Huge tornado in Moore, Okla.

[roushutsu]

Georgia here, but I used to live in Ohio, so I grew up right on the edge of Tornado Alley and have had several close calls in my life. Tornadoes are some scary shit, and that's putting it VERY lightly. My condolences go out to the people who are hit by these storms, especially the parents of the children in the schools. I hope everyone is able to find their missing loved ones.

 

[tangoprime]

This topic also reminds me of a previous topic, of people asking why, for americans, the concept of go-bags or bug-out-bags are a thing. Well, THIS is why. Damn near any part of the continental United States you're in is at risk for some type of large scale natural disaster or another, and they're not that infrequent. We've had large tornados wipe out towns over the last few years, hurricanes damn near destroy cities, and at the very least knock out power and infrastructure to large populations for days/weeks, earthquakes, floods, etc. It's a good idea to have survival essentials and important documents on hand and ready to grab, no matter where you live in the country. New England/Mid Atlantic states aren't safe, for example the hurricane that hit NY a few months ago, or the Derecho that knocked out power for millions for days and killed 22 last summer between Ohio and the Mid Atlantic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2012_North_American_derecho), which if I may say, seriously hampered my summer vacation that last year (hit my first night I arrived to visit family in Baltimore, had no power and the road out of the neighborhood was blocked by downed power/phone lines for 4 days).

So, Australia has their crazy wildlife that wants to destroy all humans, United States has the environment itself that spites your existence.

 

[Raggedstar]

I live in Southern Ontario. We get earthquakes and tornadoes, but our quakes are usually most threatening to store shelves (we had a 5.0 hit a few years ago. I was on the top level of the house and some stuff shook around for a minute, then stopped. Barely noticed it) and tornadoes are fewer and not as bad as in Tornado Alley. Rare major bushfires, never getting a MASSIVE blow from any hurricane, very few venomous animals too (black widows creep from the USA and we have one naturally found species of venomous snake and it's endangered). Worst we tend routinely to get are nasty snowstorms and cold temperatures, floods (well, I live on high ground), and the odd hailstorm or major tornado (though closest they get to me is about 30 minutes drive).

Tornadoes, especially ones like those, scare me. Something that can come out of nowhere and just rip through towns and kill so many. I hope for the best for the families facing this disaster.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

That's a lot of land to just up and leave unfortunately.

That aside, you've got folks who have lived where they are for generations. It's pretty tough to get some people to leave that.
My other answer is I have no idea.
Though it holds true to some extent that no matter where you go you're going to be in the path/known stomping grounds of SOME kind of disaster.

At least in the US:
Southwest - Terrible droughts during the summer, and dust storms. California has a seismic history as well.

Mid west and central mid west - Tornado's, storms that can produce straight line winds
Anything along the Mississippi river is in danger of a flood during the rainy seasons

Eastern coast - Hurricane season is devastating.

Far north-Snow storms that can bury your house and leave you without electricity for weeks.

The US seems to be a lot more hostile than a lot of people give it credit for. I can't imagine living somewhere where some random devastating unpreventable natural disaster could just wipe out everything you own, and even kill you. Say what you will about the weather in England, at least we don't get literally blown away.

Just because something hasn't happened in that area in recent times, does not mean that it will not. When you look at exactly how amazing the earth really is, and the drastic changes it has gone through with the poles shifting, palm trees in Antartica, and the continents breaking apart, mankind almost becoming extinct multiple times in our history you realize that we take for granted the mild weather we have had the opportunity to experience in our life time. That does not mean that it can't change in our lifetime, and we should not forget what our ancestors had to do to survive. It is only a false sense of security to believe that anywhere is safe on an ever changing planet. We should instead learn from these things and take measures to increase survivability regardless of the challenges we face. Our ancestors were forced into migration to survive, however, tornadoes for example, do not require migrations to increase survivability, as volcanos, sink holes, intense cold and earthquakes would. Instead we only would have to build underground shelters and this is already within our capability to do so, we just need to make it happen. That takes much funding that we currently do not have.

I do believe that if we start to address the problem one shelter at a time we can eventually reach the goal of having enough shelters available to all who need them, we just have to put forth the effort and funding to do so. People have to push it to the top of the priority list rather than remain focused only on building football stadiums and dog parks. There is no excuse for this much loss of life on something that can be prevented.

 

[Aatolviina]

It must really suck to have tornados like that. I have never seen one beyond videos and media.

