Tornados vs. Hurricanes

I've found during my travels that most coastal people fear Tornandos, where as about half of the "in-landers" are more fearfull of Hurricanes.... both for various reasons..whats yours?

Interesting concept and totally opposite how it should be. Hurricanes are powerful forces of nature and cause great destruction in coastal areas. Once they've moved inland, they're no more dangerous than a typical large thunderstorm. Tornados was common in coastal areas. I believe Florida has more tornados than any other state, but they are usually small and weak. OTOH, in inland areas, tornados are bigger and much more powerful. I'd be more afraid of hurricanes on the coast and tornados inland.

This is one topic that amazed the heck out of me. Before I moved to Dallas, I'd already known that it was inside the 'Tornado Alley' boundries. Amazingly, NONE of the homes I'd looked at on Realtor.com or elsewhere had either a storm cellar or a concrete 'safe room'. Not a single one! Since I've moved out here, I've talked to quite a few folks about it. Their general attitude is "tornadoes don't hit Dallas", and they just ignore the issue. Were the March 2000 twisters that hit Fort Worth a fluke, then???

I guess this page from NOAA shows some other kind of reality, then:

It boggles my mind that so many people out here can completely ignore the issue. They refuse to think about it, and they won't plan for it. I'm sure my parents are both spinning in their graves, 'cos they moved OUT of Oklahoma City due to tornadoes when I was a baby, yet here I am moved back into the same general area, for good. It may cost a bit, but I'm gonna have SOME sort of 'bolt hole' built once I buy a permanent home. I still have vivid memories of my sister and I being carried (one under each arm) quickly down into the cellar when I was around 16 to 18 months old. Mom was scared, which can make a lasting impression on a little feller.

Tornados scare me the most because they generate the highest winds, up to 300 mph. They can drive nails into brick and 2x4's through walls.

The closest I came to actually being in one was as a small kid living in Kansas. I remember my mom rushing us into the basement once during a storm. When we came up and went outside, the basketball we had been playing with was lodged in the branches of a tree about 60 ft high.

You know hurricanes are coming for days and can get out of their way, with tornados your lucky if you get a few minutes notice.

Tornados? Hurricanes? HA! "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!"

You know hurricanes are coming for days and can get out of their way, with tornados your lucky if you get a few minutes notice.

... which is a few minutes more than you get with an earthquake (coming from a SoCal-er)!

When I lived in Michigan and the tornado sirens went off, we only had to run to our basement!

When the hurricane hits you have to get in your car and fight traffic with the rest of the coast line and leave town, at which point you may get blown away by the hurricane while you are stuck in traffic behind a thousand people many of which have already ran out of gas, and the gas stations don't have any gas and.....blah..blah..blah...

You know hurricanes are coming for days and can get out of their way, with tornados your lucky if you get a few minutes notice.

... which is a few minutes more than you get with an earthquake (coming from a SoCal-er)!

Wrong, we've been hearing for years that California was going to slide into the sea. Why else are there dive shops in Arizona?

You know hurricanes are coming for days and can get out of their way, with tornados your lucky if you get a few minutes notice.

That's a great point. On the flip side, Tornados dissipate fairly quickly as well, correct. And do Tornados get nearly as large or cut as huge paths of destruction as hurricanes?

I've seen 5 tornadoes and been in 2 hurricanes. The hurricanes are worse if the tidal surge and the wind don't get you, they also spawn tornadoes.

You know hurricanes are coming for days and can get out of their way, with tornados your lucky if you get a few minutes notice.

That's a great point. On the flip side, Tornados dissipate fairly quickly as well, correct. And do Tornados get nearly as large or cut as huge paths of destruction as hurricanes?

Tornados are definitely less predictable and more quirky. They can appear, dissappear and re-appear again in a matter of minutes.

There are a lot of wierd pressure gradients in and around tornados that produce much stranger results too. There are plenty of true stories where a house gets totaled by a tornado, but the house accross the street is left untouched. Animals and cars have been lifted and moved hundreds of yards by tornados without suffering any damage.

Tornados scare me the most because they generate the highest winds, up to 300 mph. They can drive nails into brick and 2x4's through walls.

The closest I came to actually being in one was as a small kid living in Kansas. I remember my mom rushing us into the basement once during a storm. When we came up and went outside, the basketball we had been playing with was lodged in the branches of a tree about 60 ft high.

can those 300 mph winds bend railroad tracks? I have seen tidal surges from hurricanes bring in water that bent railroad tracks. also tornados do not include hurricanes but hurricanes include tornados.
then again, I live on the coast and have experienced many hurricanes so I may have a slightly biased opinion.
Tornados are obviously incredibly destructive but hurricanes cause a much wider path of destruction and cost more lives. Katrina caused devastation over the coast from western Louisiana all the way to the Florida panhandle. That includes Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and part of Florida.

Tornados scare me the most because they generate the highest winds, up to 300 mph. They can drive nails into brick and 2x4's through walls.

The closest I came to actually being in one was as a small kid living in Kansas. I remember my mom rushing us into the basement once during a storm. When we came up and went outside, the basketball we had been playing with was lodged in the branches of a tree about 60 ft high.

can those 300 mph winds bend railroad tracks? I have seen tidal surges from hurricanes bring in water that bent railroad tracks. also tornados do not include hurricanes but hurricanes include tornados.
then again, I live on the coast and have experienced many hurricanes so I may have a slightly biased opinion.
Tornados are obviously incredibly destructive but hurricanes cause a much wider path of destruction and cost more lives. Katrina caused devastation over the coast from western Louisiana all the way to the Florida panhandle. That includes Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and part of Florida.

I think it's a question of scale v.s. intensity. Hurricanes are bigger in scale ... hundreds of times larger than tornados. So their total energy and potential for destruction and damage is greater. But tornados are more intense. When tornados form inside hurricanes hey are also more intense, and generate higher wind speeds than the hurricane itself.

An analogy might be comparing a wrecking ball to a bullet fired from a gun. If you swing a wrecking ball at a steel plate it will knock the plate down and probably bend it. The bullet may not even knock the plate over, but it will probably penetrate the plate, or maybe even go through it. The bullet has less total energy, but it's energy is more intense and focused.

Personally, I don't want to get hit by either one, or a hurricane or tornado for that matter.

Edited by BubbleBoy, 22 August 2006 - 10:07 PM.

You know hurricanes are coming for days and can get out of their way, with tornados your lucky if you get a few minutes notice.

... which is a few minutes more than you get with an earthquake (coming from a SoCal-er)!

Wrong, we've been hearing for years that California was going to slide into the sea. Why else are there dive shops in Arizona?

Hey, Arizona does have several underwater ghost towns, e.g. Alamo Crossing, Castle Dome Landing. And 300 million years ago it was mostly covered by water ...