Windows and outer walls of the Bank One Building in downtown Fort Worth, Texas, were damaged by the 2000 Fort Worth tornado. It is a commonly held belief that tornadoes cannot strike downtown areas, but Fort Worth is just one of many cities whose central business districts have been struck by significant tornadoes.

Tornado myths are incorrect beliefs about tornadoes, which can be attributed to many factors, including stories and news reports told by people unfamiliar with tornadoes, sensationalism by news media, and the presentation of incorrect information in popular entertainment. Common myths cover various aspects of the tornado, and include ideas about tornado safety, the minimization of tornado damage, and false assumptions about the size, shape, power, and path of the tornado itself.

Some people incorrectly believe that opening windows ahead of a tornado will reduce the damage from the storm. Some people also believe that escaping in a vehicle is the safest method of avoiding a tornado, but this could increase the danger in some situations. Other myths are that tornadoes can skip houses, always travel in a predictable direction, always extend visibly from the ground to the cloud, and increase in intensity with increasing width. Finally, some people believe that tornadoes only occur in North America, do not occur in winter, or that some areas are protected from tornadoes by rivers, mountains, valleys, tall buildings or other geographical or man-made features; the truth is that tornadoes can occur almost anywhere at any time if the conditions are right. Some geographic areas are simply more prone to these conditions than others.

Some tornado myths are remaining bits of folklore which are passed down by word of mouth. The idea that the southwest corner of a structure is the safest place in a tornado was first published in the 1800s and persisted until the 1990s despite being thoroughly debunked in the 1960s and 1970s.[1] One notable instance of mass media spreading a tornado myth was after the 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak, where TIME magazine ran a caption on a picture suggesting that highway overpasses were safer tornado shelters than houses.[2][3] The spread of some myths can be attributed to popular tornado-themed movies such as The Wizard of Oz and Twister.[4]

Safety

Safest location in a building

The central room on the lowest floor of a house is by far the safest area during a tornado. In multilevel apartment buildings, this will mean the ground floor units. Often the upper levels are built with lighter, weaker materials. This house near Jasper, Texas, was destroyed by an F2 tornado, with only a few interior walls still standing.[5]

In 1887, the first book on tornadoes was written by John Park Finley, a pioneer in the field of tornado research. While it was a revolutionary book containing many breakthrough ideas, it contained a few ideas which have since been proven false.[1][6] One of these was the idea that the northeast or east part of a structure was the least safe, and should be avoided when seeking shelter from a tornado.

This myth was derived from two misconceptions: First, that tornadoes always travel in a northeasterly direction, and second, that debris from a structure will be carried away in the direction of the tornado's propagation, leaving anyone taking shelter on the side of the structure facing the tornado's approach unharmed.[1][7] The seriousness of these misconceptions began to be revealed in the 1960s and 1970s, when surveys of major tornado damage in residential areas showed that the section of a house in the direction of the tornado's approach is actually the least safe.[1] Additionally, many tornadoes have traveled in directions other than northeasterly, including the Jarrell tornado (F5 on the Fujita scale), which moved south-southwesterly.[1][8] Because determining a tornado's direction of approach can take time away from seeking shelter, official advice is to seek shelter in an interior room on the lowest floor of a building, under a staircase, I-beam, or sturdy piece of furniture if possible.[7]

Opening windows to reduce tornado damage

One of the oldest pieces of tornado folklore is the idea that tornadoes do most of their damage due to the lower atmospheric pressure at the center of a tornado, which causes the house to explode outward. The supposition was that opening windows helps to equalize the pressure.[9]

The source of this myth is from the appearance of some destroyed structures after violent tornadoes. When one wall receives the extreme pressure of tornado winds, it will likely collapse inward. This then leads to a considerable outward pressure on the three remaining walls, which fall outwards as the roof falls down, creating the impression of a house which has exploded. Damage surveys of "exploded" houses usually show at least one wall which has blown inward.[9] Additionally, if the roof is lifted before any walls fall, the walls can fall in any direction. If they fall outward, this structure can also appear to have exploded.[10]

In even the most violent tornadoes, there is only a pressure drop of about 10%, which is about 1.4 pounds per square inch (9.7 kPa).[11] Not only can this difference be equalized in most structures in approximately three seconds, but if a significant pressure differential manages to form, the windows will break first, equalizing the pressure.[1] Additionally, as the windows are the most fragile parts of a house, in a significant tornado flying debris will likely break enough windows to equalize any pressure difference fairly quickly. Regardless of any pressure drop, the direct effects of a tornado's winds are enough to cause damage to a house in all but the weakest tornadoes.[1][7]

