<p>I haven’t read everything on this thread, but I wanted to add my 2 cents on what to do if you’re in a car: NEVER try to outrun it. If there is nowhere to shelter and it’s still some distance away, move at right angles to it. If there is nowhere to shelter and it’s too close to be able to avoid, get facedown in a ravine or low-lying area. Do not get under the girders of an overpass, as this will actually act as a wind tunnel in a tornado.</p>
<p>I have lived my entire life in Oklahoma, and this has been drilled into my head. I now have to tell you that I have never actually seen a funnel from cloud to ground. I really don’t think you have much to worry about, just be weather aware.</p>
<p>A few years ago, I was traveling through Kansas and the weather was bad. I had the radio on, and they kept mentioning tornado warnings in XXXX county. Well, that would have been really helpful, except I had no idea what county I was in and how far XXXX might be from me; this was before the days of GPS or smartphones. I realized at that point that we do it the same way in Oklahoma. My recommendation is that you have access to a state map with counties marked on it during your trip. </p>
<p>Ironically, on that same trip, we turned south on the interstate to go back to Oklahoma, and there were three beautifully rounded thunderheads, lined up in a row, many miles ahead, and moving at 90 degree angles to us. I suggested to my husband that we stop and get a bite to eat and let the storms pass. We stopped for about 30 minutes…and later passed through where a tornado had crossed the highway about 30 minutes before we got there.</p>
<p>Rob mentioned iMap Weather Radio (James Spann (weatherman extraordinaire in Birmingham, AL) recommended it. It’s about $10 but worth every penny for the peace of mind.)</p>
<p>LOL you’ll have a great view of the weather on the flat parts of your trip.</p>
<p>I think there’s been a lot of good advice here. I wonder, though, if the OP is so concerned about a short, college visiting trip, why would they even consider sending their child to a college in an area there are frequently tornados? Their child would then be in a tornado area for months on end. Talk about setting yourself up for future stress and anxiety. There are so many great colleges all around the country, try to steer your child to colleges in an area you consider safer.</p>
<p>^^^^As the chance of any one person being injured by a tornado is extremely remote, even in tornado alley, it would seem unfair to the child to allow a parent’s irrational fear to eliminate schools which the student may want to attend and which may benefit him in his career and personal development.</p>
<p>I live in the state with the most tornadoes, and I’ve never seen a tornado since I’ve lived here (since age 7).</p>
<p>Not overly concerned by tornadoes. If in a town / college / place with buildings the actions you should take seem clear and are well explained on a number of web sites. I could just imagine driving down the freeway and on the horizon or a few miles away I see a tornado. I am in the middle of nowhere in a place I am not familiar with…what do you do? Great info in this thread. Lets face it, there are dangerous things wherever a student attends school. Most involve the actions of humans rather than nature.</p>
<p>The iphone apps are perfect. should have thought of that.</p>
<p>I work in a place with a view of an entire city. One afternoon, pampers and trash flew by my windows, lots of trash and I looked to the horizon and saw to my utter amazement and fear 3 twisters. Our children at the school were just being loaded onto buses for their trek home. I flew down the stairs to warn folks…tornadoes. The kids and buses turned out to be fine in the end. The city located in the eastern mediterranean experienced major swaths of destruction. It is not normal in this area, not like in the midwest. But it happens. No basements here. And later I learned that the little village where I live in Greek means swirling winds! And I am moving in the summer to the midwest. :)</p>
<p>I do NOT like tornados. When i was younger and living in FL no less. One struck down less than a mile from my house and went along the interstate. The weather was bad that day and my mom kept me home from school due to it. We had tornado drills at my school but almost all the classes were in portables (aka classrooms on wheels); those are SO not tornado friendly.</p>
<p>Another time, one struck down in our back yard. It was a smaller one, but it took out our huge tree (and somehow managed to avoid damaging the fence and my treefort) then it jumped to my friends yard and threw her above ground pool into another neighbors yard.</p>
<p>Oh joy were those good times.</p>
<p>Here in recent years, i believe last summer we had a rain so bad it flooded the street then the city decided “Oh lets test the sirens for no bloody reason”. Ugh >.></p>
<p>Another time one struck down in a shopping center we liked to go to. -__-</p>
<p>I highly dislike being home alone when warnings go off.</p>
