where to go in a tornado?

[fla4fun]

I'll be in a cabin from 1/26 through 2/5. I know all about how they evacuate FW during hurricanes, but has anyone been there during tornado warnings generated by our severe storms in the winter? Late Jan/early Feb is notorious for tornadoes during an active el nino cycle, so I was just curious. I always travel with a weather alert radio, so I'll know whether or not the situation is bad. I just need to know what to do in case I hear a tornado is headed my way, since a trailer is not the best place to ride one out. Do people go to the comfort stations? is there shelter space near the cabin pool? I don't recall a tornado ever getting super close to the Fort, but I'd rather be prepared.

Thanks!

 

[lawnspecialties]

Up here in NC, as long as you're not near a trailer park, you're pretty much invincible.

Most people I've heard about in a tornado generally head upwards.

I'll quit now.

 

[des1954]

Being pretty much a Florida native (well, since I was 19), destructive tornado's are very rare. All kidding aside, for some reason they DO seem to love mobile home parks. I have never heard of a tornado hitting WDW, ever. The only somewhat destructive tornado to hit in recent years hit up around The Villages about 3 years ago. That's about 45 minutes north of Kissimmee.

I personally have only seen one tornado in 37 years, and that was a rather small one that descended upon.....a mobile home park.

Don't be concerned & enjoy your vacation.

 

[4mickey2]

Personally, I would be out watching it... but that's just the weather geek in me!

that is just the northerner in you. we love sitting outside and watching the storms roll in. lol

a comfort station would be a good place to go in mho.

 

[fla4fun]

Being pretty much a Florida native (well, since I was 19), destructive tornado's are very rare. All kidding aside, for some reason they DO seem to love mobile home parks. I have never heard of a tornado hitting WDW, ever. The only somewhat destructive tornado to hit in recent years hit up around The Villages about 3 years ago. That's about 45 minutes north of Kissimmee.

I personally have only seen one tornado in 37 years, and that was a rather small one that descended upon.....a mobile home park.

Don't be concerned & enjoy your vacation.

I haven't heard of any hitting WDW either - but if you recall, there were some really deadly ones in Kissimmee a few years ago, and others through north Lake and Volusia counties a few years later, and each time they were right at the end of January/beginning of February. I think it was around 1997 and around 2005. I usually stay at the Fort later in the spring, so I never really thought about it before. But if a tornado was near Disney, I just don't know how comfortable I'd be sitting it out in a trailer/cabin. Last week when I was staying at the Beach Club and there was a chance of severe weather, I knew where I could take shelter if necessary, and that's what got me to wondering if anyone had been at the Fort during a tornado warning, and what they did to keep safe until it was over.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that there isn't any bad weather, period - that would be the best situation! Usually, if I prepare for the worst, it doesn't happen.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

If I'm gonna be in a bad storm, I would like to be in a comfort station, just in case nature calls.

 

[bord1niowa]

I think it was 1 1/2 ago there was a tornado at Celebration and my one daughter was in Cinderella's Castle at the time and they got locked in there while the warning was going. I on the other hand was on the ferry towards the Magic Kingdom enjoying the terrific clouds swirling around and blacker than black. Rate me up there with the severe weather chasers.

 

[bookwormde]

The closest big structures would be WVL and WL.

bookwormde

 

[donac]

A tornado did hit the 1500 loop one time I was there. It hit while we were at the park. It must have been pretty small becasue it only took out a tree and the missed most of the tents and campers. I would think that the comfort station would be the best place to go.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

It's just me, but I would think that you stand a better chance of gettn struck by lightning than you would being hit by a tornado,

 

[ftwildernessguy]

I think you probably should worry more about getting hit by a golf cart driven by a 12 year old.

 

[truck1]

There was a hotly debated issue back in 2000ish. I forget exactly when. Some of the weather guessers called it straight line winds and more than a few of us swear it was a tornado.

I was driving the Superbus at the time, and the winds in front of the bus were moving from right to left, and the winds behind me, were moving left to the right. It actually moved the trailer about 3 feet to the right.(I was sitting at a traffic light at just north of Port Orleans.) The same storm took out more than a few trees in a fairly straigh line from Epcot to DTD to Hotel Plaza and knocked more than a few window mounted ACs out of the hotels on HP and borke more than a few panes of glass. HP was shut down for about 5 hours. Disney busses had to run up and back from HP beacuse all of their busses were stuck in the resorts.It was bad enough that as I was idling down (yes idling trying to get out of the area) BVD, I was passed in the other direction by one of Reedy Creeks engines. I never saw it. I heard it but never saw it. It was raining that hard. With hail.

There was another storm that came up after 1000pm in 98. I had 2 trainees with me and we were just finishing up the road portion of the night and were going to take a break and do a review. I was sitting in our trining office and heard the weather alerts on the tv. tornado etc.I walked outside and it had gone from nice and clear to lightning,thunder all over in less than 10 minutes. And it was getting close fast. I sent bith my trainess home, and they both missed the storm that went over the MK area, and went to Winter Garden and dropped a tornado.

As far as where to go, I cant say for sure.1 thing that youd need to know is Where is the storm/tornado in realtion to you and where is it going.
Next time your on property, you might ask someone at check in what there suggestion would be to go or do.

 

[photo_chick]

Being from Texas at the tail end of tornado alley where we had tornado drills regularly in school.... I'd go to the nearest building. Hopefully it's a nice cinder block construction that is low to the ground. Bigger is not necessarily better, in some cases it can be worse if it's a taller steel and glass structure. And get away from any windows.

