Challenge: Tornado Alert: What Do You Do ?

[daddle]

Originally Posted by David M

Where I live, there are no tornado's. If there ever was one I would probably break out the camera and go chase it.

Oh, you shouldn't feel so safe. I've seen full size waterspouts off Pt. Sur and San Miguel Island. I'm sure they can happen up your way.

[easterly38]

I live near the Gulf Coast so we are very aware of the tornado threat. Every man, woman and child down here knows to seek shelter in an interior room such as a bathroom or head for a storm shelter if your house has one.

This summer we had a big waterspout while on a trip along the Coast. It was far enough away that we just sat tight til' we figured out it's path. It dissipated pretty quickly and we were on our way.

A few months later my wife was staying on the boat a few days to do some interior work. One night it was stormy and the civil defense sirens went off. She turned on the TV and the weather guy said there was a tornado in the area of the boat. The storm immediately got much worse with heavy rains and howling winds and she knew the tornado was very close. So what did she do? Yep, you guessed it! She huddled down in the head!

The one thing she was very right about was the location of the tornado, it touched down about a quarter mile away. Had it actually hit the marina, my guess is that she might have had a heck of a ride!

I still haven't had the heart to suggest that next time she might want to seek shelter in the concrete bathroom on land at the end of the pier.

[s/v Beth]

We were cruising out in the Gulf of Mexico about this time of year three years ago. Squall lines started coming regularly so we thought we would dive behind Captiva Island. Going in the Squall line that had just passed us formed three waterspouts- all headed for Captiva in formation, with us in the rear. As we went for our cameras (being landlubbers) the spouts lifted back into the clouds and we went into the harbor/resort. We motored in and nobody was there- they had all been evacuated!
Once people came back the party continued as usual...

[Pagan]

When on a small minesweeper in the Royal Navy off Hong Kong we went through a monsoon, it was terrible, the noise, the wind, being thrown about as though we were nothing as we went through the bad stuff to the eye, but that was worse as it was almost calm and, and you knew there was only one way you could get out of the eye.

Pagan