Current advice is that opening windows in advance of a tornado wastes time that could be spent seeking shelter. Also, being near windows is very dangerous during a severe weather event, possibly exposing people to flying glass.[12]

Using highway overpasses as shelter

The El Dorado Lake tornado overpass, above, had an unusual construction which provided a sheltered area for the camera crew. Most overpasses, like the Shields Boulevard Overpass at bottom, provide little or no shelter to tornado winds and flying debris.[8]

There are several documented cases of people surviving under highway overpasses, but scientists and meteorologists warn against using them for protection.[13][8] From scientific lessons learned, meteorologists insist that overpasses are insufficient shelter from tornado winds and debris, and may be the worst place to be during a violent tornado.[8][13] The embankment under an overpass is higher than the surrounding terrain, and the wind speed increases with height. Additionally, the overpass design may create a "wind-tunnel" effect under the span, further increasing the wind speed. Many overpasses are completely exposed underneath and most lack hanging girders or a crawlspace-like area to provide sufficient protection from debris, which can travel at high speeds even in weak tornadoes. (If a highway underpass is close at hand, and if it has such deep crawlspaces behind sheltering girders, and if no better shelter is available in the face of imminent danger from a tornado, then this could be the best and most survivable option. Otherwise, an underpass is no shelter at all.) People stopping underneath overpasses block the flow of traffic, putting others in danger.[8][14]

Escaping a tornado in a vehicle

A 2008 tornado lifted this school bus and flipped it on top of a damaged elementary school in Caledonia, Mississippi.

Often people try to avoid or outrun a tornado in a vehicle. Although cars can travel faster than the average tornado, the directive from the National Weather Service is for house-dwellers in the path of a tornado to take shelter at home rather than risk an escape by vehicle.[15] This is a result of several factors and statistics. An interior room inside a well-built frame house (especially one with a basement) provides a reasonable degree of protection from all but the most violent tornadoes. Underground or above-ground tornado shelters, as well as extremely strong structures such as bank vaults, offer almost complete protection. Cars, on the other hand, can be heavily damaged by even weak tornadoes, and in violent tornadoes they can be thrown large distances, even into buildings. High-profile vehicles such as buses and tractor trailers are even more vulnerable to high winds.[16][17]

There are many reasons to avoid cars when a tornado is imminent. Severe thunderstorms which produce tornadoes can produce flooding rains, hail, and strong winds far from the tornado-producing area, all of which can make driving difficult or even impossible. Any of these situations can leave drivers stranded in the path of the tornado far from substantial shelter.[17] When coupled with driver panic, they may also result in dangerous but preventable accidents.[17] This situation would be magnified greatly if all the residents of a warned area left in their vehicles, which would cause traffic jams and accidents as the tornado approached.[17] Numerous victims of the deadly Wichita Falls, Texas tornado on April 10, 1979, died in their vehicles in such a situation.[16]

If a person spots a nearby tornado while driving, the official National Weather Service directive has been for the individual to abandon the car and seek shelter in a ditch or culvert, or substantial shelter if nearby.[15] Far-away, highly visible tornadoes, however, can be successfully fled from at right angles (90-degrees) from its direction of apparent movement.[12] Despite dangers inherent with operating a vehicle during a tornado, given sufficient advance warning, mobile home residents have been instructed by the National Weather Service to drive to the nearest secure shelter during a warning.[18]

Tornado behavior

Tornadoes skipping houses

Several different phenomena have lent credence to the idea that tornadoes "skip" houses, like a person jumping over hurdles.[12] Tornadoes vary in intensity along their path, sometimes drastically over a short period and distance. If a tornado was causing damage, then weakened to the point where it could cause no damage, followed by a re-intensification, it would appear as if it skipped a section. Occasionally with violent tornadoes, a smaller subvortex within a tornado will completely destroy a structure next to another building which appears almost unscathed and thus apparently skipped over.[12][19]

It is true that a house that is between two destroyed homes can be undamaged, but this is not the result of a tornado skipping, as some previously thought. After the 1974 Super Outbreak, Ted Fujita studied many films of tornadoes from that day. Included in his review was damage and tornado film footage of F4 and F5 tornadoes. Fujita concluded that multiple vortices, highly volatile tornadic satellites transiting within a parent tornado at high speeds, are responsible for making tornadoes appear to skip houses.[20] The phenomenon of satellite tornadoes, where a smaller tornado orbits a larger companion tornado, can also lead to gaps in damage between the two tornadoes.

