HOW DO tornado spotters help people stay safe when a tornado is aprocahing an area?
827947
People know a tornado is comming when a spotter who got to close to the tornado lands in their front yard
736924
In the U.S., they're is a place called "Tornado Alley" because most Tornado's happen in that region.  So, where-ever else in the world they occour they must have the same conditions as Tornado Alley.\n\nJust like Hurricanes in the East are called Typhoons.\n\nTornado Alley\nhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_Alley\n\nTornado Alley Maps and Information\nhttp://www.tornadochaser.net/tornalley.html\n\nPS Tornado's over water are called Water Spouts\n\nWater Spouts\nhttp://www.australiasevereweather.com/techniques/moreadv/funnels.htm\n\nDust Devils (aka Funnels)\nhttp://www.australiasevereweather.com/techniques/moreadv/funnels.htm
1169838
Well if you live by cows or horses, stick around and watch. You can use this scale to determine what kind the tornado is.\n\nEverybody knows about the Fujita Scale which measures the power of tornados. But nobody really knows what all those types of twisters do to COWS. So here is the MOOJITA Scale...\n\nM0 Tornado - Cows in an open field are spun around parallel to the wind flow and become mildly annoyed.\nM1 Tornado - Cows are tipped over and can't get up.\nM2 Tornado - Cows begin rolling with the wind.\nM3 Tornado - Cows tumble and bounce.\nM4 Tornado - Cows are AIRBORN.\nM5 Tornado - S T E A K ! ! !
11502
In order for a tornado to form, a number of different things have to happen. The first thing that has to happen is that you have to have two different patches of air moving toward each other from opposite directions, with a warm one on the bottom and a cool one on the top.\n\nThe next thing that happens is that the warm air rises. (You may have learned about hot air rising in school.) After the warm air goes up, the cool air comes down to take its place. So now the warm and cool patches of air are moving side to side and up and down. So they make a spinning patch of air along the ground. This is probably pretty hard to imagine, so check out the picture:\n\nUsually when a tornado is starting, it happens during a storm. So there's lots of air moving around already. If a draft of air from the storm comes along close to the ground and then moves upwards (called an "up-draft"), it will pull the spinning air upwards.\n\nNow comes the part that we don't understand quite as well. So far the spinning air is still really really wide. Somehow it gets pulled in really tight so that it makes a tornado. (Scientists aren't exactly sure why this happens sometimes but not at other times.)
222039
You have to keep safe distance.
637162
I think I can tell from how you pose this question that you're looking with the intent of finding something to use for chasing. As an experienced spotter, the best advice I can give you first is to take a StormWarn spotter training course. You'll learn a lot about what you think you want to chase before doing so, and can get some tips. The tool I use is http://www.weathertap.com; for $6/month, you get near real-time Doppler - all fields, from all stations. You get NLDN data products, SPC/NOAA warnings, and extremely high-res (1 km grid spacing) visible satellite imagery. It's also available on Windows CE PDAs. Another tool, either independent of or combined with weathertap, would be the Professional Accuweather site, http://proa.accuweather.com. And, don't forget the Storm Prediction Center operational and experimental forecast products at http://www.spc.noaa.gov.
700988
I have been through a Tornado. We moved down into the basement. Do they have anything underground in your building? Storage or parking? I would go down as low and you can in the building and stay in a doorway.\n\nIt has been several hours since you posted, I am wondering if everything is ok now.
916746
I've been in a tornado. It is quite an experience alright. This tornado wasn't too wide, maybe 100 yards - and moving across the ground at about 30 mph. It came right at our house and lifted just slightly as it passed overhead. The houses in front of my house were gone, the houses behind my house had their roofs ripped off. My brother was watching the rain hit the picture window, and when it was on top of us, the window was just white from the water - you could see nothing. I was on the front porch when it hit. Just like that the  picture window came crashing thru the house giving my brother 2 huge black eyes. The pressure of the air was pushing the porch door so hard, I couldn't open it. My mom was inside trying to pull the door open - I was pushing. We could only see each other through the glass window in the door. I was hanging on the doorknob for dear life :-) I felt myself get very light and my feet almost came off the porch when the glass in the door broke. Me and my mom grabbed each other through the broken window. I was already blinded by debris and I think that's why I wasn't blinded by the glass. I already had my eyes closed. I was shattered with flying glass - My face and arms had cuts all over. When the door window broke, it 'released' the pressure holding it closed and we were able to open the door. My mom was trying to get my brother and sister down into the basement. The room had about 2 feet of water in it. Everything was floating. The tornado was right overhead. The whole house was shaking. It was a really loud sound. We were just able to get into the basement and stuff came flying into the house. Rocks, wood, etc. It lasted about 3 minutes - and then we came out of the basement just in time to see the houses behind us getting clobbered. I was on the front porch watching it come at us, but was just facinated at the destruction it was causing before it hit. I can laugh now - but no one was laughing when it hit. :-) I'll never forget the look on my brother and sister face when that picture window crashed down on them - I'll never forget the panic look in my mom's face.\nYa wanna hear something ironic? About 8 years later I was drafted into the Viet Nam War, so I enlisted in the Air Force before the Army could get me. I ended up being a weatherman and was assigned to chasing tornados to launch weatherballoons into them along 'Tornado Alley' (nickname for route 66 from Chicago to Oklahoma where the most tornados occur). Funny thing, being a tornado chaser wasn't even close to being in one - not even close.  :-)
531695
Well an easy one is the thermometer of corse for the temperature \n\nAnother will be your barometer this instament measures pressure of the atmosphere (lower pressure a good signal for bad weather) \n\nThe anamometer we use to measure wind speed and direction \n\nNow one of the ccolest instaments we have is a laser cieliometer...aka(LBC) this device measures cloud heights by firing an invisible laser into the air, however it is only good up to 12,000ft AGL (above ground level)\n\nTransmisometer-runway visual range\nWSR-88D(Radar)- storm location, movement, intesity, direction...ect\n\nThere are several instaments we use....one of the best resources other than this might be to go to the local news station.
