Tornadoes along the AT near Va TN & NC

[WhiteBearDog]

Was just looking at the radar at 11:40 pm Friday evening and see a very distictive circulation in a cell that just crossed through Marion VA by Mt Rodgers NRA.... Hoping everyone is ok but raises the question...

WHAT THE HECK DOES ONE DO BESIDES PRAY & KISS THEIR ARSE GOODBYE???

Do your gut instints kick in knowing its coming or is it totally getting caught off guard?

[TOW]

Hope you survive and are able to count it up as part of your trail experience.......

[Chaco Taco]

was on my way to Winding Stair Gap on Thursday when the Tornado Warnings were isssued. Did a u turn and came on home.

[modiyooch]

never experienced one before, but I have seen the devastation. I understand it sounds like a freight train. Personally, I would look for a ditch and protection from the falling trees, and something to hold on to. It's that much harder when it's pitch black outside and terrential rains.

[Highway Man]

was on my way to Winding Stair Gap on Thursday when the Tornado Warnings were isssued. Did a u turn and came on home.

We were there yesterday trying to make it to Franklin. Heavy downpour and lightning started an hour before we reached Winding Stair Gap. We're soaken wet and scared. We're literally running down hill. We waited on the highway in the rain for 20 minutes doing thumbs. 20~30 cars passed by. We're finally picked up by a couple and got to Heaven's Inn. I really appreciate their help.

[Roan Creeper]

A funnel cloud was seen in my area last night with some hail andmajor rain. I hope everyone in the NE Tennessee to SW Virginia area hunkered down. Looks like today is going to be more of the same, but hopefully not as severe.

I was going to go over to Grassy Ridge this morning, but elected to postpone due to this crappy weather.

[SawnieRobertson]

Was just looking at the radar at 11:40 pm Friday evening and see a very distictive circulation in a cell that just crossed through Marion VA by Mt Rodgers NRA.... Hoping everyone is ok but raises the question

Yeah. Last night here at Sugar Grove (9 miles from Marion) I was on the computer when that thing arrived. Thought this was going to at least be the end of my computer life. Then my daughter, unaware in New Mexico, called. I used my portable phone as we tried to have a conversation. The phone went dead five separate times. She'd call back because she wanted to make sure I was okay. Then it would happen again. I have a great, special-ordered surge protector. (After losing two other computers to lighting strikes.) There would be a flash and then a big CLICK! from the protector. Came down this morning, expecting to find, as I said, that there would be no computer readings this morning, but, as you see, that didn't happen. There was plenty hail being flung around. I felt for the folks at the Naturalists Rally at Konnarock who were camping at Grindstone SP. There's little one can do but toss all metal away, hunker down, and remember who is in charge. The South Fork looks a bit like a white water run. Yes, anyone hiking through here at this time has no drinking water concerns, but other water concerns, yes.--Kinnickinic

[Mr. Magoo]

If you're caught out on the trail, try to find a low spot and hunker down. Not much else you can do.

[Gray Blazer]

My wife and I were camping at our secret spot on Wayah Bald last Oct when a cold front was coming through. The Indian Spirits were out howling that night and the next morn at the tower I spotted funnel clouds off towards Highlands. We were lucky.

[jaywalke]

WHAT THE HECK DOES ONE DO BESIDES PRAY & KISS THEIR ARSE GOODBYE???

I've spent most of my life in the Midwestern plains, where tornado sightings were regular Spring activities, so the US SE seems mild by comparison.

1. Yes, tornadoes suck.
2. You are much more likely to die from lightning, bee sting, falling in the bathtub at home or being mushed by a logging truck. (Hopefully, no logging trucks will mush you in the bath. If you think this may be a problem, contact a union plumber.)

RELAX. You've already survived the most dangerous part of hiking: driving to the trailhead. Everything else is gravy.

[Gray Blazer]

These aren't very good pictures. They do show the weather of that Oct coldfront. If you can enlarge them, you should be able to see the funnel clouds forming over Highlands, NC. They are forming in the bottom layer of clouds. These were taken from Wayah Bald 2008.

[jaywalke]

I've got to tell you that these do not impress me. That looks like rain ripping off the bottom of a storm. When the funnel clouds come down, the thunderheads are stacked up out of sight and the sky is the color of a day-old bruise. When everything you can see turns green, it is time to find a low spot. Otherwise, it's just a thunderstorm.

