Canadian Gardening: Batten Down the Hatches Saskatchewan :(, 1 by Lilypon

Lilypon wrote:
This shot was taken just 5 minutes before the ones above.......these clouds are full of baseball sized hail.

Tornadoes

No other atmospheric event can match the sheer energy and fury of tornadoes. With top speeds of about 320 mph, they produce nature's highest winds.

Tornadoes develop in the rising-air environment of thunderstorms, and within tornadoes themselves the air spirals upward in corkscrew fashion. The stronger a thunderstorm's updraft, the more likely it is the thunderstorm will spawn one or more tornadoes. Because it takes a powerful updraft to keep hailstones aloft long enough for them to grow to large size (golf-ball or larger), the occurrence of large hail is the single best indicator of a tornadic thunderstorm. Not all thunderstorms that bring large hail will necessarily produce a tornado, but most tornadoes occur in thunderstorms that also produce large (golf-ball or larger) hail.

Rule: When a tornado approaches, always abandon a vehicle for more substantial shelter; even lying flat in a deep ditch is safer than attempting to survive a tornado in your car.

Fact: Half of all people caught in a tornado in their automobiles DIE.

When a tornado threatens, the safest place in a house is in the basement under the stairwell or under a strong bench, or on the ground floor in a small room (like bathroom) toward the interior of the structure.

This message was edited Jul 17, 2005 10:55 PM