 

[Chemical Alia]

Not in OK, North Texas here, and last spring I almost was hit by an F4 myself going home, seeing cars flying through the air and am thankful to have survived. The damage and loss is devestating, I cannot even watch the coverage without being ill and tearful at the same time. My heart goes out to all. I am terrified that we will be hit the next day, as the risks have shifted south to our area now, and they are listing a neighborhood near here as a high population area at risk for 5/21, same time of day. I am just east of Mesquite listed here:
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day1otlk.html

Hey, I used to work in Mesquite, but am in Plano now. I think I remember that tornado last year, is that the one that was tossing around tractor trailers off the highway? They evacuated us all to the basement twice that day, and two tornados went by nearby on either side of us. I'm kinda anxious at work today because my desk is on the 12th floor, it's a long way down, and I just see storms in every direction.

Anyway, it's really sad to hear all this terrible news, hopefully there aren't any more and this storm goes away.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

Not in OK, North Texas here, and last spring I almost was hit by an F4 myself going home, seeing cars flying through the air and am thankful to have survived. The damage and loss is devestating, I cannot even watch the coverage without being ill and tearful at the same time. My heart goes out to all. I am terrified that we will be hit the next day, as the risks have shifted south to our area now, and they are listing a neighborhood near here as a high population area at risk for 5/21, same time of day. I am just east of Mesquite listed here:
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day1otlk.html

Hey, I used to work in Mesquite, but am in Plano now. I think I remember that tornado last year, is that the one that was tossing around tractor trailers off the highway? They evacuated us all to the basement twice that day, and two tornados went by nearby on either side of us. I'm kinda anxious at work today because my desk is on the 12th floor, it's a long way down, and I just see storms in every direction.

Anyway, it's really sad to hear all this terrible news, hopefully there aren't any more and this storm goes away.

I am actually in Heath on the Rockwall/ Forney border, not in Mesquite, but you know when they list Mesquite/Garland as major population centers at risk, we are all at risk. The one I saw last year first hand was the one that hit Forney, there were so many that day, it was insane.

http://earthsky.org/earth/recap-and-videos-of-april-3-2012-tornadoes-in-texas

I certainly would not want to be on the 12th floor of anywhere with storms coming. I remember when I was living in a penthouse on the top floor over looking the lake in Garland and the tornados were hitting downtown Forth Worth and I ran out into hail with a board over my head to get somewhere else after I became concerned that the hail was going to break my skylights and the building started to sway bad. I would rather risk being in hail than being in a building up high like that when the tornados come. So far, we haven't seen any funnels, I hope it stays that way. Most schools let out at noon today in Dallas as a precaution. I would rather them take precautions and be prepared and not have any funnels than to not be prepared and get them. It is all you really can do when are faced with something that can come down on you without warning. The more I see on the devestation in OK, the more heartbreaking it is. I realize we have to make changes and get these shelters built so the people have somewhere to go, it is just horrific that it takes something like this to get people concerned enough to act. I hope they actually do something this time, I hope we can get people involved enough to get the underground shelters built so people have somewhere to go.

EDIT: It looks like they finally classified the one I saw as an f3. At the time it happened everyone was reporting it to be an f4 because of the bark and the all brick homes that were completely destroyed.

 

[capper42]

Just because something hasn't happened in that area in recent times, does not mean that it will not. When you look at exactly how amazing the earth really is, and the drastic changes it has gone through with the poles shifting, palm trees in Antartica, and the continents breaking apart, mankind almost becoming extinct multiple times in our history you realize that we take for granted the mild weather we have had the opportunity to experience in our life time. That does not mean that it can't change in our lifetime, and we should not forget what our ancestors had to do to survive. It is only a false sense of security to believe that anywhere is safe on an ever changing planet. We should instead learn from these things and take measures to increase survivability regardless of the challenges we face. Our ancestors were forced into migration to survive, however, tornadoes for example, do not require migrations to increase survivability, as volcanos, sink holes, intense cold and earthquakes would. Instead we only would have to build underground shelters and this is already within our capability to do so, we just need to make it happen. That takes much funding that we currently do not have.

I do believe that if we start to address the problem one shelter at a time we can eventually reach the goal of having enough shelters available to all who need them, we just have to put forth the effort and funding to do so. People have to push it to the top of the priority list rather than remain focused only on building football stadiums and dog parks. There is no excuse for this much loss of life on something that can be prevented.

Well now I'm just worried The Day After Tomorrow is going to happen.

 

[RicoADF]

Wichita, Kansas (north of the OKC area for those who aren't familiar with the area) here and we had our first tornadoes of the year on Sunday. But they were weak (EF1 in rural area,) nothing like the EF4 that hit Moore. And as support for local media outlets and having stood in the rubble that once was Haysville, KS; Joplin, MO; and Greensburg, KS... what's going on in Moore is a kind of devastation and destruction that's hard to experience when you're right there. And as much as we Kansans are friendly rivals with our neighbors to the south... they'll rebuild it (probably better and faster than we would.) They'll take in and take care of their neighbors who lost it all, they'll mourn for the ones they lost, and they'll build it again and better than it was before.