Weaker tornadoes, and at times even stronger tornadoes, can occasionally lift, meaning their circulation ceases to affect the ground temporarily. The result is an erratic and discontinuous linear damage path, leading to the term skipping tornado. These discontinuities tend to occur over areas larger than the small neighborhoods where the house-skipping effect is observed, except possibly at the time of the birth and organization of the tornado.[21] This situation is not commonly observed and the term is now rarely applied. Typically, when one tornado weakens and another forms, the process of successive parent mesocyclones forming and decaying is known as cyclic tornadogenesis, thus leading to a series of tornadoes spawned by the same supercell. This series of tornadoes is known as a tornado family.

Association of size with intensity

The Elie, Manitoba tornado of June 22, 2007, appeared small and narrow throughout its lifespan, yet was the first tornado in Canadian history to cause F5 damage.

Some people have been led to assume that small, skinny tornadoes are always weaker than large, wedge-shaped tornadoes.[7] There is an observed trend of wider tornadoes causing worse damage. It is unknown whether this is due to an actual tendency of tornado dynamics or an ability for the tornado to affect a larger area.[12] However, this is not a reliable indicator of an individual tornado's intensity. Some small, rope-like tornadoes, traditionally thought of as weak, have been among the strongest in history.[12] Since 1950, more than 100 violent tornadoes (F4/EF4 or higher) had a maximum width of 300 feet (91 m).[22] Also, tornadoes typically change shape during the course of their lifespan, further complicating any attempt to classify how dangerous a tornado is as it is occurring.[23]

Appearing to reach the ground

A tornado, marked by debris swirl on the ground and connected to a thundercloud, with no condensation funnel

It is commonly and mistakenly thought that if the condensation funnel of a tornado does not reach the ground, then the tornado cannot cause substantial damage. Furthermore, a tornado is sometimes believed to be on the ground only when its condensation funnel descends to the surface, but this assumption is misleading and extremely dangerous. The 2013 El Reno tornado is one such example which disproves both beliefs, as it featured an expansive and translucent outer circulation with an incomplete condensation funnel. The circular, violent surface winds (not the condensation funnel) are what both define the tornado and cause the tornado's damage. Spotters should keep sight of swirling debris directly under any visible funnel or rotating wall cloud, even if such structures appear to not descend entirely to the ground.[23][24] Additionally, tornadoes can be wrapped in rain and thus may not be visible at all.[24]

Direction of travel

It has been thought in the past that tornadoes moved almost exclusively in a northeasterly direction.[7] This is false, and a potentially deadly myth which can lead to a false sense of security, especially for unaware spotters or chasers. Although the majority of tornadoes move northeast, this is normally due to the motion of the storm, and tornadoes can move in any direction. The expectation of northeasterly travel may be accurate in many cases, but is a statistical observation about the most usual direction of travel that cannot be applied to predict the movement of a particular tornado. A deadly F5 tornado that hit the city of Jarrell, Texas, in 1997 moved to the southwest – directly opposite to the commonly expected storm motion. Another notable example is the 1990 Plainfield tornado, a significant and deadly F5 tornado that traveled from northwest-to-southeast. Tornadoes can also change direction unpredictably due to storm motion changes or effects on the tornado itself from factors such as its rear flank downdraft.[12] A change of direction proved deadly in the 2013 El Reno tornado, in which a 2.6-mile-wide tornado shifted from an easterly to a northeasterly direction, killing four storm chasers.[25] A 2008 tornado in Colorado moved in a southeast-to-northwest direction, which is very rare.[26]

Geographical and temporal influences

Geographical scope

Areas worldwide where tornadoes are most likely, indicated by orange shading

It is often thought that tornadoes only occur in North America.[27] The majority of recorded tornadoes do occur in the United States and Canada; however, tornadoes have been observed on every continent except Antarctica.[28]

Europe, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, and eastern India often experience tornadoes.[29]

Near rivers, valleys, mountains, or other terrain features

There are many misconceptions involving the effect of terrain features – bodies of water, mountains, valleys, and others – on tornado formation and behavior. While most modes of tornadogenesis are poorly understood,[23][30] no terrain feature can prevent the occurrence of a tornado.[7]

