It’s a widely held tornado myth that under the ground is the only safe place to be during a tornado. Above-ground shelters are put thru the same rigourous testing as below-ground shelters to withstand up to EF5 tornadoes. For families with elderly members or individuals with disabilities, there is easy access without the need to navigate stairs, which can be crucial for ensuring quick and safe entry during an emergency. Additionally, above-ground shelters can be installed within the home, such as in a garage, basement, or even as a standalone structure on the property. This flexibility allows people to choose a location that best suits their needs and space constraints. They are typically at a lower cost point and installation is usually faster.

I see strange man he in the image. He come to my yard uninvited and fuck up my whole yard. He yeellll oh so lous. Screaming fuck. Spinning tube cloud. He throw my shit all over the yar. Cherry bush get ripped from earth and fuckin fly away. How can it do that? Is this legal? Who is this man?

This is a very deep scientific discussion about tornado chasers and their video documentation. I’ve learned a few few things. My tornado chasing days started in 1997 with the F5 Jarrel tornado that tore the asphalt off the road and disintegrated it, killing 27. If you were not below ground, you had no chance. This was a tornado that you get in your car and you drive away from, but back then folks huddled under bridges watching the tornado 25 miles away.

30 years later, here’s how things go with storm chasers. Things have changed.

First of all, all tornadoes are large and violent. Weak tornadoes don’t exist with storm chasers.

If you see powerline flashing, yell “power flash power flash“.
If you see leaves falling in the air, yell “trees trees!”

if trees are being blown strongly by wind, yell “ It’s tearing out trees”.
If you experience ping-pong ball size hail, yell “Softball size hail coming down”.

Reed Timmer is no longer cool. He’s nothing but a bunch of yelling sound bites looking like a dumb teenager with his hat around backwards munching on bags of chips and screaming here and there for no apparent reason. I’m not gonna say he’s on drugs but all indications look like something’s not quite right in his head. With all of the fantastic chasing videos out there, people have abondoned him due to his shocking screams and sounds that could give you a heart attack. on YouTube you can watch six hours of continuous coverage and you will notice that the crew has some major road rage issues and you’ll notice that as you watch the videos. I can’t recall if it was Cooley’ team or not but it’s embarrassing to watch how they treat others on the chase as if they think they have priority over other Chasers.

i watched the Cooley guys chase a few tornados today and they are still driving dangerously and it was not at all needed.

edit: the 6 hours of video I’m referring to which has an incredible footage of tornado intercepts.
https://youtu.be/VAK2kOQHY14?si=C_Ks2k9LJilZk2ps

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Mine is this one

Not sure if this is the right sub to ask this, but here we go.

I don’t really know a lot about tornadoes, other than I live right in the middle of Tornado Alley. I’ve been around a lot of them in my 30 years here. Where my Okies at?

The question I’m posing is, why can’t we just use air to disrupt them? Like an aerosol bomb, or some other kind of modified thermobaric weapon that wouldn’t harm anything.

This scale is a new proposal to replace the Enhanced Fujita scale. This scale represents the intensity not danger level of a tornado. We've decided to measure it by three variables, those being, Wind Speed, Ground Speed (forward speed), and Width. We've decided that the slower the ground speed, the more intense the tornado is, although this variable only affects 40% of the outcome, and decreases the higher the forward speed. (0 is most intense, and 120 is least). This scale is named the Walthicius scale, as a combination of two last names.

Walthicius Intensity Scale Summary

The Walthicius Intensity Scale is a 1 to 10 rating system that measures the raw intensity of a tornado, independent of the danger it poses to people or structures. This scale rates tornadoes based on three primary factors:

1. Wind Speed (km/h) - Higher wind speeds increase the tornado’s intensity score, as faster winds generate more destructive power.
2. Ground Speed (km/h) - The speed at which the tornado moves across the ground, with slower ground speeds correlating to a higher intensity. This is because slower-moving tornadoes can cause more damage by lingering longer over an area. To capture this:
   • Ground speed is weighted exponentially: slower ground speeds (closer to 0 km/h) have a disproportionately higher impact on the intensity score, while faster ground speeds (approaching the maximum of 120 km/h) contribute very little to the final intensity score.
3. Width (km) - The width of the tornado’s path, with wider tornadoes considered more intense because they affect a larger area.

Formula

The Walthicius Intensity Score is calculated by combining the three factors into a single score, with adjustments to ensure each factor contributes proportionally:

Intensity Score=f(Wind Speed,Ground Speed,Width)\text{Intensity Score} = f(\text{Wind Speed}, \text{Ground Speed}, \text{Width})Intensity Score=f(Wind Speed,Ground Speed,Width)

where:

• Wind Speed and Width are scaled linearly relative to the maximum observed values (e.g., 530 km/h for wind speed, 5 km for width).
• Ground Speed is scaled using an exponential decay, where speeds closer to 0 increase intensity significantly more than those closer to 120 km/h.

The final Intensity Score is normalized to fit within the 1 to 10 scale, with 10 representing the most intense possible tornado based on observed data.

Example

• A tornado with high wind speed, low ground speed, and a large width will score near the upper end (close to 10) on the scale, indicating extreme intensity.
• A tornado with moderate wind speed, high ground speed, and small width will score lower, indicating lower intensity.
• Walthicius Intensity Scale Summary