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I grew up in the northern Midwest, where tornados happen semi-regularly. If you’re facing a tornado and in a vehicle, you’re supposed to abandon the vehicle and

I grew up in the northern Midwest, where tornados happen semi-regularly. If you’re facing a tornado and in a vehicle, you’re supposed to abandon the vehicle and get to a ditch or some other low point that provides solid sideways protection and lay down as flat as you can. Tornados are weirdly destructive. Some things that get directly hit survive when they shouldn’t. Vehicles are not built to take the damage even a small tornado brings. https://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/safety.html https://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/safety.html

dahart 5y ago
Aren’t there a lot of roads in the Midwest that have ditches for this reason? That page does seem to suggest that if you don’t have a ditch lower than the roadway nearby, staying low inside the car might be better than getting out, due to deadly flying debris? You’re toast if the vehicle takes flight, of course, but I guess statistically that’s not super common? * bewildered by the downvotes, but just to clarify, the NOAA page says explicitly: “In a car or truck: […] If you are caught by extreme winds or flying debris, park the car as quickly and safely as possible -- out of the traffic lanes. Stay in the car with the seat belt on. Put your head down below the windows; cover your head with your hands and a blanket, coat, or other cushion if possible.”
- vidanay 5y ago
  No. The ditches are for water drainage and Dragula's.
- colechristensen 5y ago
  High winds are not tornadoes, these are very different circumstances. You are trying not to get hit by a tornado, and if you do trying not to get relocated by one, or you’re trying not to get hit by something thrown by a tornado. A high wind isn’t going to throw a house at you or a shard of metal though a tree, a tornado will. There are small ones that are mostly harmless and will at most knock over some corn, it’s hard telling the difference between one of those and one that will pick you up and throw you a quarter mile. Absolutely do not hide in a vehicle from a tornado. You want to be low and near something well anchored. Inside a ditch, huddled up next to an overpass foundation, etc. A tornado either hits you it doesn’t, but few people in places where there are tornadoes are going to be dumb enough to be near one in a vehicle. You can avoid them while in your vehicle but even seasoned storm chasers still sometimes get taken. Source: Iowa raised, been a handful of meters away from a weather event that lifted and shifted a couple of buildings a foot off their foundations and peeled a section of roof from a barn. It may have been a microburst instead of a tornado, it was quite dark at the time. And no, the ditches are there for water drainage like the other poster said… though I’m not sure about vampires :)
  - BenjiWiebe 5y ago
    Just to add, straightline winds (not tornadoes) do not change direction suddenly. A car is very aerodynamic, and if you face into the straightline wind with it, it's a good place to be. Tornadoes on the other hand are circular (roughly). Plus subvortices inside of the tornado make for unpredictable and turbulent wind. Your car may handle the 200mph wind fairly well in one direction, but the next second it hits you at a right angle and bye bye.
dev_tty01 5y ago
As a small child, I once spent time lying in a ditch while visiting relatives who lived in a Tornado prone region. We got in the ditch because it was after dark and we could hear a tornado getting close but we couldn't see anything. We were lucky that it passed close to our farm but not upon us. The chaos and the violence of the wind and noise was terrifying. The visible path through the woods nearby the next morning had an alien feel to it. I remember the smell of tree sap from the many trees broken off and ripped apart. I feel so much for the many folks that endured those storms last night.

dahart 5y ago

Aren’t there a lot of roads in the Midwest that have ditches for this reason? That page does seem to suggest that if you don’t have a ditch lower than the roadway nearby, staying low inside the car might be better than getting out, due to deadly flying debris? You’re toast if the vehicle takes flight, of course, but I guess statistically that’s not super common? * bewildered by the downvotes, but just to clarify, the NOAA page says explicitly: “In a car or truck: […] If you are caught by extreme winds or flying debris, park the car as quickly and safely as possible -- out of the traffic lanes. Stay in the car with the seat belt on. Put your head down below the windows; cover your head with your hands and a blanket, coat, or other cushion if possible.”

vidanay 5y ago
No. The ditches are for water drainage and Dragula's.
colechristensen 5y ago
High winds are not tornadoes, these are very different circumstances. You are trying not to get hit by a tornado, and if you do trying not to get relocated by one, or you’re trying not to get hit by something thrown by a tornado. A high wind isn’t going to throw a house at you or a shard of metal though a tree, a tornado will. There are small ones that are mostly harmless and will at most knock over some corn, it’s hard telling the difference between one of those and one that will pick you up and throw you a quarter mile. Absolutely do not hide in a vehicle from a tornado. You want to be low and near something well anchored. Inside a ditch, huddled up next to an overpass foundation, etc. A tornado either hits you it doesn’t, but few people in places where there are tornadoes are going to be dumb enough to be near one in a vehicle. You can avoid them while in your vehicle but even seasoned storm chasers still sometimes get taken. Source: Iowa raised, been a handful of meters away from a weather event that lifted and shifted a couple of buildings a foot off their foundations and peeled a section of roof from a barn. It may have been a microburst instead of a tornado, it was quite dark at the time. And no, the ditches are there for water drainage like the other poster said… though I’m not sure about vampires :)
- BenjiWiebe 5y ago
  Just to add, straightline winds (not tornadoes) do not change direction suddenly. A car is very aerodynamic, and if you face into the straightline wind with it, it's a good place to be. Tornadoes on the other hand are circular (roughly). Plus subvortices inside of the tornado make for unpredictable and turbulent wind. Your car may handle the 200mph wind fairly well in one direction, but the next second it hits you at a right angle and bye bye.

dev_tty01 5y ago

As a small child, I once spent time lying in a ditch while visiting relatives who lived in a Tornado prone region. We got in the ditch because it was after dark and we could hear a tornado getting close but we couldn't see anything. We were lucky that it passed close to our farm but not upon us. The chaos and the violence of the wind and noise was terrifying. The visible path through the woods nearby the next morning had an alien feel to it. I remember the smell of tree sap from the many trees broken off and ripped apart. I feel so much for the many folks that endured those storms last night.