Small bodies of water such as lakes and rivers are insignificant obstacles to tornadoes. Violent tornadoes have formed over rivers and lakes – including the 1878 Wallingford tornado, the 1899 New Richmond tornado, and more recently the 2011 Goderich tornado. More than a dozen tornadoes are reported to have crossed the Mississippi River.[31] Strong tornadoes have also been known to cross the Detroit River and St. Clair River separating the United States and Canada.[32]

Regarding mountains, tornadoes have been observed on terrain as high as 12,000 feet (3,700 m) above sea level, and have been known to pass up a 3,000-foot (910 m) ridge unaffected.[1][33]

These myths have been debunked. The devastating Tri-State Tornado crossed two major rivers along a record 219-mile (352 km) or longer path.[21] In 1944, a violent tornado cut a continuous path at least 60 miles (97 km) through heavily forested and mountainous territory in West Virginia, killing at least 100 people.[34] A hill known as Burnett's Mound on the southwest end of Topeka, Kansas was purported to protect the city from tornadoes, according to an old legend. However, in 1966, an F5 tornado passed directly over the hill through downtown, killing 18 people and causing $100 million (1966 USD) in damage. This myth continues to persist, and was further compounded by the fact that Burnett's Mound was rumored to be a burial ground of the Kansa Tribe, and that Topekans had committed sacrilege by attempting to build a water tower on the grounds immediately prior to the 1966 F5 tornado, despite strong opposition as a result of the myth.[35] Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, was believed by residents to be protected from tornadoes and other severe weather by the Chickasaw Bluff along the Mississippi River. During the 1974 Super Outbreak, violent tornadoes crossed dozens of rivers, including the Ohio River and Detroit River, as well as crossing over mountains and ridges hundreds of feet high.[36] Another example of tornadoes hitting mountainous regions of the United States is the 2011 Super Outbreak, which hit mountainous parts of East Tennessee, Northeast Alabama, Southwest Virginia and North Georgia, killing many people, including an entire family of four in Ringgold, Georgia.[37]

Attraction to mobile homes and/or trailer parks

This mobile home was destroyed by a relatively weak EF0 tornado.

The idea that manufactured housing units, or mobile homes, attract tornadoes has been around for decades. This may appear to be true at first from looking at tornado fatality statistics: from 2000 to 2008, 539 people were killed by tornadoes in the US, with more than half (282) of those deaths in mobile homes.[38] Only around 6.8% of homes in the US are "manufactured/mobile homes".[39]

However, it is highly unlikely that single-story structures such as mobile homes can have a substantial effect on tornado development or evolution. More people are killed in trailer parks because mobile homes are less able to withstand high winds than permanent structures. Winds which can demolish or roll a mobile home may only cause roof damage to a typical one- or two-family permanent residence.[40] Another likely contributing factor to the continued propagation of this myth is confirmation bias: whenever a new instance of a tornado hitting a mobile home park occurs, media outlets report on it more extensively, ignoring damage to the surrounding area which may not have produced as many casualties.[41]

Downtown areas

Tornadoes are extremely rare in Utah, but downtown Salt Lake City was struck by this F2 tornado, which killed one person, in 1999.

Some people believe that, for various reasons, large cities cannot be struck by tornadoes. More than 100 tornadoes have been reported to strike downtown areas of large cities. Many cities have been struck twice or more, and a few – including Lubbock, Texas; Regina, Saskatchewan; St. Louis, Missouri; Topeka, Kansas; and London, England – have been struck by violent tornadoes (F4 or stronger).[22][42]

Tornadoes may seem rare in downtown areas because they are relatively small: as the size of a central business district is a small part of the whole town, tornadoes will strike outside the downtown area more often.[1]

The misconception, like most, has a small basis in truth. Research has been done in a few metropolitan areas suggesting that the urban heat island effect may discourage the formation of weak tornadoes in city centers, due to turbulent warm air disrupting their formation. This does not apply to significant tornadoes, however, and it is possible that the presence of tall buildings may actually intensify storms which move into downtown areas.[1]

