I don’t know what the signs are that I’m supposed to get my family all crouching in the bathroom. Please advise.
Right now, I’m only seeing a tornado watch for you, not a warning. ETA: do you have access to local TV or radio? That would be the most up-to-date info you can get.
Thanks, yeah, we are using the internet to keep track I just don’t know if one needs to go into panic mode upon hearing “Indianapolis has a Tornado warning” or if one should be looking for specific signs outside. (Indianapolis includes a lot of square miles…)
It will be very dark and very windy before a tornado hits. Your animal senses will scream that it’s time to take cover, no need to overthink it.
Do you not live in a place that gets tornadoes, usually?
OK. I’ve never been in a tornado, or had one strike close. I understand they sound like trains (but without a whistle). So if you hear a train approaching sans whistle, head for that bathroom.
I’ve never hidden just because of a tornado Warning, though.
Tornado WARNINGS are dangerous, good to be ready to hide really quickly. They are issued for a very limited area and time window.
A tornado WATCH doesn’t mean as much, mostly it means you should start paying attention to the TV/radio/etc. weather stations.
I realize that by now the storms are past Indianapolis, but for future reference:
Do you have tornado sirens where you live? If they go off, you definitely want to be seeking cover.
A weather radio is a good purchase, it will alert you when there is a warning for your area.
Local TV and radio news stations will usually have non-stop coverage if there’s an actual tornado warning. The weather people usually get pretty excited. Watch those and you’ll be up to date.
This depends on local policies on how the sirens are used. They’re nearly worthless where I live, because they can only be activated countywide and the county is 600+ square miles.
I’ve been within a quarter mile of tornadoes twice in my life. The weather will be scary-freaky long before you hear any sound, except the wind screaming and the rain pelting down.
I’ve never hidden just because of a warning, either. We had one this afternoon and it wasn’t even breezy outside. Turns out there was rotation, but no touchdown, in the warning area.
Not entirely the most reliable advice there - while it’s usually very dark and windy, sometimes there is an eerie calm just before the funnel passes over you.
The “animal senses” thing isn’t always reliable either, and I’m speaking as someone who has been through the drill numerous times what with having lived most of my life in the Midwest. My “weather sense” fires off pretty reliably but I’ll still take modern weather radar over my intuition these days.
In general, tornadoes occur in the midst of severe thunderstorms. There is usually rain, wind, and frequently hail. It’s my experience that the sky turns an odd green-grey, sometimes very dark. There are abrupt changes in air pressure, but if you wait for your ears to pop it will likely be almost on top of you.
If there is a tornado warning for you area it won’t hurt to move to the basement or an interior part of your residence if you don’t have a basement. Stay away from the windows. When we were kids my mom used to throw a spontaneous “party” in the basement to get us kids down there and keep us from freaking out. When in doubt it’s hard to go wrong by taking the precaution of moving to a sheltered spot. Don’t be the idiot making a video of a tornado coming up the street.
If you hear a roar - yes, it is very much like a freight train - GET UNDER SOMETHING. If your ears pop GET UNDER SOMETHING. By that point you will have seconds at most. Pull coats, blankets, couch cushions, whatever over your body and head. You may also hear stuff hitting your building, falling onto the roof, and so forth. It might well drown out any weather sirens, and it will probably scare the dickens out of you, but it won’t last long (it will just seem like it).
These days, keep the TV on and listen to the weather updates. Today they had very good presentation on where the hazards were, how fast they were moving, and which direction. MUCH better than when I was a kid. Also, the radio, and reverse 911, and so on. Warnings are much better these days, but there’s always the problem that the people directly under where it first forms typically get little in the way of a heads-up.
Well, apparently a welcome to the mid-west is in order for Frylock.
A watch is no big deal. A warning is a heads up, but to me that means keep track of the radar and know exactly where you are. If it gets too close, head to the basement and watch the radar from there.
You can tell the people who have lived here for some time and those who haven’t. Several years ago, my wife, kids, and I were sitting on our front patio listening to the sirens and watching the storm roll just south of us. Suddenly a SUV came screeching into the driveway across from us. The driver ran to the door and after no answer came running to us. He, his wife, and 3 month old baby were panicked and were trying to seek shelter (they were friends of our neighbors). So, we took them to our basement, turned on the TV and I showed them where we were versus where the storm was. It was a few miles south of us. Good news is they had just been shopping for wine so opened a bottle to share with us.
Very dark and windy is definitely not true. There was one storm that was right on top of us, but I had to run up quickly from the basement for something and was shocked to look out the bay window and see that everything was a very strange green… and completely calm. I grabbed whatever and ran back downstairs as fast as I could. The tornado went right over us and touched down less than a quarter mile from us.
The roar and pop are good, though if you see the sky turn this funky leaden yellow green, and the clouds look odd, follow the Dr’s advice RUN.
Not the best version and somewhat grainy, but if the sky even approaches thiscolor, be very worried and get to safety. I have been tent camping on a large flat field when a tornado dropped a quarter mile away. Not good.
We’ve been having very strong wind gusts for at least the last 30 hours or so. And earlier this evening the rain was coming down in buckets. It was actually scary to hear rain hitting the windows with the force of those winds. And yes, we do occasionally get tornadoes here. My partner, who lives next door, is out of town, so I went over and got his dogs into the basement. Then I came back here and got into the basement with the kitties.
And now it’s all over, except for the wind.