnels or really low wall clouds make for storms in which you can't see what's out there.  These are also storms that are bad enough you've likely already bailed off the bike and tried to get out of the known rain and wind.  So you might not even know the funnel is coming over the top of you until it comes over the top of you.  Best answer there is if your riding in to a potentially ugly storm; stop before you get to it.

[grc]

Assuming the track of the tornado is relatively straight (and that's not always a good assumption), it would make more sense to boogey away at 90° to the course of the storm.  Very few tornado's are more than a half mile to a mile wide, so the odds would seem to be better trying to outflank it instead of outrun it.

As for the underpass thing, that doesn't just apply to tornado's.  It's a bad idea any time IMHO unless there is a very large area so you can get well away from the traffic lanes.  Way too many distracted drivers these days drift off the edge of the road and kill innocent folks on the shoulder, like guys changing tires or cops writing traffic citations.  Add in poor visibility from a sudden downburst that causes folks in cars and trucks to pull over under that same overpass, and it's quite easy to wind up with more than one vehicle trying to occupy the same tiny bit of realestate.


Jerry

[grandpadoc]

  Best answer there is if your riding in to a potentially ugly storm; stop before you get to it.

I'm making that #7

[arcticdude]

gpd,

The weather is currently predicting sunshine for the week until Sunday, so I wouldn't worry about it.  (I'm in OKC).

[DDavidson]

Center for Disease Control recommendation

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/tornadoes/during.asp

On the Road
The least desirable place to be during a tornado is in a motor vehicle. Cars, buses, and trucks are easily tossed by tornado winds.

DO NOT TRY TO OUTRUN A TORNADO IN YOUR CAR. If you see a tornado, stop your vehicle and get out. Do not get under your vehicle. Follow the directions for seeking shelter outdoors (see next section).

Outdoors
If you are caught outside during a tornado and there is no adequate shelter immediately available--

Avoid areas with many trees.
Avoid vehicles.
Lie down flat in a gully, ditch, or low spot on the ground.
Protect your head with an object or with your arms.

[fresh oil and pipes]

As a retired storm chaser spotter yes I did spot and chase the big one they refer to as May 3rd the best option is do not get caught in a bad position having said that in the Texas and Oklahoma area most nados travel east/southeast/northeast so the safest course of action is to 90 degree it in a direction that gets you out of the way. Send me your travel times for the panhandle and Oklahoma area as well as cell numbers and I will watch and keep you posted. Already at the hotel get another beer step outside and watch with all the other ding dong rednecks.

[JETCVO]

 We are about to start our trip and will be riding through the Texas Panhandle to OKC this week. I've Googled the topic and this is what I've found so far:

1. Do not seek shelter under a highway overpass.
2. Seek shelter under a highway overpass.
3. Chain your bike to something and jump in a ditch.
4. Ride away from the Tornado if its coming at you, cause the rain and hail are on the back end.
5. Seek underground shelter.
6. Duck and cover and kiss you ass goodbye.
7. If your riding in to a potentially ugly storm; stop before you get to it.

You two just be careful!!

JETCVO

[Sklywag]

Good timing for this thread 

Don't worry about Sat Sun & Mon......  After that worry

[cvobiker]

 Think I'll stay put in California and deal with the earth quakes....

[porthole]

So, a bridge overpass is no good?
If you can get up in the girders that is no good?

Laying down in a ditch is OK?

I'll take my chances in the bridge girder - if I could get to it.

[Big Dog]

I cannot imagine what you folks go through during the hurricane season, we see nothing like that here in BC. I've only seen "push winds" and the tornado that touched down while I lived in Alberta (Pine Lake tornado that killed 14 people) near Red Deer where I lived and the Edmonton tornado that also took lives and that was shocking enough, I couldn't imagine being on a bike and having to run for cover in a culvert, my luck a flash flood would wash me out. I've been in a pea size hail storm with a half helmet and that was enough for me to duck for cover.

[fresh oil and pipes]

So, a bridge overpass is no good?
If you can get up in the girders that is no good?

Laying down in a ditch is OK?

I'll take my chances in the bridge girder - if I could get to it.

Was search and rescue for the early parts of the May 3 set up triage in a school gym full of injured, fatalities we put in the cafeteria. Took 2 days to find the mother that got sucked out from under the overpass. Took her left her son found her approximately 3 miles away. Girders/Overpasses not good, ditch good if not full of water, tin horns full of critters seeking shelter as well maybe good maybe bad. In Oklahoma you can always pull into a home if they have a shelter they will share bike prob leave without you but you be safe.

[fresh oil and pipes]

For those heading across Oklahoma for Ribfest. Weather forecast is no rain chance until next Tuesday which is the 8th then only 20 per cent looks like a safe uneventfull trip through here.

[TN]

What do you do when you see a Tornado coming.



fetal position. 

[Twolanerider]

What do you do when you see a Tornado coming.



fetal position. 

And if it's too close; fecal position    .

[Keats]

So, a bridge overpass is no good?
If you can get up in the girders that is no good?

Laying down in a ditch is OK?

I'll take my chances in the bridge girder - if I could get to it.

I am with Duane on this one.

stuck in car with no structure around I will bet on the overpass super structure. I have never seen pictures of one those being lifted off.
Yes I believe that underneath would be a venturi and remember "it is not that the wind is blowing, but what the wind is blowing".

The steel structure (in between the girders) would give protection and I do not believe there is enough negative pressure to be able to suck you out of the steel structure.

Laying on the ground would minimize your lateral exposure to flying debris, but the ability of the tornado passing right above you and not turn you into a UFO would weigh heavy on my decision.   I am under the bridge between the steel girders......did you notice that they did live....  

[TinSpinner]

I was driving across Texas in my younger days and crossed paths with a tornado on Hwy. 10 east of Houston. My buddy and I didn't know any better so we stopped under a bridge and climbed up onto the girders. The twister crossed the interstate just ahead of the bridge. We survived without injury but there was all kinds of trash flying up under the bridge. I can see how that could be a hazard if the debris were larger than what we encountered. We got plenty nasty from all the road grime that went airborne, not to mention the bird poop we were lying in. I don't think I would repeat that, hope I don't have to, but it made sense at the time. Here in Georgia we get pop up twisters that you can't see coming until they are right on top of us. Had one 4 years ago on Mothers Day that took out about a dozen grand old oak trees at my house. Thankfully none hit the house and no one was injured.

[GtreetSlide]

Set up your GPS to locate churches and trailer parks. The line that most directly impacts the most of them is the path you want to avoid...