My son and I are heading to the midwest for Biking Across Kansas in June, so I thought it would be a good idea to review some precautions to keep in mind while bicycling through Tornado Alley.
This has been a bad month for tornadoes, even before the deadly swarm that passed through Alabama this week.
More than 700 twisters have been reported this April — nearly three times the previous highest number for the month. Experts at the Storm Prediction Center attribute the increase and their severity to the collision of warmer than normal moist air in the Gulf of Mexico and a colder than normal jet stream that has swept further south.
Obviously, the likelihood that any single location will be hit is remote. Still I'd like to know how to be safe if one of those funnel clouds is bearing down.
Safety tips
If you're out on the open road with no building in sight, the best thing to do is head for a ditch or low-lying area and crouch down or get on your stomach. That's the safest place to avoid the flying debris that's the most frequent cause of injury and death in a tornado. A culvert is good, unless there are heavy rains and there's a chance for flash flooding.
In town, the best place is an underground storm shelter or the basement of a sturdy building. Don't be shy about asking for help. In a home without a safety room or basement, the best place to weather a tornado is crouched down in the bathtub with a sofa cushion, towels or blankets over you. Also an interior closet.
These mass participation bicycle rides often camp on school grounds or gymnasiums. It's recommended to go to the school basement or an interior hallway or room, stay away from glass windows, crouch down and cover your head if possible.
In any case, stay our of mobile homes and cars.
Warning signs
A tornado watch means the conditions are right for a tornado. A tornado warning means a twister has been spotted and is on the way.
If you don't carry a radio with you on your bicycle, NOAA lists these tornado indicators:
- Strong, persistent rotation in the cloud base.
- Whirling dust or debris on the ground under a cloud base — tornadoes sometimes have no funnel!
- Hail or heavy rain followed by either dead calm or a fast,
intense wind shift. Many tornadoes are wrapped in heavy precipitation
and can't be seen. - Day or night – Loud, continuous roar or rumble, which doesn't fade in a few seconds like thunder.
- Night – Small, bright, blue-green to white flashes at ground level
near a thunderstorm (as opposed to silvery lightning up in the clouds).
These mean power lines are being snapped by very strong wind, maybe a
tornado. - Night – Persistent lowering from the cloud base, illuminated or silhouetted by lightning — especially if it is on the ground or there is a blue-green-white power flash underneath.
More information
Check NOAA's Storm Prediction Center and the Tornado Project.
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