Weather Imagery

One myth that could potentially cost someone their life is the belief that highway overpasses provide safe shelter from tornadoes. This is a myth for reasons which may not be immediately obvious to some and probably started when a video clip aired nationally that showed a family and a news crew running up and hiding beneath an overpass to shelter themselves from an oncoming tornado. This is not what you want to do and could prove fatal.

Millions of people all across the country saw this video and figured this was the safest thing to do. Since then, many people have been killed by doing exactly what they saw on TV.

The National Weather Service as well as meteorologists all across the country have been trying to educate people that this is not what you want to do. The people who did survive that event were lucky as the tornado was relatively weak and didn’t land a direct hit on the overpass. The fact is, an overpass is a very dangerous place to hide and there are several reasons for this.

• First, the overpass will channel fast moving debris that will pelt and batter any person who happens to be in the air flow. Crawling way up into the rafters won’t protect you as the debris will ricochet and most undoubtedly hit you. If the wind alone doesn’t suck you out, a piece of debris will most likely knock you out. You cannot avoid the debris.
• Second, as the tornado first approaches the winds will come from one direction, but as the tornado passes, the winds will make an almost 180° turn and start blowing from the opposite direction. The same principal applies to a hurricane as the eye crosses overhead. So, any person who puts a barrier between themselves and the oncoming winds, such as a girder or support beam, will only be fully exposed once the tornado crosses the overpass. This crossover will happen much too quickly for the person to rearrange themselves into a safer position.
• Third, although this hasn’t been proven scientifically (as of 01/17/2005), the wind speeds could possibly increase as they are funneled through a narrower space. An example of this being, if you exhale with a straw in your mouth, the wind coming out the end will be much faster than had the straw not been there. A majority of the scientific community believes the same may be true of a tornado crossing an overpass, although no scientific data has been gathered.
• Fourth, the higher above ground level you are, the faster the wind speed. Most overpasses ramp up at an angle to meet the road above. As you climb higher above ground, the winds will only get faster. It has been proven that the winds speeds closest to the ground are much slower than even just a few feet above ground.

So what should you do if there’s a tornado heading your way? The best thing to do is not put yourself in that situation. If you see a nasty looking cloud ahead, pull over and wait. In all likelihood, if you proceed you’re going to run into some large hail that will undoubtedly damage you car. If you see a tornado in the distance, turn around and drive the other way. But if you’re out in the open and the tornado is fast approaching heading right for you, the first thing you want to do is get out of your car. That’s right! Run away from your vehicle and get as low to the ground as you possibly can. In a ditch, no matter how shallow, is best. The reason being, the winds closer to the ground are considerably slower! If you’re even just a few feet above ground level, the winds speeds can be ferocious.

Other Tornado Myths

• Do Mobile Home Attract Tornadoes?
• Does Opening Windows During a Tornado Help?
• Is The Southwest Corner Safest?
• Tornadoes Never Hit Big Cities?
• Can You Really Outrun a Tornado In a Car?

This isn’t a straight-forward answer. Although the lightning bolt itself can’t hit you, it can travel through conductive surfaces within your house. Lightning is a master of trickery and can do some pretty strange things. People have found shelter in what appeared to be safe places only to have the great misfortune of being electrocuted. Although the odds of you being killed by lightning while inside a building during a thunderstorm are considerably worse than winning Powerball, it’s still possible and has happened on many occasions.

Lightning has no mass and defies the laws of gravity. It will zig-zag all over the place by going up, down, sideways, forwards and backwards. It travels great distances, sometimes a 100 miles! Adding to its mystique, lightning will travel along the path of least resistance which can span hundreds of feet along conductive surfaces not quite visible to you or I. Why is this important? Think for a second about what runs into and all around the inside of your house. There are conductive copper pipes bringing the water into your house from outside. There are iron pipes bringing natural gas into your house. There are solid gauge copper wires leading to every wall outlet, light switch, and electrical appliance in your house that attach to a very tall utility pole or one of those large green boxes somewhere on your street. There are copper telephone wires running to every phone jack, again from a utility pole or some other metal box on your street. There are copper coaxial cables running from your satellite dish or cable TV provider. All of these things conduct electricity and start outside your house. See where I’m going with this?

What about copper pipes? If copper is conductive (water as well), can the electricity from a lightning bolt get to me if I’m taking a shower, a bath or sitting on the toilet? I suppose it’s possible, but you have to remember, your city water pipe coming into the house is buried underground which makes it difficult for the lightning to reach. Also, because they are underground, the pipes themselves are grounded which means the electricity will dissipate instead of traveling down the pipes. Finally, drain pipes in houses are usually made of PVC (or plastic) which is not conductive.

Remember how we have no way of knowing what the path of least resistance is? Remember how lightning is a master of trickery? While I lived in North Carolina, the homeowners right behind us had their house hit by lightning. It went right through the top of their roof roughly creating a 2×2 foot hole. It must of flashed to the electrical wiring in the attic because it blew up every electrical appliance plugged into a wall outlet. The internal wiring inside the walls vaporized, blowing out chunks of drywall and left black acrid scorch marks in their place. About 35 feet from the front of their house was a utility pole and their house was surrounded by 60 foot pine trees. That day, the path of least resistance didn’t include any of those taller objects, but instead was an asphalt shingle roof. Here is a link to some pictures of another house unlucky enough to be struck by lightning.

One could makes themselves crazy worrying about stuff like this. Just remember, the safest place to be during a thunderstorm is in your house and the odds of you being struck are far worse than winning the Powerball lottery. If you happen to live in a part of the country that experiences a lot of thunderstorms, a good investment might be some sort of lightning protection device such as a properly grounded lightning rod or surge arrestor.

Other Lightning Myths

• Can Lightning Crash an Airplane?
• Do Lightning Rods Attract Lightning?
• Can Lightning Be Used As a Source of Power?
• Is Ball Lightning Real?
• Can Lightning Strike The Same Place Twice?
• Do My Car Tires Protect Me From Lightning?