Many Myths Persist About Tornadoes
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As evidenced by what happened the day after Christmas, we all know about the devastation that tornadoes can leave behind.
But what do we really understand about tornadoes? It turns out there's a lot for us to learn.
"There are still things we don't know as far as exactly what will make one form," says KRLD Chief Meteorologist Bob Goosmann.
When one does form, we all need to take cover immediately, and that means in a safe room or an interior room in the house.
But 25-30 years ago, we got a lot of misinformation.
"People talked about pressure and if you have a tornado warning, run to your window and open windows on a certain side of your house. That's ludicrous," says Goosmann. "What's the last thing you want to do when you have a 200 mph wind is get in front of a window that's doing to bust glass everywhere. That's just silly."
City of Garland Emergency Management Specialist Savannah Martin says there are some myths about tornadoes.
"A big one is tornadoes only happen in the springtime," Martin says.
And we certainly learned that lesson late last year.
"Evident from our December 26th storm, tornadoes can happen anytime, anyday. It doesn't have to be the months of March to June," says Martin.
They say that tornadoes only happen in rural areas and not big cities. It happened here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and this is one of the biggest metropolitan areas in the nation.
Many are also under the impression that tornadoes do not cross bodies of water. The December 26th tornado jumped across Lake Ray Hubbard and took out entire neighborhoods.
And Goosmann says another myth is that it's impossible to pinpoint exactly where tornadoes will touch down.
While that's true that we don't know hours ahead of time, "If it's five minutes, we absolutely know where one could touch down, because we see it develop within the thunderstorm cell," says Goosmann.
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