Tornados in Dallas (Fort Worth, Plano, Garland: insurance, neighborhood, buy)

[socketz]

Mom,

I want to agree with you of course as it calms my nerves as I'm sure it does others.

However, the other day when Gopadge posted some Tornado stats, it looks like close to 65 twisters have made their way through Collin County alone. That's about 1 per year (his stats started in I believe 57).

Do you know what's being used to collect these Tornado stats ? Are they simply formations in the sky being counted ?

[momof2dfw]

What I'm guessing is that for years before technology caught up w/ the weather patterns/formations that we counted anytime very strong wind damage was done as a tornado or some kind of tornadic activity especially if it was at night. Then as technology has changed and our weather service has gained insight into how better to predict these storms and can tell if the clouds are forming the "hook" that forms a tornado they can issue a warning or watch. I'm not sure if they count a "hook" in the sky or the rotations as a true "tornado" if no one sees it or if it does not drop down.

There is only one time that I know that we felt we were in danger. It was back in June 1999 on a Friday late afternoon. We were living in Rowlett at the time and it had been a BEAUTIFUL day. Then some storms started moving thru and warnings and watches were issued. When they were showing on the radar on tv the 3 rotations in the clouds right in our area and we could look up and see the clouds rotating......... I had the kids in the bathtub w/ the dogs, blankets & pillows on top of them and then the mattress from the crib right there to throw on top of them if it dropped. My husband then made me go in there w/ them while he watched to see if anything transpired. Thank God nothing ever did and it all disappeared as soon as the storm moved over the water on the lake. strange.............. but we were told later that even large bodies of water like the lakes can change the pressure and make them break up. I'm also one of those that thinks of things that no one else does to be better prepared. So whenever there is a warning that is bad I have my keys in my pocket and anything else that may be needed if something should happen. My husband thought I was strange for getting my keys but I told him what if something does happen like the roof is blown off and everything blown around and away like my purse and our car keys but the car is sitting there fine or w/ minor damage. Now he does the same thing. LOL!!!

[socketz]

Your story moved me. I can't imagine how terrifying it must be to be huddled in the bathtub with you family with a only a mattress separating you from <I'd rather not write it>. So that was the only run in you've had in 40 plus years ?

And it sounds like you've lived all over the place here....

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by socketz

Your story moved me. I can't imagine how terrifying it must be to be huddled in the bathtub with you family with a only a mattress separating you from <I'd rather not write it>. So that was the only run in you've had in 40 plus years ?

And it sounds like you've lived all over the place here....

Thanks. Yes, that is the only run in we have had w/ a tornado. The only other time we were close was the Mothers Day tornado back in 1993 that hit Sachse and Wylie. We lived about 5 miles down the road but we were at my parents house over in Carrollton when it came thru. We had no clue what had happened but we knew something had when the police and Red Cross had Hwy 78 shut down for any traffic going North out of Garland. Back then Sachse and Wylie were both VERY small and still VERY rural.

[GoPadge]

I reviewed the data and I hope this adds some illumination. The biggest things I saw was that there were only 17 deaths in 45 years (1950 - 1995). Also not the number of F0 and F1 storms, they account for almost 70% of the tornados.

................# of....Total...Total...# of....# of....# of....# of....# of....#
................Events..Dead....Injured.F0......F1 ......F2......F3......F4......F5
Collin County...33.......1.......127.....12......10...... .8......3......0......0
Dallas Count....66......13.......346.....23......23...... 12......7......1......0
Delta County.....4.......2........12......0.......0..... ..3......1......0......0
Denton County...27.......0.........5......6......10...... 10......1......0......0
Ellis County....35.......0........51.....13......14..... ..6......1......1......0
Hood County.....18.......0........22......4.......9.... ...5......0......0......0
Hunt County.....46.......0........32.....14......20.... ...9......3......0......0
Johnson County..68.......0........11.....15......28......2 0......4......1......0
Kaufman County..25.......1.........2.....10......10....... 4......1......0......0
Parker County...49.......0........12.....15......16...... 17......0......1......0
Rockwall County.11.......0.........0......6.......3.......2 ......0......0......0
Tarrant County..62.......0........44.....16......30......1 5......1......0......0
Wise County.....35.......0.........2......9......19.... ...6......1......0......0
TOTALS.........479......17.......666....143......1 92....117......2......3......4

[socketz]

Here's the F or Fujita scale (I think this is now obsolete) if some of you were wondering what a F0/F1 is equiv to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujita_scale

Anyone know what the Alabama Tornado was on the Fujita ? F5 ?

[momof2dfw]

Tonight on the news they said the one in Enterprise, Alabama was an F3. My husband lived not far from there for a few years and had been in that school. Very sad, very sad. There were a lot of tornadoes yesterday that occured in Alabama and Georgia. That is the one thing that I have noticed. When they occur in Texas it is generally just one. When they show other states it will have been an "outbreak" of torndadoes. THAT is scary.

[socketz]

I could have swore one news report said there was 6 of them on the ground at once at one point. The storm covered something like a 1,000 miles.

Incredible.

[GoPadge]

According to one of the news networks this morning, (I was in the Rec Center split between NBC5i, FoxNews and CNN,) one tornado yesterday in Alabama was on the ground for over an hour.

[KewGee]

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

When they occur in Texas it is generally just one. When they show other states it will have been an "outbreak" of torndadoes. THAT is scary.

Just as an example that isn't so is what happened two months ago............

One of the largest Winter tornado outbreaks in North Texas occurred on the 29th of December, 2006. So far, 20 tornadoes have been confirmed across North Texas on the 29th of December.

The counties affected were Johnson, Limestone, Coryell, Bosque, and Hill. Only one person was killed and the worst tornado on this day was "only" as F2but for December, that's not encouraging.

I happened to be after-Christmas shopping that day and had to take cover twice while traveling home, once in Joshua and once in Rio Vista.

Keep a watchful eye out in the Spring and see if Texas doesn't have "an outbreak" of them. I'm a freak when it comes to severe weather and unfortunately, pay too much attention to what goes on during the storms. There are very often outbreaks in Texas; I believe "just one" is a rarity.