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Post by troutbreath on May 11, 2005 11:21:51 GMT -5
Quite frankly, I don’t know why I thought of this last night, but I did. Imagine you are in the BW or Q (OK, for 99% of you, that isn’t too hard.) Weather turns bad, rain starts coming down pretty hard, wind starts to blow. What would you do, if:
You are in camp and you see across the lake a funnel cloud and you think you have 5 min before it crosses to you?
You are your canoe and the above happens?
You are in camp and all of a sudden you hear a freight train sound and the wind begins to intensify?
You are in your canoe and the above happens?
TIA,
TB
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Post by Canoearoo on May 11, 2005 17:05:02 GMT -5
I have been in the BW with a tornado. In reality there is nothing you can do but pray and be ready for the maker. As for your questions:
You are in camp and you see across the lake a funnel cloud and you think you have 5 min before it crosses to you? Look for the lowest spot and lay completely flat (that is what NOAA says ((as if it would work)) but hay its better than nothing)
You are your canoe and the above happens? Just keep paddling to shore. Most tornado's come at the end of a storm so I would hope I had found shore before now because lightning would have been a big factor as well.
You are in camp and all of a sudden you hear a freight train sound and the wind begins to intensify? Lay in the lowest place possible
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Post by qp on May 11, 2005 19:05:30 GMT -5
Hey Reddcin You should post that story again I think it is still on the yahoo group. If you like I can move it here?
qp
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Post by Canoearoo on May 11, 2005 20:12:33 GMT -5
Sure, move it over qp ;D But in my tornado story we opted for the pray method and just stayed in our tent (which was in the lowest place on the island anyway with no big trees around).
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dentondoc
Paddler
You only get one shot at life. Make it an adventure!
Posts: 20
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Post by dentondoc on May 12, 2005 11:28:05 GMT -5
In a tornado, it is the wind-borne debris the causes most injuries and deaths. Of course, if I had the chance, I'd try to get out of the way...but then they don't always move in a straight line.
In the rare circumstance that there is no lightening accompanying the storm and I was looking at an F1 (or maybe F2) storm and I was on the water, I would be tempted to get into the water and under my overturned canoe. This would achieve 2 things--over water the tornado is not adding to the debris it is carrying and may even have a chance to unload some of it. Second, with most of your body submerged there is less of a target for the debris that is present and maybe the overturned canoe would help a bit. But keep in mind, I am talking about a RARE circumstance.
A low spot is your best bet on land. Again, the idea here is to get as much of your body out of the debris field as possible. As "red" pointed out, check the surrounding area for trees, but also look for gravel and smaller rocks that might get airborne. If there were no obvious low spots, the next thing I'd probably look for is a body (or larger) sized notch in a large boulder field, but if there is any small stuff around, forget it--can we say "shotgun blast". (By large, I'm suggesting automobile sized or larger that are not likely to be moved by a tornado but which would provide at least some kind of barrier to any debris.)
While I am mildly concerned about tornados in canoe (I suppose because I live in tornado alley and have already survived being run over by one), I'm actually more worried about a hail storm outbreak, which in my view is as least as likely as encountering a tornado.
What would you do to protect yourself against hail stones that are egg-sized and larger? I could see those things going right thru an overturned kevlar canoe.
dd
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Post by Canoearoo on May 12, 2005 21:49:45 GMT -5
I was in soft ball size hail while camping (not in the bw) and luckily there was a rock over hang. We were sitting by the camp fire and heard a weird noise. We looked up and saw white coming cross at us. It sounded horrible! As it got closer I realized what it was and we ran for the under hang. Just as we got there the hail came down! I have NEVER seen hail that big!! I thought for sure it would shred my tent but they just bounced off. My truck wasn't so fortunate. The only thing I can think of for if there was no over hang was to get in the tent, pile up all my stuff on the sleeping bags and crawl under the sleeping pad with the sleeping bag and all the stuff on top. I have been caught outside in the mountains in a marble size hail storm and boy did that hurt! In that storm we found a small shrub and hid under that with our pack on top.
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Post by Zeduk on May 17, 2005 15:37:02 GMT -5
On the ground I would RLH.
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Post by Bearattack on May 24, 2005 7:10:00 GMT -5
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