If you can't get to a building and are staying in a trailer, tent or are just outside and there is no shelter, go to the nearest ditch and lay down. I'm not kidding about that, it's what you're supposed to do. It is supposed to be safer than staying in a car or unanchored structure.

 

[des1954]

I did some statistical research online regarding tornadoes in Florida. Here's what I found.

Florida is ranked 25 out of 48 states for death, injury and damage by tornadoes. Tornadic activity is more frequent than I originally thought, but much less severe than is seen in other states - such as those in tornado alley. Often what is described as a tornado by witnesses are actually microbursts from severe thunderstorms.

By definition, a tornado is a rotating column of air anywhere from a few yards to a mile or more in width, and whirling at destructively high speeds. It is the funnel shaped extention of a cumulonimbus cloud that has been "sucked" to the ground by low pressure at ground level.

I've seen plenty of "dust-devils" here in Florida - which are swirling bursts of wind which can be strong enough to move a vehicle a few inches - but are not descending from a cloud. They can also damage small trees or diseased, older trees. (Which there are a lot of both at Ft.W)

While there have been a few somewhat destructive tornadoes throughout Florida since I've lived here (1973), most are the "quick hit and gone" variety. Seldom do they hit the ground and stay there causing large paths of destruction. Actually, I only recall two really damagaing tornadoes. One in Venice in 1979 & one that hit Lady Lake (outside The Villages) in 2007. The one in Venice hit a shopping center in the early morning hours and pulled a roof off a K-Mart - no one was hurt. The one in Lady Lake destroyed a bunch of mobile homes that were not surrounded by trees, and destroyed a church. 19 people were killed in that storm - most of whom were not injured by the storm itself, but were entering unsafe areas to retrieve property.

Another poster mentioned a tornado hitting Celebration a couple of years ago. I remember that (I only live 20 miles from there) - and it was described by meteorologists as microbursts, and not a tornado. A few windows were damaged in a commercial building and the news showed a gazebo overturned. The people in the midwest suffered greater wind damage earlier this week when that mega-storm moved thru the country, than any tornado damage I've seen in Florida over 36 years.

If you want to stress out over something related to a vacation in Florida, watching out for wandering snowbirds on the highway ranks higher than weather issues. February is snowbird season and the snowbird is a highly dangerous species when armed with a motor vehicle.

 

[ftwildernessguy]

Strong winds do not a tornado make. We get a fair share of them in PA, and I know after a wind storm residents are screaming tornado, but the National Weather Service folks come out and investigate - there has to be twisting type damage for them to label it a tornado. Of course, if your house is leveled, it really doesn't matter to you one way or another.

Back in the 80's there was a pretty severe tornado that went through the town I lived in up in NW PA. Cut a wide swath thru some heavily wooded areas and wiped out part of town. Did some interesting damage - tree branches through walls of houses, etc. I had a patient who was a young girl taking a bath during the storm. Her house was destroyed. She was lifted up in the tub and they found her, still in the tub, 3 blocks away. That kid would flip out every time there was a thunder storm from that day on. Man, what a ride!

 

[Millermouseketeers]

Speaking from tornado alley, you would go to the comfort station. In our houses we go to the lowest level, innermost room, usually our bathrooms. Acutally during storm season we keep our bathroom stocked with flash lights, portable radio. My kids always want their phone chargers, hard to use with no power!

 

[fla4fun]

Speaking from tornado alley, you would go to the comfort station. In our houses we go to the lowest level, innermost room, usually our bathrooms. Acutally during storm season we keep our bathroom stocked with flash lights, portable radio. My kids always want their phone chargers, hard to use with no power!

That's kind of what I figured - so I'll have to scope out the closest comfort station when I get there. I'm not stressing about it - I was just curious.

I grew up in the midwest, and we had a basement we always took shelter in during tornados. The house we had built here is one of the few Florida homes that has a basement in it, which is where our hurricane safe room is, and of course, where we go if there's a tornado warning. People think it's weird that we have a basement, but when you've lived where nearly every thunderstorm puts down a tornado somewhere, a basement is a very comforting thing to have. BTW - we have battery operated cell phone chargers that use AA batteries that we keep in the safe room. They come in very handy if the power is out for very long (as it is sometimes with hurricanes).

 

[ILoveDisney&Cruising]

Funny you should ask - I had wondered the same thing!

We just got back tonight from a 2-week trip. There was a severe weather warning one night. We had a weather radio with us that stays in the camper.

I figured the best place to go if we needed to, would be the comfort station.

 

[Born 2 Fish]

Okay, since evryone is so serious about this,,reck'n I'll throw a tip in there.
If your worried about tornado's, then loop 1900 is likely to be your best loop to stay in.
All my life I've been told if you can't out run a tornado, find the nearest ditch and lay down in it,,,well 1900 is nothing but ditches.

 

[flamtap]

I'll be in a cabin from 1/26 through 2/5. I know all about how they evacuate FW during hurricanes, but has anyone been there during tornado warnings generated by our severe storms in the winter? Late Jan/early Feb is notorious for tornadoes during an active el nino cycle, so I was just curious. I always travel with a weather alert radio, so I'll know whether or not the situation is bad. I just need to know what to do in case I hear a tornado is headed my way, since a trailer is not the best place to ride one out. Do people go to the comfort stations? is there shelter space near the cabin pool? I don't recall a tornado ever getting super close to the Fort, but I'd rather be prepared.

Thanks!

Did anyone notice that a tornado warning was issued today just before 4pm. We were in our cabin but didn't notice any alerts from WDW people. Only knew because I was checking the weather on the web.

flamtap