As someone who lives in Sydney Australia and thus just has rain from time to time and the the occasional bushfire,I have never understood why people live in places known to be in disaster prone areas. Why don't the towns move?
OT: Sad story and hope most of the kids are found safe. Why aren't the schools properly equipped??

Public schools in conservative dominated areas (like KS and OK) tend to be underfunded (so Republicans can pay for tax breaks for the rich) and therefore less likely to be built to the highest safety standards. But really all politics aside... it was an EF 4. That's the "blender" level of tornado damage. Whatever it eats, it grinds into chunks not much bigger than your head and spreads it pretty evenly over the landscape. A building has to be built like a bunker with reinforced walls, special pressure regulating ventilation, and all safety glass windows to be able to stand up to power like that. And really why go to the expense of all of that when you could get hit with the EF 5 which would just leave the exposed foundation and take everything else no matter how well built something is?

I know what a F4 is, Ive always been facinated with natural disasters and tornados in particular. Correct that a building can't be made to survive an F5 however they should still be made as close as close to survivable as possible. However I was refering to proper shelters for all schools since as you said no building is truely safe. And yeah I'm not suprised that America capital of capitalism and greed puts profit over the wellfare of kids, which is why I'd never move there.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

Wichita, Kansas (north of the OKC area for those who aren't familiar with the area) here and we had our first tornadoes of the year on Sunday. But they were weak (EF1 in rural area,) nothing like the EF4 that hit Moore. And as support for local media outlets and having stood in the rubble that once was Haysville, KS; Joplin, MO; and Greensburg, KS... what's going on in Moore is a kind of devastation and destruction that's hard to experience when you're right there. And as much as we Kansans are friendly rivals with our neighbors to the south... they'll rebuild it (probably better and faster than we would.) They'll take in and take care of their neighbors who lost it all, they'll mourn for the ones they lost, and they'll build it again and better than it was before.

As someone who lives in Sydney Australia and thus just has rain from time to time and the the occasional bushfire,I have never understood why people live in places known to be in disaster prone areas. Why don't the towns move?
OT: Sad story and hope most of the kids are found safe. Why aren't the schools properly equipped??

Public schools in conservative dominated areas (like KS and OK) tend to be underfunded (so Republicans can pay for tax breaks for the rich) and therefore less likely to be built to the highest safety standards. But really all politics aside... it was an EF 4. That's the "blender" level of tornado damage. Whatever it eats, it grinds into chunks not much bigger than your head and spreads it pretty evenly over the landscape. A building has to be built like a bunker with reinforced walls, special pressure regulating ventilation, and all safety glass windows to be able to stand up to power like that. And really why go to the expense of all of that when you could get hit with the EF 5 which would just leave the exposed foundation and take everything else no matter how well built something is?

I know what a F4 is, Ive always been facinated with natural disasters and tornados in particular. Correct that a building can't be made to survive an F5 however they should still be made as close as close to survivable as possible. However I was refering to proper shelters for all schools since as you said no building is truely safe. And yeah I'm not suprised that America capital of capitalism and greed puts profit over the wellfare of kids, which is why I'd never move there.

I think the focus should be on at least building underground shelters to accommodate the people in the area. It would be insane to try and build a mass shelter because a shelter that size would be a huge increase in cost and maintenance, however, I think more doable would be to invest in shelters large enough to hold the schools with extra room under the schools themselves, as well as invest in building one small shelter at a time at residences and have the residents themselves responsible for maintenance reducing the costs. Focusing on building one shelter at a time and spread it out over time would be more beneficial long term than just trying to build a big one for entire communities because most of the community would never be able to even make it to one in time due to how sudden tornados come down on top of you and how little time you have to get anywhere. I agree that they need to make this a priority in order to see this changed, and greed is ultimately responsible for the loss of life here.

 

[Ellie O'Daire]

The Moore tornado has been officially upgraded to EF-5, the highest rating on the enhanced Fujita scale.

Please, please, if you live anywhere that regularly sees severe weather, learn where you are located on a map. Know what county you are in (if applicable), and know what cities and counties are around you. I saw a disturbing number of warnings get misunderstood because people simply did not know where the locations called out in the warnings were.

In the same vein, look for your own sources of information in dangerous weather. Don't trust someone else to call you when you might be at risk (unless you pay them to); invest in a weather radio or one of the fantastic smartphone apps like iMap Weather Radio. Check out the NOAA [http://www.weather.gov] site (and if you're up for a reading comprehension challenge, the Storm Prediction Center [http://www.spc.noaa.gov]). Twitter folks should also look for their local meteorologists there, or some of the more well known folks like James Spann [http://www.twitter.com/spann] or Brad Pannovich [http://www.twitter.com/wxbrad]. They're both regional meteorologists (Birmingham AL and Charlotte NC, respectively), but they're great sources of weather information for much of the USA (and even abroad when things get really interesting).