During winter

Because they generally require warm weather to form, tornadoes are uncommon in winter in the mid-latitudes.[43] However, they can form, and tornadoes have even been known to travel over snow-covered surfaces.[44] Deadly tornadoes are no exception: from 2000 to 2008, 135 of the 539 US tornado deaths occurred during meteorological winter (December through February).[38] Tornadoes in winter may be more dangerous, since they tend to move faster than tornadoes at other times of the year.[45]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Myths and Misconceptions about Tornadoes". Tornado Project. 1999. Archived from the original on 2013-06-08. Retrieved 2013-05-31.
  2. ↑ Miller, Daniel J.; Doswell, Charles A. III; Brooks, Harold E.; Stumpf, Gregory J.; Rasmussen, Erik (1999). "Highway Overpasses as Tornado Shelters". National Weather Service WFO Norman, Oklahoma. p. 2. Archived from the original on June 16, 2000. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  3. ↑ Carter, J. Pat (1999-05-04). "The Force of Nature". TIME magazine. Archived from the original on June 15, 2001. Retrieved June 30, 2009.
  4. ↑ Grazulis, Thomas P (2001). The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 7. ISBN 0806132582. Retrieved 2009-02-15 – via Internet Archive.
  5. ↑ "Tornadoes & Severe Weather November 17th & 18th, 2003". National Weather Service, Lake Charles, Louisiana. 2008-03-06. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  6. ↑ Tornado Myths Archived 2015-04-02 at the Wayback Machine - Tornado Fact vs. Fiction
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 MKX Webmaster (April 10, 2009). "Severe Weather Awareness - Common Tornado Myths". Milwaukee, Wisconsin/Sullivan, WI: National Weather Service. Archived from the original on May 23, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Miller, Daniel J.; Doswell, Charles A. III; Brooks, Harold E.; Stumpf, Gregory J.; Rasmussen, Erik (1999). "Highway Overpasses as Tornado Shelters". National Weather Service WFO Norman, Oklahoma. Archived from the original on June 16, 2000. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  9. 1 2 "Tornado Information for Schools" (PDF). Butler County, Ohio Emergency Management Agency. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 9, 2007. Retrieved June 29, 2009. Cited link is not found. "Wayback article" (PDF). Archived from the original on May 9, 2007. Retrieved May 9, 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  10. ↑ Ryan, Bob (December 15, 2005). "Answers archive: Tornado safety". USA Today. Archived from the original on June 6, 2009. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  11. ↑ Lee, Julian J.; T.P. Samaras; C.R. Young (October 2004). "Pressure Measurements at the ground in an F-4 tornado". Preprints of the 22nd Conference on Severe Local Storms. Hyannis, Massachusetts: American Meteorological Society. Archived from the original on 2011-06-09. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Edwards, Roger (January 29, 2009). "The Online Tornado FAQ". Storm Prediction Center. Archived from the original on July 12, 2009. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  13. 1 2 "Ohio.gov | OCSWA | Tornado Safety & the Dangers of Highway Overpasses". www.weathersafety.ohio.gov. Archived from the original on 2017-08-15. Retrieved 2017-08-14.
  14. ↑ "Severe Weather Safety Guide" (PDF). National Weather Service Paducah, Kentucky. 2007-12-12. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2012-10-21. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  15. 1 2 DeWald, Van L. (February 26, 1999). "Tornado Safety in Your Vehicle". National Weather Service Storm Spotting and Weather Safety. National Weather Service Louisville, Kentucky. p. 71. Archived from the original on April 17, 2009. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  16. 1 2 Burgess, Don (2006-06-13). "The April 10, 1979 Severe Weather Outbreak". National Weather Service Norman, Oklahoma. Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2008-06-22.
  17. 1 2 3 4 "Tornado Safety in Cars". The Tornado Project. 1999. Archived from the original on 2009-08-05. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  18. ↑ DeWald, Van L. (February 26, 1999). "Tornado Safety in Your Mobile Home". National Weather Service, Louisville, Kentucky. Archived from the original on 2009-02-24. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  19. ↑ "What are some common tornado myths?". National Weather Service, Norman, Oklahoma. 2008-10-20. Archived from the original on 2010-08-03. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  20. ↑ McCarthy, Daniel; Schaefer, Joseph (2003-11-10). "Tornado Trends Over the Past Thirty Years" (PDF). Storm Prediction Center. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2009-05-06. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  21. 1 2 "Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)". National Weather Service Norman, Oklahoma. October 20, 2008. Archived from the original on April 7, 2008. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  22. 1 2 Data from the Storm Prediction Center archives, which are accessible through SeverePlot Archived 2006-02-06 at the Wayback Machine, free software created and maintained by John Hart, lead forecaster for the SPC.
