Tornadoes?

[foxpaw]

Originally Posted by Laurek

I've heard there are tonadoes in Austin? What does one do about it? A storm shelter? Any areas to avoid? Any types of housing better than others? I know all about earthquakes, but tornadoes are out of my arena of experience! yikes!

It’s a myth that tornadoes don’t happen in cities. We’ve been lucky, because tornadoes have occurred all over Texas! In every direction. Tornadoes do seem more frequent north of Austin, but a tornado will occur anywhere, if the weather conditions are right. We’ve apparently had a few in recent years—of lower rated tornadoes. In 1922–a hundred years ago! there were two tornadoes the same day—of course where they touched down was largely undeveloped then—not built up as it is now. While we’ll be lucky if we only get one in a hundred years, there’s no guarantee. Kinda like San Francisco, and Earthquakes.
You do not want to be in a trailer, during a tornado, or in a car. Definitely the worst place to be is under a bridge or overpass. I was surprised when I moved here that people are told to shelter in the center of their house, away from windows. That’s the best advice available, as that’s the most people can do—but in an EF3 or higher tornado, the house could be blown away, or collapse into a pile of rubble. In that case, people inside would be extremely lucky to survive.

Problem is—better options are not available here—but they should be! FEMA rates Travis County’s most severe Catastrophic weather risk factor to be from a tornado, giving the probability as “Very High.” These are just statistics, though. Nobody can say WHEN, but a tornado could be in Austin any time, just as they have appeared all over the state. There’s no special feature in Austin which makes us immune, unfortunately.

[ScoPro]

You are replying to a poster who has not been active for well over 15 years - 4 years before I registered here myself.
But welcome to C-D anyway.

[Ivory Lee Spurlock]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

You are replying to a poster who has not been active for well over 15 years - 4 years before I registered here myself.
But welcome to C-D anyway.

I just now read the entire thread and didn't realize it was an old thread until I read your post. I do that alot. I really do need to get in the habit of checking the dates first. But it was still interesting reading.

[ScoPro]

I live just north of Austin on the west side of Round Rock.
The only tornado that I have personally witnessed in this area was an “offshoot” twister spawned by the deadly 1997 Jarrell F5 storm (google that one).
Austin is in the extreme southern tip of the so-called “tornado Alley”, but the few twisters that do occur in the area are usually very minor affairs that might blow down a barn of a few sheds.

[Roadking2003]

I've lived here 25 years and have never seen a tornado.