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

The Moore tornado has been officially upgraded to EF-5, the highest rating on the enhanced Fujita scale.

Please, please, if you live anywhere that regularly sees severe weather, learn where you are located on a map. Know what county you are in (if applicable), and know what cities and counties are around you. I saw a disturbing number of warnings get misunderstood because people simply did not know where the locations called out in the warnings were.

In the same vein, look for your own sources of information in dangerous weather. Don't trust someone else to call you when you might be at risk (unless you pay them to); invest in a weather radio or one of the fantastic smartphone apps like iMap Weather Radio. Check out the NOAA [http://www.weather.gov] site (and if you're up for a reading comprehension challenge, the Storm Prediction Center [http://www.spc.noaa.gov]). Twitter folks should also look for their local meteorologists there, or some of the more well known folks like James Spann [http://www.twitter.com/spann] or Brad Pannovich [http://www.twitter.com/wxbrad]. They're both regional meteorologists (Birmingham AL and Charlotte NC, respectively), but they're great sources of weather information for much of the USA (and even abroad when things get really interesting).

I don't think the biggest issue when facing something like this isn't that people didn't know it was coming for them, 99% of the time they do know, it is just they have no where safe to go. The sheer lack of underground shelters is a massive problem for Tornado Alley and there was no underground shelters available. You have two choices when faced with something like this, you either get under ground or try to get out of the path of the tornado which is also extremely risky and dangerous because tornados change directions new ones come down on top of you at any time and the roads do not necessarily go the direction needed to avoid them. We have to invest in underground shelters for the general population in these areas moreso than anything else or we are just causing these deaths to happen. Duck and cover does not save you when nothing above ground can withstand an f5. Most of what is built above ground does not even withstand much smaller tornados when it is a direct hit or it sits right on top of you for a prolonged period of time so I do not see the point of building anything above ground to be deemed as a shelter.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

In regards to communication issues during natural disasters,I would like to add that people often do not think about, but I have encountered this problem during severe weather as well. You often lose power and are also unable to use cellphones as well because those towers go down in the storm and you have no signal. When the tornado hit my area last spring, you only had certain radio stations available on a battery powered radio, and weather radios. Nothing else functioned. No power, Cell phones didn't work here, land lines were down, no television or internet connection via laptop. All you had to rely on was hand held weather radios and portable battery powered radios. Many people do not even own portable battery powered radios anymore or hand held weather radios, and those are something everyone should have available in case something happens.

 

[Ellie O'Daire]

I don't think the biggest issue when facing something like this isn't that people didn't know it was coming for them, 99% of the time they do know, it is just they have no where safe to go.

Unfortunately that number is nowhere near 99%. In many households, if the television is not turned on, they do not receive the warning, and that can be a fairly large percentage of households in the path of any given storm. Sirens are one solution to this, but they are only really effective at warning people that are outdoors or very close to the siren sites, and it comes back to one of the points I was trying to make in my post: you should not trust some external force to alert you with no effort on your own part.

The sheer lack of underground shelters is a massive problem for Tornado Alley and there was no underground shelters available. You have two choices when faced with something like this, you either get under ground or try to get out of the path of the tornado which is also extremely risky and dangerous because tornados change directions new ones come down on top of you at any time and the roads do not necessarily go the direction needed to avoid them. We have to invest in underground shelters for the general population in these areas moreso than anything else or we are just causing these deaths to happen. Duck and cover does not save you when nothing above ground can withstand an f5. Most of what is built above ground does not even withstand much smaller tornados when it is a direct hit or it sits right on top of you for a prolonged period of time so I do not see the point of building anything above ground to be deemed as a shelter.

There is a pretty massive jump from buying a $30 weather radio to buying an underground shelter. While there needs to be a conversation about public shelters, that is a long term project over which any given individual has zero control. Conversely, there are things you can do to drastically improve your chances of surviving a tornado, and that's where I was trying to go with my previous post. Even in an EF-5, advanced planning and preparation can save your life.

There is an interesting relationship that many people aren't aware of: the stronger a tornado is, the easier it is to detect via Doppler RADAR. In Tornado Alley, this pushes warning lead times up high enough that running away from a powerful tornado is actually a very real and advisable option if you have no safe shelter. The unpredictability of a tornado's forward motion has been quite exaggerated, in part by the National Weather Service themselves over the last century. While the tornadoes themselves have a tendency to zig-zag, loop, and sometimes even stop in place briefly, they are still slave to the larger circulation within the parent thunderstorm. If you're able to interpret a map properly and can see which direction a powerful storm is coming from, you can absolutely have enough time to evacuate either out of the area entirely or to a nearby safe location, such as a neighbor with a basement, well ahead of the dangerous portion of a thunderstorm. However, in the vast majority of tornadoes, sheltering in place in an internal room of a permanent structure is extremely survivable, making that the best option on extremely short-notice warnings. Again, it comes in large part to how much information you have given yourself access to.