<p>After living in a neighborhood in Alabama which was struck by a tornado when I was quite young, I became just terrified of them. I would get extremely anxious whenever a tornado watch was announced on TV. In elementary school in Texas, we would periodically have tornado drills, where we were herded into the hallway and instructed to put our heads down, covering them with our arms. This just increased my fears and I would have nightmares about tornadoes. My mother finally interrupted me while I was recounting yet another tornado drill ordeal and said, “Honey, these aren’t really tornado drills. They are actually bomb drills-you know, the cold war?” I was so terrified of tornadoes that the thought that we were actually preparing for a bomb event was truly a comfort. I didn’t believe we’d be bombed by the Soviet Union, so in the future, I was much more relaxed when we had those tornado drills. </p>
<p>My D, a California native, attends a college in Tornado Alley. Earlier this month, she experienced her first tornado warning – first time in 3 years, so it’s not a common occurence. The tornado actually touched down 50 or 60 miles to the south.</p>
<p>Tornado response was covered during her freshman Orientation, which freaked her out a little bit. She had refused to apply to colleges in the South, fearing hurricanes, but she hadn’t thought about twisters. OTOH, some of her native-Midwest friends can’t understand how anyone could live out here in earthquake country. </p>
<p>As far as how she was notified, she first heard the sirens which are all over the town. A few moments later, she got a text from the college’s Emergency Notification System. She discovered later that they’d also sent her an email which she would have seen immediately if she’d been on her computer.</p>
<p>Every building on campus has a tornado shelter, so she knew where to go. She said later that the whole thing was “exciting.”</p>
<p>I’ve never experienced a tornado warning, so I don’t have personal knowledge of how scary I’m sure they are. But I have lived through a number of earthquakes, and I’m still here in California. I figure if you rule out every part of the country that has some kind of climate or geological issue, you’ll rule out a lot of good schools.</p>
<p>I don’t think anyone has mentioned this - but if they have smart phones or ipads with G3 - download a good weather app and sign up for push alerts. </p>
<p>Tornados “generally” move to the north and east. Chasers always leave exit routes to the south and west for this reason. </p>
<p>Lived in tornado alley my entire life. Have never seen one. </p>
<p>Can also buy a simple weather radio - most walgreens sell them in the midwest and tune it in - may need to program the counties they will travel to. Most can be battery operated.</p>
<p>You can also sign up for text alerts - for severe weather warnings for those counties you are driving through - at least one local tv station will probably offer this service for free, check their websites. Also check for their weather apps.</p>
<p>Keep it tuned to AM and Fm RAdio - usually the news talk stations - they will go into wall-to-wall coverage during severe weather. check websites or call stations to see if they “cover weather” in these situations.</p>
<p>The biggest danger is often while travelling during the dark, and it’s raining - tornado can be rain wrapped and often impossible to see in these situations. </p>
<p>Otherwise - there are usually many indicators, wall clouds, rotation in the sky - etc. With today’s technology - there are usually warnings in advance. Most start with a severe thunderstorm watch - which can then go to a warning and or tornado watch. Tornado WARNING - means conditions are ripe and to take cover.</p>
<p>Tornadoes are so, like, for kids. In South Louisiana we had named storms to deal with and even got hit a couple times. Nothing to it, a day or two of 10 inches of rain, and that’s it :).</p>
<p>Having lived in the Midwest for 30 years almost, you get used to them. What you don’t get used is the weather in general… And if you’re born outside the US, it is hard to fathom US weather overall… </p>
<p>Quakes, incidentally, you can plan for with proper building codes (such as those in Europe in quake prone areas). Here, our idea of hurricane-resistant homes is a few pieces of metal to ‘hold’ the roof and the house together (while it’s being demolished by the wind :)).</p>
<p>I would take a hurricane over a tornado any day of the week. Imo they are no where near as bad as tornados.</p>
<p>I lived in FL for 8 years, I know hurricanes. I remember one time when we got 4 days off from school because of one. A few downed trees and debres later, life went on.</p>
<p>I’m sitting in my den listening to tornado sirens. D2 just texted me and said her school is in tornado lockdown. I just watched a big tornado on the news (taken from a helicopter) move through south Dallas and move through a large trailer truck park. It was throwing these enormous trailers around like they were match sticks. I have never seen anything like it. You would see it lift a trailer up into the tornado and then it would come out of the side of it much higher up and just spit it out. Unreal. Many major highways in the area. There is another tornado moving through Arlington right now and moving towards DFW airport and western Dallas. :eek:</p>
<p>Wow! Watching coverage on the TWC right now. Those tractor trailers flying around were unreal … they looked like toys being thrown around. I hope all of our Texas friends are safe.</p>