Tornados? (Knoxville, Central, Philadelphia: houses, tornado, living in) - Tennessee (TN) - City-Data Forum

menglin · 02-03-2007, 07:21 AM

Hi having gone through some pretty scary weather the past couple days here in Central Florida. I was wondering about your Tornado activity in Tennessee? We are looking at the Knoxville area? Can anyone tell me about your experiences? Thanks.

KC38506 · 02-03-2007, 10:11 AM

You will experience a few tornado warnings here in Tennessee, especially Apriland May. Usually they're just warnings, with no tornado on the ground. We don't have ANYTHING like the thunderstorms in Florida, but occasionally it gets nasty. The good thing is that if you really don't like storms, the terrain allows for many houses to have basements ( good hideout during a tornado!)

Kim Gallagher · 02-03-2007, 12:13 PM

Menglin do you live near the area that got hit by the killer tornado that hit FL Friday? I live in Punta Gorda and had a direct hit by Charley so I know where you are coming from. I also am concerned about the tornados,I find them scarier then hurricanes.

JMT · 02-03-2007, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by menglin

Hi having gone through some pretty scary weather the past couple days here in Central Florida. I was wondering about your Tornado activity in Tennessee? We are looking at the Knoxville area? Can anyone tell me about your experiences? Thanks.

Knoxville doesn't receive nearly as many tornadoes as Florida or West Tennessee. But anything could happen. But like KC38506 said, fortunately the terrain here allows for homes with basements in the rare instances where you need to dash for cover.

daniellefort · 02-03-2007, 12:40 PM

I live in FL just west of those tornados and often did shopping in the same area where they hit. i think we actually had the same storms over us before they turned to tornados 30 minutes after going over us. it was nasty. I used to live in the White mountains of N.H. and because of the high mountain ranges, we didn't experience tornados at all. at least with a hurricane you have time to prepare. i do hear west TN is more prone to them. I'm looking to move to TN as well to get away from this crazy weather in FL. It just gets too close to home when it's just a town over from me.

Mrs.Bewitched · 02-03-2007, 12:49 PM

I've done researching into moving into different areas, becuase I really don't want to live in an area that is prone to natural disasters-major chance for earthquake, flood, tornado....and through researching, I pretty much found that EVERYWHERE gets tornados. Even where I lived in Philadelphia. Actually Philadelphia had more tornados than some towns I looked at in Tennessee! So unless you are actually living in tornado valley-I think Knoxville will be OK.

hiknapster · 02-03-2007, 01:28 PM

I was in Orlando during the February '98 tornadoes, was in Fort Myers during hurricane Charley. I hope that the third time won't be the charm.

Tennessee can get some wild weather. It is a prime spot for getting hot and cold air to hit each other, especially in the spring and fall. I've seen a lot of hail storms, and one really close call with a tornado but I think Knoxville is fairly protected because it is in the valley.

Tek_Freek · 02-03-2007, 09:32 PM

menglin,

Do a search of this forum for tornadoes and you will find quite a bit of information, including links to web sites that show where they are most (and least) common.

menglin · 02-04-2007, 07:01 AM

Thanks everybody, I know that everywhere is prone to Tornados, I just wanted to reduce my chances of coming in contact with one. LOL I live about 45 minutes south of where those tornados touched down. It was weird we got a lot of rain and wind. If you look at the replay of the line it looks like it breaks just in my area and then reforms and you got that tornado touchdown at 9 something in the morning south of me.

TXboomerang · 02-04-2007, 09:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by menglin

Thanks everybody, I know that everywhere is prone to Tornados, I just wanted to reduce my chances of coming in contact with one. LOL I live about 45 minutes south of where those tornados touched down. It was weird we got a lot of rain and wind. If you look at the replay of the line it looks like it breaks just in my area and then reforms and you got that tornado touchdown at 9 something in the morning south of me.

Hawaii and Alaska are pretty safe from tornado activity.

But for the lower 48, there is a chance one could get you anywhere. I agree though from what others have said, Knoxville is in the valley and the hills on the east and west side of town tend to disrupt the development of supercell thunderstorms that drop tornadoes. Could still happen, but Knoxville is as safe as TN gets.