424052
sure but then again who isnt afraid of something that destructive? you may just have been in shock or somthing. maybe in 9-10 years, learn more about tornadoes so u know more about them and are ready and prepared!
447507
The main hazards of a tornado include extremely high winds, flying debris, and sometimes the associated weather phenomena, such as large hail and heavy rain. The extremely high winds pick up debris, causing seemingly harmless things such as small pieces of styrofoam or wood to become lethal projectiles. The winds can also cause extensive structural damage. The storms associated with tornadoes also bring hazards such as baseball-sized hail and intense rain around the vicinity of the tornado.
1106871
I've seen several funnel clouds, those are an awesome and chilling sight. By the time you notice them they're pretty well-formed. Almost all of them last a few seconds and either dissipate or roll back up into the sky. We were actually involved with a real tornado three years ago, It was an F1-F2 that stayed on the ground for almost thirty miles. I heard  the siren go off in the next town, we got the kids and the dogs in the basement. My wife and I kept going outside and looking around for something more threatening than the usual oncoming thunderstorm. After about 10 minutes we heard the freight train coming and headed downstairs. The house shook enough that the dust came down from the rafters. It lasted less than thirty seconds and then a whole lot of rain came down. The tornado missed us by 200 yards. The telephone pole in the corner of my back yard was okay, the one next to it was torn out of the ground and thrown across the road. The one next to that was torn out and thrown a hundred yards. No one in my rural neighborhood was hurt, but they did wind up bulldozing and rebuilding three homes. The home across the street had the front porch torn off and thrown over the roof, exposing a large hole in the roof deck that let in enough rain to collapse most of the ceilings. The path of damage was maybe a half-mile wide. Homes outside that range did not see much damage. I was surprised that the wind was toward the tornado, not away from it. The funnel was enough of a low-pressure point to draw the air towards it at a hundred-and-some miles an hour. The broken trees have repaired themselves, the homes and farms have been rebuilt, The only lasting reminder is a lot of sheets of tin barn roof still wrapped around treetops. We're in Northern Ohio. Moderate tornado damage is at least a yearly event in the area. Huge destructive disastrous storms like they get in the plains are a rarity.
242815
People who stand outside in lightening storms....
47429
Go here http://www.fema.gov/hazards/tornadoes/\nand here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornadoes
727972
How would ya'll know? Have you ever been inside one?\n\nNo one knows. It's hard to get instruments to measure the temperature inside a tornado. \nNo one ain't gonna stand there and throw one in. \nIt's to dangerous to get out in front of it and try to lay one down, even if you did most likely it will change direction.\n\nSo No One Knows Yet.
126275
remember......tornadoes are not sraight!!\n\nthey slant because of the moving direction of the mix of hot and cold air.
323606
um, there aren't 5 precautions for tornados that I know of.  You just find a space away from windows or sharp object, preferably in the center of the house.  Cover your head with something.  If you are outside do NOT seek shelter under an overpass (you'll get sucked out); find a ditch instead.  Keep a radio nearby if possible.  It's best to be in a storm celler if one is available.\n\nMaybe your are talking about the way they label the tornado F1, F2, F3....F5.  F1 being smaller and F5 largest.  The May 3rd 1999 tornado in Moore Oklahoma was an F5, it was huge.  Anyone who wasn't underground, for the most part, didn't make it.\n\nAnyway, I guess there could be a set of precautions meteorologist offically post about tornado safety, just google "tornado safety" and it should bring up a list, if it has 5 items, there's your answer.