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I sincerely hope you are never put in a situation where you have to consider evacuating versus sheltering in place and potentially taking a direct hit by a torn

I sincerely hope you are never put in a situation where you have to consider evacuating versus sheltering in place and potentially taking a direct hit by a tornado, but PLEASE do not take your chances in a car. Footage from storm chasers is absolutely not representative of what you will almost certainly experience if you try to outrun a tornado in a car. If you're very, very lucky you might be in an area with no trees, a clear and obvious tornado with obvious apparent motion, and knowledge of the local roads which would allow you to quickly pick a single direction to drive in. More likely, though, you (a) won't know where the tornado is in relation to you, (b) won't be able to see it because it's rain-wrapped, and (c) won't be in a place where you can obviously drive quickly in a single, straight line to avoid its path. This doesn't even include other risks like intense winds reasonably far from the tornadic circulation which could roll your vehicle, debris, lightning, hail (especially if you wind up on the wrong side of the storm and core punch), etc. It isn't often that stormchasers perish in tornadoes, but it can and does happen, even to the best of them [1]. Storm chasers generally go to great lengths using significant knowledge, past experience, and real-time data to carefully position themselves in relation to not only the storm they are targeting, but other storms in the area in order to control their risk and overall safety. I'm a meteorologist and I grew up in the midwest, and while were absolutely drilled on tornado safety, "evacuations" were never part of that preparation. Again, I sincerely hope you never have to call upon the information from this post. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Samaras https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Samaras

dave78 5y ago
All the storm chasers I've seen are out in the country too, where they have long sight lines and long, straight roads that they can drive very fast on if needed to get away. Plus they are hopefully experienced enough to stay out of the path and instead try to be on the side of it. Plus, don't most of them have cars that they've added armor and stuff to, both to protect from debris and to add weight so they are less likely to get blown over?
- counters 5y ago
  No, the vast majority of chasers do not have such modifications to their vehicles, and with the exception of custom-built rigs like Reed Timmer's, these would do nothing to prevent harm during a tornado encounter. The point is that the stormchasers are biased towards chasing in environments where all of these antecedents are there. You don't see much chaser videography from, say, the Ozarks or into the SE because the terrain is far more difficult and less amenable to good footage. These things also make it more dangerous. SW Kentucky would be a terrible place to chase.

dave78 5y ago

All the storm chasers I've seen are out in the country too, where they have long sight lines and long, straight roads that they can drive very fast on if needed to get away. Plus they are hopefully experienced enough to stay out of the path and instead try to be on the side of it. Plus, don't most of them have cars that they've added armor and stuff to, both to protect from debris and to add weight so they are less likely to get blown over?

counters 5y ago
No, the vast majority of chasers do not have such modifications to their vehicles, and with the exception of custom-built rigs like Reed Timmer's, these would do nothing to prevent harm during a tornado encounter. The point is that the stormchasers are biased towards chasing in environments where all of these antecedents are there. You don't see much chaser videography from, say, the Ozarks or into the SE because the terrain is far more difficult and less amenable to good footage. These things also make it more dangerous. SW Kentucky would be a terrible place to chase.