All that said, yes, there absolutely does need to be more underground shelters made available to people living (in particular) in central Oklahoma and Kansas, the two areas in which major tornadoes are the most common, as well as in the rest of the midwestern Tornado Alley and in the southeast USA's Dixie tornado alley (MS and AL, which also see significantly elevated numbers of major tornadoes).

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

I don't think the biggest issue when facing something like this isn't that people didn't know it was coming for them, 99% of the time they do know, it is just they have no where safe to go.

Unfortunately that number is nowhere near 99%. In many households, if the television is not turned on, they do not receive the warning, and that can be a fairly large percentage of households in the path of any given storm. Sirens are one solution to this, but they are only really effective at warning people that are outdoors or very close to the siren sites, and it comes back to one of the points I was trying to make in my post: you should not trust some external force to alert you with no effort on your own part.

The sheer lack of underground shelters is a massive problem for Tornado Alley and there was no underground shelters available. You have two choices when faced with something like this, you either get under ground or try to get out of the path of the tornado which is also extremely risky and dangerous because tornados change directions new ones come down on top of you at any time and the roads do not necessarily go the direction needed to avoid them. We have to invest in underground shelters for the general population in these areas moreso than anything else or we are just causing these deaths to happen. Duck and cover does not save you when nothing above ground can withstand an f5. Most of what is built above ground does not even withstand much smaller tornados when it is a direct hit or it sits right on top of you for a prolonged period of time so I do not see the point of building anything above ground to be deemed as a shelter.

There is a pretty massive jump from buying a $30 weather radio to buying an underground shelter. While there needs to be a conversation about public shelters, that is a long term project over which any given individual has zero control. Conversely, there are things you can do to drastically improve your chances of surviving a tornado, and that's where I was trying to go with my previous post. Even in an EF-5, advanced planning and preparation can save your life.

There is an interesting relationship that many people aren't aware of: the stronger a tornado is, the easier it is to detect via Doppler RADAR. In Tornado Alley, this pushes warning lead times up high enough that running away from a powerful tornado is actually a very real and advisable option if you have no safe shelter. The unpredictability of a tornado's forward motion has been quite exaggerated, in part by the National Weather Service themselves over the last century. While the tornadoes themselves have a tendency to zig-zag, loop, and sometimes even stop in place briefly, they are still slave to the larger circulation within the parent thunderstorm. If you're able to interpret a map properly and can see which direction a powerful storm is coming from, you can absolutely have enough time to evacuate either out of the area entirely or to a nearby safe location, such as a neighbor with a basement, well ahead of the dangerous portion of a thunderstorm. However, in the vast majority of tornadoes, sheltering in place in an internal room of a permanent structure is extremely survivable, making that the best option on extremely short-notice warnings. Again, it comes in large part to how much information you have given yourself access to.

All that said, yes, there absolutely does need to be more underground shelters made available to people living (in particular) in central Oklahoma and Kansas, the two areas in which major tornadoes are the most common, as well as in the rest of the midwestern Tornado Alley and in the southeast USA's Dixie tornado alley (MS and AL, which also see significantly elevated numbers of major tornadoes).

The issue with trying to get out of a tornados path, is when you have a large tornado, you don't just get "one tornado", you get bigs ones and smaller ones that drop down at any time whose paths are not as predictable and being in a car when there is a small tornado is extremely dangerous as well. In my many years here I have never seen "just one tornado" when they come. The media primarily focuses on the big ones, and yet the small ones are popping up anywhere during this. The one that hit the barn across the street from my parents and threw it in my living room on my 10th birthday had 3 funnels total, one big one and two smaller ones. The ones that hit my friends work on mothers day had 7 funnels. Last spring, when I got on the road to attempt to go home all the tornados were supposedly " past us" and not one but TWO actually formed in front of me on the road home, At the time I considered it to be one tornado with the cars flying, but from the first responders reporting said they actually saw both funnels at the same time there. While the One F3 did the most physical damage the other f2 was just as risky to cars on the road.

The other primary issue when trying to get on the road is traffic is ALSO terrible here when we have bad weather. Often the traffic is at a standstill even when we get rain, so when you throw people trying to evacuate from the rain wrapped tornadoes into the mix, you have a disaster on the roads.

