by Tomira L. Rosser

Created on: July 08, 2008

Safety Tips to Follow Regarding Tornadoes

Those people who live in the southern states during the springtime face a most destructive force that form out of nowhere. This destructive occurrence keeps people near radios, televisions and the basements through the months of March, April and May. What is this force? It's called a tornado. The northern half of the United States faces this danger during spring until summer begins.

Severe storms spurn tornadoes and any time a storm rotates that violently, tornadoes should be considered as a storm by itself. Most people do not understand that when the occurrence happens, the dangers lie not from the winds but from its sudden appearance in the storm.

Hurricanes and tornadoes are similar in their power but tornadoes cannot be tracked as easily. Since they form rather quickly and are small, weather satellites are not reliable enough. But recently, weather meteorologists have developed revolutionary tornado detection, called Baron Tornado Index (BTI): The BTI uses groundbreaking technology, and 3D animation to predict whether or not the tornado will touch down in your area.

All major news stations in Atlanta use this new way of tornado detection. They used it the night the tornado touched down in downtown. It was quite remarkable how accurate it was. Basically, the higher the BTI number readout, the higher probability of a tornado in the storm.

Tornado Approaching Warning Signs

People need to prepare themselves and become informed for this kind of fury Mother Nature unleashes. And since tornadoes appear so suddenly, how can people tell if one is heading in their direction

Often there is no wind before a tornado strikes at an area. Rain can still fall even with an approaching tornado.

Many people do not realize that tornadoes are on a thunderstorm's back end. This means a tornado may strike at any time before the strong or severe thunderstorm ends.

Tornadoes usually cannot be seen because of the swirling, heavy rains that make it up. Witnesses of this event say that the tornado appears almost like a cloud.

How do people see tornadoes? All the dust and debris that has been gathered through its track is the way people see the tornado. The debris will be rotating around the tornado, making it very easy to see. But with the recent "Atlanta Tornado", no one saw it coming. There wasn't a distinctive funnel cloud seen by many witnesses. Only a few saw the tornado coming.

Is there a sound to the approaching tornado? Most people say that

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