Record wave of U.S. tornadoes kills 46.

[Bill Cravener]

I was wondering, is the United States the only country that experience so many tornado's every year?

We haven't been threaten yet this year by tornado's here in western PA but its still early in the year however we have had wind gusts exceeding 50 miles an hour.

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/04/17/Record-wave-of-US-tornadoes-kills-46/UPI-57111303018789/

[oex]

Weather is shaped by geography/equator distance etc etc so depending on your landmass you have different weather.... I watched a nasa report that reconed that Hurricanes on the East coast of America started life in Africa's mountains....

Here in the UK we have awefully average weather.... Yesterday was a scortcher at 20 degrees, day before that we had some light rain :lol....

We do in actuallity have 'tornados' here on occasion however they dont really register on a world scale....

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2007/09/24/uk-britain-tornadoes-idUKL2454198120070924
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305798/Suffolk-tornado-Twister-rips-village-Great-Livermere.html

[hutch--]

ill,

I think the tornado belt across the US is reasonably unusual and it has to do with historical weather patterns at that latitude. We do get a variety in OZ but mainly in the desert areas where you get the same effect but they pick up dust instead of water. Everyone seems to be having trouble lately, floods and cyclones here in OZ which are cyclical, earthquakes in Japan and NZ, you guys getting really cold weather and tornados, just occasionally you get the idea that the planet has a sense of humour that the rest of us don't share.

[oex]

UK has 'highest tornado rate' in the world.... :lol
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-421156/UK-highest-tornado-rate-world.html

[Bill Cravener]

Wow, from last summer to this spring the United States continues to break weather records and its only April. Come May tornados head farther North, oh boy!

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/deadly-tornados-massive-devastation-damage-destruction-south-georgia-13476537

Shows some horrific tornados.


Edit: Fixed dead link.

[Bill Cravener]

This is really getting alarming! I live in an 80 year old double story matchbox. I'm thankful it has a very sturdy basement. And to think May isn't even here yet!

http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-tornado-pennsylvania-york-lebanon-20110429,0,830178.story

I experienced one like this here in PA many years ago. This one is unbelievably alarming!! You might have to set thru a short advertisement..

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/alabama-tornado-caught-on-tape-13476599

[hutch--]

Bill,

Not as a silly question but do you have any really solid anchor points around your house ? In the north of OZ where you get serious cyclones it is not uncommon to tie down the roof of a house with cables but most of the later buildings have cyclone spec roofing that stays up to winds of about 200k (130 mph).

I had a look at some video from Vilona Arkansas and it was pretty wild stuff, made a real mess of the town and a number of people died there. Fortunately we don't have tornados in populated areas but the north of OZ gets bashed with cyclones and flooding on a cyclical basis and in some outback areas we get what the Aboriginal people called Willie Willies, tornados that pick up dust but they are a very long way from inhabited areas.

[Bill Cravener]

Steve, most of the old homes in American towns simply sit on top of concrete basement foundations with no anchoring at all and when a tornado hits one it lifts it off the foundation and then flattens it along with any near by big old maple and oak trees.

[Magnum]

And when it's a category 5 tornado, only solid concrete structures can survive.