Now given I am in the darkest area of this map:

edited link because it kept going elsewhere, so we have more tornados than any other area, but usually there are MANY small tornadoes at once that do little or no damage because they are more likely to form on top of us rather than have warning. In this area, we do not actually have much warning, I have repeatedly in my life actually seen the tornadoes form before the sirens go off, so sheltering in place seems to be the only real viable option.

Also, in case you missed it above, in regards to cellphone apps, what has happened here repeatedly during tornadoes, is the power goes out, the cell towers are down and you have no signal. So not only do you not have land lines, internet, television, you also do not have cellphones as well unless you have one of these :
http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcwebertobias/2013/03/18/how-and-when-to-buy-a-satellite-phone/
Don't count on it working in bad weather. Battery operated hand held radios and hand held weather radios are still your best bet.

 

[Ellie O'Daire]

The issue with trying to get out of a tornados path, is when you have a large tornado, you don't just get "one tornado", you get bigs ones and smaller ones that drop down at any time whose paths are not as predictable and being in a car when there is a small tornado is extremely dangerous as well. In my many years here I have never seen "just one tornado" when they come. The media primarily focuses on the big ones, and yet the small ones are popping up anywhere during this. The one that hit the barn across the street from my parents and threw it in my living room on my 10th birthday had 3 funnels total, one big one and two smaller ones. The ones that hit my friends work on mothers day had 7 funnels. Last spring, when I got on the road to attempt to go home all the tornados were supposedly " past us" and not one but TWO actually formed in front of me on the road home, At the time I considered it to be one tornado with the cars flying, but from the first responders reporting said they actually saw both funnels at the same time there. While the One F3 did the most physical damage the other f2 was just as risky to cars on the road.

You misunderstood my point. In the vast majority of cases, it is correct to shelter in place. It is only during the most violent tornadoes with the most warning that one should try to evacuate to a shelter or safe distance. Also, your assertion that tornadoes can drop "anywhere" indicates a clear lack of understanding of how they form. Tornadoes form from a parent circulation within the overall thunderstorm, which is what the warning polygons are based on. When one has enough lead-time, it is absolutely possible to escape the warned area well ahead of the most dangerous part of a storm, again requiring an understanding of the map. However, it is only a very narrow number of situations in which one should attempt to evacuate to safety, but all of these problems would be present with public shelters as well: you are in just as much danger running away from a storm as you are running to a shelter. During any of the situations in which one has a limited warning lead-time (such as a non-supercell tornado or a supercell tornado which is still in the early stages of formation), you are not going to be facing one of the strongest tornadoes and should shelter in place in an internal room.

The other primary issue when trying to get on the road is traffic is ALSO terrible here when we have bad weather. Often the traffic is at a standstill even when we get rain, so when you throw people trying to evacuate from the rain wrapped tornadoes into the mix, you have a disaster on the roads.

If it's already raining, you are in one of those situations in which your lead time is not high enough that you should evacuate.

Now given I am in the darkest area of this map:

edited link because it kept going elsewhere, so we have more tornados than any other area, but usually there are MANY small tornadoes at once that do little or no damage because they are more likely to form on top of us rather than have warning. In this area, we do not actually have much warning, I have repeatedly in my life actually seen the tornadoes form before the sirens go off, so sheltering in place seems to be the only real viable option.

Note that the unreliability of sirens was one of the arguments I made in favor of increasing your sources of information.

Also, in case you missed it above, in regards to cellphone apps, what has happened here repeatedly during tornadoes, is the power goes out, the cell towers are down and you have no signal. So not only do you not have land lines, internet, television, you also do not have cellphones as well unless you have one of these :
http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcwebertobias/2013/03/18/how-and-when-to-buy-a-satellite-phone/
Don't count on it working in bad weather. Battery operated hand held radios and hand held weather radios are still your best bet.

That is why I suggested the cell-phone app as only one of several things you should try. However, you've gotten your timeline out of order: except in the worst outbreaks (such as April 27th 2011 in AL) in which there are multiple groups of storms, you will have cell coverage and power before the tornado, which is when you need to take action to save your life.

Low probability anecdotal stories about situations in which none of that advice helps does not mean that you shouldn't do everything in your power to increase your chances of surviving dangerous weather.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

The issue with trying to get out of a tornados path, is when you have a large tornado, you don't just get "one tornado", you get bigs ones and smaller ones that drop down at any time whose paths are not as predictable and being in a car when there is a small tornado is extremely dangerous as well. In my many years here I have never seen "just one tornado" when they come. The media primarily focuses on the big ones, and yet the small ones are popping up anywhere during this. The one that hit the barn across the street from my parents and threw it in my living room on my 10th birthday had 3 funnels total, one big one and two smaller ones. The ones that hit my friends work on mothers day had 7 funnels. Last spring, when I got on the road to attempt to go home all the tornados were supposedly " past us" and not one but TWO actually formed in front of me on the road home, At the time I considered it to be one tornado with the cars flying, but from the first responders reporting said they actually saw both funnels at the same time there. While the One F3 did the most physical damage the other f2 was just as risky to cars on the road.