  23. 1 2 3 Doswell, Moller, Anderson; et al. (2005). "Advanced Spotters' Field Guide" (PDF). United States Department of Commerce. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2006-08-23. Retrieved 2006-09-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. 1 2 "What you need to know about TORNADOES". Wisconsin Emergency Management Office. Archived from the original on April 30, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  25. ↑ OUN Webmaster. "The May 31, 2013 El Reno, OK Tornado". NWS WFO - Norman, OK. NOAA. Archived from the original on 25 July 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.
  26. ↑ BOU VTEC Result. "IEM :: Valid Time Event Code (VTEC) App". Iowa Environmental Mesonet. Iowa State University. Archived from the original on 1 September 2020. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  27. ↑ Williams, Jack (2004-05-28). "Answers: Do tornadoes occur outside the USA". USA Today. Archived from the original on 2009-08-04. Retrieved 2009-06-11.
  28. ↑ Perkins, Sid (2002-05-11). "Tornado Alley, USA". Science News. pp. 296–298. Archived from the original on August 25, 2006. Retrieved 2006-09-20.
  29. ↑ "U.S. Tornado Climatology". National Climatic Data Center. Archived from the original on 2017-01-18.
  30. ↑ Biggerstaff, Michael I.; Wicker, Louis J.; Guynes, Jerry; Ziegler, Conrad; Straka, Jerry M.; Rasmussen, Erik N.; Doggett, Arthur IV; Carey, Larry D.; Schroeder, John L.; Weiss, Chris (September 2005). "The Shared Mobile Atmospheric Research and Teaching Radar" (PDF). Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. American Meteorological Society. 86 (9): 1263–1274. Bibcode:2005BAMS...86.1263B. doi:10.1175/BAMS-86-9-1263. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 7, 2009. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  31. ↑ Grazulis, Thomas P. (2001). "Tornado Myths". The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm (Google Books). University of Oklahoma Press. p. 148. ISBN 0806132582. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
  32. ↑ Mullins, Angela (May 21, 2019). "Death on the Wind". The Times Herald (Port Huron). Archived from the original on 20 April 2022. Retrieved 3 September 2020.
  33. ↑ Monteverdi, John; Edwards, Roger; Stumpf, Greg; Gudgel, Daniel (September 13, 2006). "Tornado, Rockwell Pass Sequoia National Park, July 7, 2004". Archived from the original on August 19, 2015. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  34. ↑ Grazulis, Thomas P (July 1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680–1991. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. p. 915. ISBN 1-879362-03-1.
  35. ↑ Grazulis, Thomas P (2001). "Tornado Myths". The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm (Google Books). University of Oklahoma Press. pp. 146–147. ISBN 0806132582. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
  36. ↑ Grazulis, Thomas P (July 1993). Significant Tornadoes 1680–1991. St. Johnsbury, VT: The Tornado Project of Environmental Films. pp. 1153–1163. ISBN 1-879362-03-1.
  37. ↑ Ringgold residents return to 'utter devastation' from tornadoes Archived 2013-01-01 at archive.today, WXIA-TV, April 29, 2011. Retrieved April 30, 2011.
  38. 1 2 "Annual U.S. Killer Tornado Statistics". Storm Prediction Center. June 17, 2009. Archived from the original on June 13, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  39. ↑ "Table 1A-2. Height and Condition of Building—All Housing Units" (PDF). United States Census Bureau. 2007. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  40. ↑ "A Recommendation for an Enhanced Fujita Scale (EF-Scale)" (PDF). Wind Science and Engineering Center, Texas Tech University. 2006-10-10. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 7, 2009. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  41. ↑ Grazulis, Thomas P (2001). "Tornado Myths". The Tornado: Nature's Ultimate Windstorm (Google Books). University of Oklahoma Press. p. 152. ISBN 0806132582. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20. Retrieved 2009-02-15.
  42. ↑ "British & European Tornado Extremes". TORRO. 2014. Archived from the original on August 28, 2014.
  43. ↑ Zabarenko, Deborah (February 7, 2008). "Deadly winter tornadoes not rare: NOAA". Reuters. Archived from the original on April 20, 2009. Retrieved June 29, 2009.
  44. ↑ Lyons, Walter A (1997). "Tornadoes". The Handy Weather Answer Book (2nd ed.). Detroit, Michigan: Visible Ink press. pp. gs. 175–200. ISBN 0-7876-1034-8.
  45. ↑ Britt, Robert Roy (2009-02-11). "Tornadoes in Winter?". LiveScience. Archived from the original on 2022-04-20. Retrieved July 1, 2009.
  • Klockow, Kimberly E.; R. A. Peppler; R. A. McPherson (2014). "Tornado Folk Science in Alabama and Mississippi in the 27 April 2011 Tornado Outbreak". GeoJournal. 79 (6): 791–804. doi:10.1007/s10708-013-9518-6. S2CID 153570574.

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