Tornadoes in Poland! (at least two captured on video)

[Nowhere]

http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=_EPXh32sQKA

http://pl.youtube.com/watch?v=oRnavvW9U9g

Definatelly something wierd with weather is happening...it was usual for the whole country to receive 1-4 in a year. But in recent years they're becoming much more common and violent...

BTW, question to the ones "used" to them: how strong they were if:
- throws over large trucks/buses/trees
- strips brick buildings (with little damage to the walls/etc.) of its roofs and...many things that are inside; more lightly built buildings - devastated
- damages railroad tracks/highway pavement (though I'm not sure to what degree)
(oh, and I'm not sure if that's just one tornadoe over time or...three O_o )

[cjolley]

I always knew Oklahoma must have some kind of exportable resource.

[Dr Mordrid]

BTW, question to the ones "used" to them: how strong they were if:
- throws over large trucks/buses/trees
- strips brick buildings (with little damage to the walls/etc.) of its roofs and...many things that are inside; more lightly built buildings - devastated
- damages railroad tracks/highway pavement (though I'm not sure to what degree)
(oh, and I'm not sure if that's just one tornadoe over time or...three O_o )

Enhanced Fujita Scale (F0 - F5) parameters

IIRC (CJ can correct me if I'm wrong) the strongest F5 recorded in the US was near Oklahoma City and had wind speeds of >300 mph (480 km/h)

I witnessed a mile wide F5 in Texas and believe me, you never get that sight (or sound) out of your mind.

[UtwigMU]

We also had two roof-stripping ones this year which is entirely unusal occurance in this country.

[Dr Mordrid]

If you have mountains west of plains with water to the south or southwest you can have ass-kickin' tornadoes. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when.

[cjolley]

Enhanced Fujita Scale (F0 - F5) parameters

IIRC (CJ can correct me if I'm wrong) the strongest F5 recorded in the US was near Oklahoma City and had wind speeds of >300 mph (480 km/h)

I witnessed a mile wide F5 in Texas and believe me, you never get that sight (or sound) out of your mind.

That was an interesting night.
It was our 13th anniversary. Figures

We were going to have a nice evening out, but decided to stay at home where we could watch the weather because there was a large tornado headed straight towards our house about 10 miles away.
So far the tornado was out in the boondocks tearing the hell out of a bunch of farmer's fields.
So the weather man, after describing how big it was, said something like "The only thing that could cause that huge tornado to grow would be if it were to turn east."
About two minutes later, just after it came north far enough to be even with a populated area, he said "It's turning east!"
Right into a bunch of regular American suburban housing additions.

Well, that got our house off the hook, but about 2,000 other homes were destroyed outright and 7,000 damaged.

Driving down I-35 a week later, the place where the funnel crossed looked like someone had pushed a 1/4 mile wide lawn mower over the houses and businesses.
Or a bomb had been set off in a huge lumber yard.
This is not an exaggeration. It was pickup sticks with no recognizable structures at all.
Where the storm crossed the median of the interstate the debris had scoured the grass completely off of the median ( it's about 75m wide there because of an interchange) down to the red clay for nearly a half a mile.

318 mph winds in that thing.

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

[degrub]

Yep, it's a sound and a feeling that becomes instinctive ...

Which is faster across the prairie....

a person chased by a bull or

a person noticing a squall line on the horizon ?



An F1 will do the damage you are describing for Poland. F2 for sure.

[Dr Mordrid]

Where the storm crossed the median of the interstate the debris had scoured the grass completely off of the median ( it's about 75m wide there because of an interchange) down to the red clay for nearly a half a mile.

The one I witnessed in Texas tore up the asphalt on the freeway along with the grass. One of those mile-wide ones with multiple vortex's wound up like hell & tearing ass across the flatlands. That's the weird thing about twisters; wind velocity isn't everything - you just can't predict 'em or what they'll destroy. I've seen one drop down and level one house to the basement floor leaving the neighbors homes <100 feet away untouched.