You misunderstood my point. In the vast majority of cases, it is correct to shelter in place. It is only during the most violent tornadoes with the most warning that one should try to evacuate to a shelter or safe distance. Also, your assertion that tornadoes can drop "anywhere" indicates a clear lack of understanding of how they form. Tornadoes form from a parent circulation within the overall thunderstorm, which is what the warning polygons are based on. When one has enough lead-time, it is absolutely possible to escape the warned area well ahead of the most dangerous part of a storm, again requiring an understanding of the map. However, it is only a very narrow number of situations in which one should attempt to evacuate to safety, but all of these problems would be present with public shelters as well: you are in just as much danger running away from a storm as you are running to a shelter. During any of the situations in which one has a limited warning lead-time (such as a non-supercell tornado or a supercell tornado which is still in the early stages of formation), you are not going to be facing one of the strongest tornadoes and should shelter in place in an internal room.

The other primary issue when trying to get on the road is traffic is ALSO terrible here when we have bad weather. Often the traffic is at a standstill even when we get rain, so when you throw people trying to evacuate from the rain wrapped tornadoes into the mix, you have a disaster on the roads.

If it's already raining, you are in one of those situations in which your lead time is not high enough that you should evacuate.

Now given I am in the darkest area of this map:

edited link because it kept going elsewhere, so we have more tornados than any other area, but usually there are MANY small tornadoes at once that do little or no damage because they are more likely to form on top of us rather than have warning. In this area, we do not actually have much warning, I have repeatedly in my life actually seen the tornadoes form before the sirens go off, so sheltering in place seems to be the only real viable option.

Also, in case you missed it above, in regards to cellphone apps, what has happened here repeatedly during tornadoes, is the power goes out, the cell towers are down and you have no signal. So not only do you not have land lines, internet, television, you also do not have cellphones as well unless you have one of these :
http://www.forbes.com/sites/marcwebertobias/2013/03/18/how-and-when-to-buy-a-satellite-phone/
Don't count on it working in bad weather. Battery operated hand held radios and hand held weather radios are still your best bet.

That is why I suggested the cell-phone app as only one of several things you should try. However, you've gotten your timeline out of order: except in the worst outbreaks (such as April 27th 2011 in AL) in which there are multiple groups of storms, you will have cell coverage and power before the tornado, which is when you need to take action to save your life.

Low probability anecdotal stories about situations in which none of that advice helps does not mean that you shouldn't do everything in your power to increase your chances of surviving dangerous weather.

The thing is, this isn't " low probability" in regards to cellphones and storms. We deal with this issue EVERY spring. The power grids get overloaded due to lightning strikes prior to the storms actually hitting your location much of the time, leaving you and your nearest cell tower in the dark when it actually hits your area. The more common areas to be hit are actually in less populated areas, with less cell towers, all on the same power grid. So when it goes, you don't have anything. It would be nice if this were the exception rather than the rule, but it honestly isn't. Rather than rely heavily on something that is prone to failure during a storm, you would be better off with a $10 backup radio and a $40 hand held weather radio, both of which are less expensive than an unreliable cellphone. Hell where I am at right now, with no storms doesn't have good signal unless I use a signal boosting device indoors.

The outbreaks of multiple storms are the rule here rather than the exception. When you are discussion the areas most prone for tornadoes, you are discussing THIS area. We never just get "one storm" that would be abnormal for this area, just about every storm has a wave of storms here, given that I am in the DFW area.

As for my understanding of tornadoes, I do understand exactly what is happening, the issue is my entire area gets covered and is in danger when they occur here. There is no real direction that is " safe to go" if you are in a location that is surrounded by tornado outbreaks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_3,_2012_tornado_outbreak

 

[Ellie O'Daire]

The thing is, this isn't " low probability" in regards to cellphones and storms. We deal with this issue EVERY spring. The power grids get overloaded due to lightning strikes prior to the storms actually hitting your location much of the time, leaving you and your nearest cell tower in the dark when it actually hits your area. The more common areas to be hit are actually in less populated areas, with less cell towers, all on the same power grid. So when it goes, you don't have anything. It would be nice if this were the exception rather than the rule, but it honestly isn't. Rather than rely heavily on something that is prone to failure during a storm, you would be better off with a $10 backup radio and a $40 hand held weather radio, both of which are less expensive than an unreliable cellphone. Hell where I am at right now, with no storms doesn't have good signal unless I use a signal boosting device indoors.

