A EF-2 tornado passed about ¼ by my house Wednesday. It was very exciting. Tornados have always been something that happened to other people. I was standing in my kitchen looking out the window and suddenly everything went white. Zero visibility. It really did sound like jet engine in my backyard. In less than a minute it was over except for the rain. Fortunately no house damage. I did lose several trees. Several of my neighbors weren’t as lucky.One house lost its entire roof. Not just the shingles or even the plywood. The rafters were gone. Amazingly, no one was seriously hurt or killed.My home weather station recorded a 150 mph gust but I think that is an over estimate.More than a 100 mph though I am sure. I have been through several hurricanes but never a tornado. Exciting times.
I have never seen a tornado with my own eyes, just films. But when I was eleven, on June 8, 1966, a tornado ravaged my city of Topeka, Kansas. Went right through the middle of town. and there was huge amounts of damage. The Fujita scale had not yet been devised, but it was determined that it would have been an F-5 The university was right in the path and all the buildings were damaged, some totally destroyed. My father was at a church meeting and when they looked out to see what the noise was about my father said “The sky was black with debris.” As bad as the devestation was it could have been worse. It the diagonal path across the city had angle four or five blocks further north the state capital building and all three hospitals, plus the downtown would have been destroyed. As it was something big was flying high enough that it took a chunk out of the copper dome of the capitol building.
A young law student was filling in for a friend as a weather anchor that night. At the time there was just one local TV station. His on air demeanor, his calmness helped immensely. He knew the storm was heading for the university, where his wife and kid were, but did not break down. His plea “For God’s sake, take cover!” brought him to the attention of national news broadcasters and Bill Kurtis became a household name. He didn’t stay here but he is remembered as an honorary citizen of the city.
I have never been in a hurricane. How is it different from a tornado?
As a denizen of lower Tornado alley. Hurricane is presumed by folks around here as being near big bodies of water. Like Katrina. Which spawns tornado like tic tacs.
Much longer lasting and covering a much much bigger area than a tornado, winds typically not as high (until cat 3 and up) and, if you live near tidal waters, storm surge (where most of the damage comes). So, duration and flooding. We went through Sandy and it wasn’t technically a hurricane. That was plenty scary enough. I can’t imagine a cat 4 or 5. We also had a derecho in the middle of the night. I thought it was a tornado. Winds reached 80 mph in spots. Also, very scary.
A tornado lasts less than a minute in any one place. A big hurricane lasts for 6-12 hours in any one place, and occasionally multiple days.
At landfall Sandy was a Category 2 hurricane.
Do you mean in the Caribbean? Certainly not when it reached New Jersey.
Hm… that’s in the EF3 range. A gust that strong is possible, but yes, it could be some sort of weird artifact, especially if that gust was funneled through a choke point that resulted in a local acceleration of air going past the sensor.
Right. It was reported the center of pressure came ashore 5 miles SW of Atlantic City. Which is exactly where I live. Winds were about 70 MPH.
A hurricane progresses far more slowly. Damage can be the same, but instead of 1 minute and it is all over except the rain, a hurricane takes 2-3 hours to pass. And hurricanes bring flooding which a tornado doesn’t. OTOH, we get days of warning for a hurricane, for a tornado the warnings don’t ever seem to keep up with the destruction. Of the two, I prefer a hurricane.