[Nowhere]

Yeah degrub, from the description on the wiki I'd guess F2s - on one photo roof of brick house was completelly stripped (as in...nowhere in sight) with inner construction (dividing 1st floor from attic) also mostly gone and debris of "contents" of the house scattered inside (also ).

Oh, and it's not clear on the video but the bus did ~400 degrees roll to the right, jamming itself in the trench at the end.

But still...would be something to actually see a tornado

BTW, since they're becoming relativelly common here, apparently...what to do when you're in a car and tornado sneaked on you somehow?
Is stopping, like they did in the above video, really a good idea? (thinking more about the small cars visible which can turn the other way quickly, not the bus)

[cjolley]

BTW, since they're becoming relativelly common here, apparently...what to do when you're in a car and tornado sneaked on you somehow?

Do not stay in a car if a tornado approaches.
Lie down in the nearest ditch if nothing better is available, it's much safer than staying in a car.

[degrub]

We were taught 1) get away fast at 90 degrees if it is heading for you if you can 2) storm cellar 3) inside basement in a closet 4) inside a culvert (pipe under roads that allows ditches to pass under 5) up under a bridge wedged in a tight corner 6) in a ditch - in that order.

We did 1 & 2 a few times.

[Dr Mordrid]

Getting under a bridge is NOT a good idea!!

We were taught in school that bridges are among the most dangerous places to be during a tornado, and many years later this article confirmed what our science teacher taught us 4+ years ago.

Also: tornadoes can move VERY fast, change direction like a jackrabbit and jump like a pogo stick, so running 90 degrees to its "path" is problematic since you can't predict that path for more than a few seconds if that. That and an even worse place to be than under a bridge is to be in a car waiting to be turned into a half-assed astronaut by the twister.

Best to stop the car right where you are and find a ditch - they will often hop ditches.

USA Today article....

Overpasses are tornado death traps

By Chris Cappella, USATODAY.com

05/17/2005

Despite what you might have heard, highway overpasses are death traps, not good shelters, in a tornado.

National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Miller explains his frustration: "We routinely tell people to get down, cover up, and get as many things as possible between them and the tornado. When they get up under an overpass, they’re doing the opposite of that."

In effect, the area under and overpass amounts to a wind tunnel that speeds up the wind, and any debris it's carrying.

Miller stresses that it’s not the wind that’s the threat, it’s what’s in the wind.

"Imagine everything in your apartment or house ripped apart and airborne at 100 to 200 miles an hour. Overpasses can be collection areas for all of this debris," making them dangerous places to be in tornadoes.

The idea comes from an endlessly televised video shot on the Kansas Turnpike in April 1991. In it, a TV crew dramatically outruns a looming tornado and seeks shelter with a family coached to "get up under the girders" of an overpass. They survived.

Unlike most highway overpasses on the central Plains, however, this particular overpass happened to have exposed girders and even a "crawl space" at the top of the embankment, Miller notes. Plus, the tornado never directly hit them.

Evidence from the May 3, 1999 Oklahoma tornadoes shows the danger: Of 17 people sheltering under an I-35 overpass, all but one were blown out by the wind; one was killed. A few miles away, one person was dismembered and about a dozen others suffered serious injuries: broken backs, severed body parts, deep cuts from head to toe, says Harold Brooks, a research meteorologist with National Severe Storms Laboratory. Just "really ugly injuries."

[degrub]

Either way, Doc, you make do with whatever is at hand. Like you say, there is not much time for making decisions. Sometimes the first you know of it is the roaring and shaking.....

[Nowhere]

http://forum.lowcyburz.pl/viewtopic.php?f=169&t=1366&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&sid=5eee943719fe296582223e693162602a&start=15

Sooo...F3?

[degrub]

Hard to say because the construction methods look different - unreinforced masonry - brick/stone is brittle, doesn't take much impact to shatter. How the roof is attached to the wall makes a lot of difference. With the ripped up /removed roofs and the snapped small trees, i'd guess an F2 - F3. Just a guess. Funny how some of the windows looked perfect even with the roof gone !

If the weather service had doppler radar on it they should be able to estimate the wind speed .