I'm not suggesting a cell phone and nothing else. I'm suggesting as much as you can get your hands on. The reason I suggested the cell phone apps in the first place is that most people already have a cell phone, making the apps a quick and easy addition to your arsenal of information sources.

The outbreaks of multiple storms are the rule here rather than the exception. When you are discussion the areas most prone for tornadoes, you are discussing THIS area. We never just get "one storm" that would be abnormal for this area, Just about every storm has a wave of storms here, given that I am in the DFW region.

I apologize, I did not adequately qualify the final statement. I was referring to situations in which you have multiple tornadic thunderstorms tracking over the same location multiple times in a single outbreak, which even in the worst outbreaks is unlikely. I was not trying to imply that there is ever only "one storm" in a tornado outbreak. Sorry for the confusion. Again though, even the possibility of that situation should again encourage you to get as many information sources as possible, so once again I'm happy to see that we are making the same point.

Edit for your edit:

As for my understanding of tornadoes, I do understand exactly what is happening, the issue is my entire area gets covered and is in danger when they occur here. There is no real direction that is " safe to go" if you are in a location that is surrounded by tornado outbreaks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_3,_2012_tornado_outbreak

None of the storms in the outbreak you linked to are the kind for which you should evacuate your location. In every situation during the April 3, 2012 outbreak, sheltering in place in a permanent structure is the correct decision. And this illustrates my previous point: no location in this saw more than one tornado over the course of the day. There was an initial group of supercells that moved across the area, producing mostly EF0-EF2 tornadoes as they went, followed by a squall line. Dallas-Fort Worth itself had only a single supercell, followed shortly by the squall line.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

The thing is, this isn't " low probability" in regards to cellphones and storms. We deal with this issue EVERY spring. The power grids get overloaded due to lightning strikes prior to the storms actually hitting your location much of the time, leaving you and your nearest cell tower in the dark when it actually hits your area. The more common areas to be hit are actually in less populated areas, with less cell towers, all on the same power grid. So when it goes, you don't have anything. It would be nice if this were the exception rather than the rule, but it honestly isn't. Rather than rely heavily on something that is prone to failure during a storm, you would be better off with a $10 backup radio and a $40 hand held weather radio, both of which are less expensive than an unreliable cellphone. Hell where I am at right now, with no storms doesn't have good signal unless I use a signal boosting device indoors.

I'm not suggesting a cell phone and nothing else. I'm suggesting as much as you can get your hands on. The reason I suggested the cell phone apps in the first place is that most people already have a cell phone, making the apps a quick and easy addition to your arsenal of information sources.

The outbreaks of multiple storms are the rule here rather than the exception. When you are discussion the areas most prone for tornadoes, you are discussing THIS area. We never just get "one storm" that would be abnormal for this area, Just about every storm has a wave of storms here, given that I am in the DFW region.

I apologize, I did not adequately qualify the final statement. I was referring to situations in which you have multiple tornadic thunderstorms tracking over the same location multiple times in a single outbreak, which even in the worst outbreaks is unlikely. I was not trying to imply that there is ever only "one storm" in a tornado outbreak. Sorry for the confusion. Again though, even the possibility of that situation should again encourage you to get as many information sources as possible, so once again I'm happy to see that we are making the same point.

Edit for your edit:

As for my understanding of tornadoes, I do understand exactly what is happening, the issue is my entire area gets covered and is in danger when they occur here. There is no real direction that is " safe to go" if you are in a location that is surrounded by tornado outbreaks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_3,_2012_tornado_outbreak

None of the storms in the outbreak you linked to are the kind for which you should evacuate your location. In every situation during the April 3, 2012 outbreak, sheltering in place in a permanent structure is the correct decision. And this illustrates my previous point: no location in this saw more than one tornado over the course of the day. There was an initial group of supercells that moved across the area, producing mostly EF0-EF2 tornadoes as they went, followed by a squall line. Dallas-Fort Worth itself had only a single supercell, followed shortly by the squall line.

I was travelling from the Mesquite hospital region through the Forney medical center region during this, and on my way home encountered the f3 and the underreported f2 in Forney during this I have seen pictures of both funnels. The area hit with the f3 in forney is near the rockwall/forney border, and many first responders to diamond creek and residents reported seeing both funnels at the same time.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/?n=april32012forney

Locations did see more than one tornado, however the multiple tornados were within the same storm. Often the smaller tornados go underreported due to the focus being on the larger ones.

The problem here when we have an outbreak, it is never just one area that is in danger. The entire region is in danger, we get lucky if it is just one or two that touch down.

My path home was from 548 down 740 past the diamond creek subdivision that was hit.