Very wise advices, but let's hope no one of us should ever find himself facing a tornado! :-)
I learned a little about tornados watching Discovery Channel, and I know about early warnings and funnel clouds. From what I was able to find out reading the newspapers and watching the news, it seems that,such a big cloud was indeed reported there at Facaeni, over 14000 meters in height, its base only a few hundred meters above the ground. The Doppler radar here in Bucharest did signal it, although, due to the rather big distance between Bucharest and Facaeni and the very small area affected, they didn't notice the storm itself or anything else suspicious.. Also, bear in mind that nobody ever has seen or experienced a tornado here in Romania, so, it is still hard to believe such things may happen here. So, there was no reason for the specialists to issue some warning, as there was absolutely no precedent. The storm hit right after sunset at 8:45 PM, when it was already dark outside, and most people were inside their houses, so they suddenly found themselves right in the middle of the inferno. Unfortunately, nobody got to catch anything on camera or videotape, so there is no solid evidence of what was truly happened there, with the exception of the respective damages. In the end, the specialists agreed to call this a "mini-tornado" and now, more than a week after the incident, the whole thing seems to fade away. And, speaking of "early warnings", they would be of some help here, if they were related to earthquakes, not tornados. There is already a certain degree of paranoia about "the big one" here, as a quarter of a century has already passed since the last one :-). On 19-Aug-2002 arachne-digest wrote: > Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 20:31:01 -0500 (CDT) > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: RE: more about floods > > Cristian; > I live here in what they call tornado alley. I and > others have seen as many as 7 funnel clouds at onetime > together. I have seen barns, houses, and machine sheds > moved or strewn for miles. Last year we followed a large > path of the remnants of several buildings for 13 miles > before we became bored and came back! And what you > describe sure seems like a tornado to me. 20some years > ago I witnessed from 5 miles away, a town of 500 totally > wiped off the map in minutes, nothing but basements left. > Luckily no one was killed then, but many have died by them. > Here we have what is called Early Warning, and since it > came into effect, it has saved many lives. If you ARE > experiencing tornados, your authorities would be wise not > to ignore it, but learn to carry out emergency precautions! > Schools, businesses, and most anything train people in what to > look for and what to do when one hits. We have people at work > called spotters who are trained to go out and look for them > when the season and conditions are here. My first day in > computer school one hit the school. Motels, restaurants > schools, other businesses and whatnot have posted the > procedures for where to go and what to do when they come. > My first day of class yesterday, for this semester, we saw > a movie for what to do. We see it every semester before > anything else is done. > Beware the calm yellow sky, if the day goes yellow seek > shelter! They sound alot like a freight train and also > dump alot of hail before they hit! > Rob: -- Cristian Burneci