At my job in Illinois, we used to go to the top of the highest dorm to watch the funnels dance. It was high entertainment until they stopped moving. That was when they were either moving straight toward us or away.

[Kirby]

I had a crazy storm to ride out in my tent on June 10th, 2008.

I heard a tornado siren in the valley.

All I could do was hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Luckily, I had a hiking companion who knew his stuff, and he assured me he would wake me and tell me what to do if a tornado was in the vicinity.

But, essentially hope for the best, it tends to be difficult for tornadoes to hit the tops of ridgelines.

[Gray Blazer]

I've got to tell you that these do not impress me. That looks like rain ripping off the bottom of a storm. When the funnel clouds come down, the thunderheads are stacked up out of sight and the sky is the color of a day-old bruise. When everything you can see turns green, it is time to find a low spot. Otherwise, it's just a thunderstorm.

At my job in Illinois, we used to go to the top of the highest dorm to watch the funnels dance. It was high entertainment until they stopped moving. That was when they were either moving straight toward us or away.

I know. We get some of those in FL. I figured the remains of the moisture were blowing up against that mountain range since the front was moving that way. I'll check with Dr. Gray or my good friend Jim Cantore.

[Tinker]

I've got to tell you that these do not impress me. That looks like rain ripping off the bottom of a storm. When the funnel clouds come down, the thunderheads are stacked up out of sight and the sky is the color of a day-old bruise. When everything you can see turns green, it is time to find a low spot. Otherwise, it's just a thunderstorm.

At my job in Illinois, we used to go to the top of the highest dorm to watch the funnels dance. It was high entertainment until they stopped moving. That was when they were either moving straight toward us or away.

Yep. Rain showers. I was in a small tornado in a car once in Ohio. It crossed the road right over us. Knocked down the corn in the field as it went through. F-0 to F-1 is my guess.

[Erin]

I live in SW Missouri which is in tornado alley to some degree since we get them every other year or so. We had two people killed near Springfield Friday morning. We just got tree and some structural damage. Roof blown off school, etc.
The big rules here are get out of your car and get out of your moblile home. In the woods, we go low and get low. I didn't grow up here so I have gotten used to the drill.

[Marta]

We arrived at Massie Gap Friday night about 7:30. As we were putting on our packs, we could see a fast-moving storm over towards Mt. Rogers. I had locked the car and picked up my hiking poles...and said to my friend that I thought we ought to get back in the car. At 7:43 the rain and hail started hitting the windshield. Lighting crashing around up higher. Seven minutes later by the car clock, the storm had passed. We got out and started hiking. Night-hiked to a campsite about a mile north of Thomas Knob Shelter. Crazy windy all night, with a bit more thunder and lightning, and a little more rain.

Yesterday a friend drove in and met us at The Scales. He said he passed through an area that looked as if a twister had touched down briefly recently--lots of spiral-fractured trees. I don't know if that was part of the Friday night storm or not.

[stumpy]

Here is an account of a man that lived through a recent(it was Good Friday) tornado here in Middle Tennessee. He was running on a greenway trail next to a river.

It is very long, but really an amazing read.

[Snowleopard]

There were also tornados in W. Mass. and in Vermont this weekend, not on the trail but not all that far away (30-40 miles).

[snowbliss]

I also grew up in Tornado Alley, but on the eastern edge in St. Louis. It always seemed to me that the tornadoes coming through our area congregated on lower ground, including the nearby flood plains. Those of us who lived on spots of higher land, especially when there were rolling hills, saw nary a tornado.

Still, we had tornado drills every month at school and tornado warnings every spring and fall. Whenever the siren would blow, they sent us to the reinforced school basement.

On the trail, and correct me if I'm wrong, it's very unlikely that a tornado will come up a ridge. Won't it follow the valley? Still, being on the ridge might not be smart either, as it subjects you to potential lightning strikes from the storm fronts that accompany tornadoes. Lightning strikes seem much more likely to get you in a storm than a tornado. Lightning can strike out away from a storm at a distance, but for a tornado to hurt you, you need to be dead in its sights (right in the tornado path). Like any thunder bumper, rapid temperature and pressure drops ahead of dark clouds are a sure sign you're going to get pummeled by the weather, tornado or no.

Any comments?

As an adult, I've generally lived in New England. Given where I grew up, it amuses me to no end when a single tornado hits Massachusetts one year, and everyone freaks out like it is the end of the world.

Jim