BAD WEATHER INFORMATION? question?please

[wichitarick]

HELLO
My apology if I am asking this in the wrong place.
I tend to stay away from typical internet chit chat and do not interfere or even acknowledge out right lies. BUT a re-union of sorts is taking place and MANY of us are true survivors .

The point of my question or request is I despise mis-information and teach a highly gifted 12 yr. old to avoid it at ALL costs.
A big blessing went out to people involved in the latest tornado's
that ravaged the south /south east and even charity numbers to call , But my problem is I live in TORNADO alley and my BROTHER is claiming to be a lot more educated than he actually is and getting people to believe in a lot of what he is saying and now a few 100 people people are taking simple statements as FACT. Can you help me please by simply explaining or giving me a link to help answer this statement .
""""""" WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS STATEMENT. "That's ok. The odds of getting hit by a tornado are still far less than that of being hit by a blizzard or hurricane.""""""""""

THANKS SO MUCH FOR ANY HELP AND JUST TRYING TO HAVE A LITTLE FUN TO CLEAR UP THE WATER COOLER CHIT-CHAT. Thanks Richard, Wichita Kansas

[Bill O]

Too many smiley faces?

I'm not sure, the statement seems true.

[Knapper]

Can you help me please by simply explaining or giving me a link to help answer this statement .
""""""" WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS STATEMENT. "That's ok. The odds of getting hit by a tornado are still far less than that of being hit by a blizzard or hurricane.""""""""""

To be honest, I almost skipped your thread because it started off sounding like spam. But then I got to the statement at the end. There is nothing wrong with the statement. But rather than ramble off a bunch of stats, I will direct you to this paper written by NASA in 2000: http://standards.nasa.gov/released/1001/1001_12.pdf

It compares tornadoes and hurricanes and shows frequency maps/charts as well as a bunch of other data. It looks confusing at first but is user friendly once you read through it. If this doesn't help, I can try and find one or two other papers I know of from college that show this comparison as well.

Hope this helps.

[mahony]

Having survived all 3 (blizzard, hurricane, tornado), the question is not of being hit by one (i.e. it is much easier to be "hit" by a hurricane or blizzard than a tornado - mostly because they are large area phenomena), but which is more deadly.

Unless my heat went out or my house was poorly designed I really can't see myself dying in a blizzard and have lived through many here in New England and elsewhere. I've also survived hurricanes, although the winds have been "slower" than the maximum where I have been.

A tornado just isn't the same, you can't get away from the coast, you can't hide in the house....you don't even know where it is going to be and the sound and flying debris is terrifying.

I know that the above isn't scientific or statistical, but I'd rather be in hurricane or blizzard territory than tornado...that said; I wouldn't/haven't shied away from living in tornado country either.

[Brad]

Having lived in tornado territory twice, the statement makes a lot of sense. Part of the answer from a math standpoint depends on where you live. We have had tornadoes in Maine, but they are rare. We have blizzards all the time. Once in a while we have a hurricane.

Move to RI and the chance of a blizzard goes down - a hurricane goes up. Move to Raleigh, NC and the chance of a tornado goes up a lot. A blizzard is almost nil - and hurricanes rarely come that far inland.

We have a lot more of the U.S. that is tornado-likely than is blizzard-friendly, or hurricane-lucky.