Tornados, Rolling Fork Mississippi wiped off the map

[Reluctant Watchman]

At least 24 people died in the string of tornados last night. The town of Rolling Fork MS was essentially wiped off the map. Anybody near this area affected?

The screengrab on the video is the city water tower.

[mudflap]

An f4 is pretty dangerous. That's the one you really don't want to meet. It'll do just like it did here and wipe most homes off the map. Only thing more powerful is an f5, which will gouge the earth as it goes - an f5 will even tear out the foundation on a home. A framed home doesn't stand a chance against an f4. This is really sad.

Sometimes, they come in so fast, they blow themselves out before they can turn into tornadoes. I think that's what happened to us, because we were under a watch beginning around 11 pm, and I think it lasted till 3-4. This morning was a beautiful sunrise, and perfectly calm.

All we got was a lot of wind - the trees on the edge of the property were bending at 45 degree angles. Then there was lots of hail, lightning, and then it just poured rain for the rest of the night.
We slept at the cabin last night so my wife could pull an all-nighter and get some mudding done. All night long, tornado sirens, emergency alerts, etc., but I purposely cut all the trees near the cabin so nothing can fall on it. Not even any shaking from the wind like our home in the city; just solid. no groaning or creaking either. nothing moved.

Sometimes, what happens in a tornado to a framed home is that the shear pressure on one side of the home is so great, it will rip the home in half. other times, the air pressure drops so suddenly, and the wind is so intense that the air pressure inside the home will cause the home to literally explode. The best defense against these extreme pressure differences and shear pressure is to build a round home - like the earth domes.

Other times, the home is hit with debris. A framed home with 3/4" plywood sheathing can only withstand so much pressure, and you can imagine what happens when flying debris - say, a 2x4 ripped from your neighbor's home - comes flying at your home at 200+ mph - it is going to go right through that plywood sheathing like it was made out of cotton candy. multiplied by hundreds of pieces of debris - it's going to tear a home apart.

Look at this framed home - this tree fell on it due to saturated soil + high winds - it cut through the roof and walls of this home like a knife through butter:
.

An LHBA home made out of logs is not going to do this if a tree falls on it.

Our log home has 17" logs, pinned with 1/2" x 18"-24" rebar spikes. The shear mass of the thing, plus being pinned with close to a half mile of rebar, is going to prevent it from exploding during a pressure drop like that. Even though it holds a massive volume of air, the roof alone weighs 75,000 lbs, with the walls adding another 300,000 lbs. A home that weighs that much is probably going to stay put, no matter what comes along.

Here's another example. Remember that home on "Mexican Beach" that survived hurricane Michael back in 2018, while all around it was wiped clean? https://architizer.com/blog/practice/de ... e-michael/



The owners said:

“At every point, from pilings to the roof and everything in between, when it came time to make a decision about what level of material or what to use, we didn’t pay attention to code,” said Lebron Lackey, sharing the story of the project with CNN. “We went above and beyond code, and we asked the question: ‘What would survive the big one?’ And we consistently tried to build it for that.”

Bingo. I think I read somewhere else where 20' pilings driven into the sand were required, so this guy went 40' into the sand with his.

that's what I did too. where it said 1 nail for each attachment point for the roof decking, I did two. And I did ringshanked nails, instead of smooth nails (more grip). 4x12 rafters became 5x12 rafters. 4' square base concrete piers for roof supports became 6' square base. 8" lags for door frames became 12"-14" lags. and on and on.

[BigT]

Good heavens. We're looking into moving to NW Arkansas. There's a website that shows the location and grade of all known tornadoes since 1950 and there have been none in the town we're looking at. I'm wondering: Overdue? Or safe place.

[Christianlee]

This is one of the reasons I am hesitant to move anywhere in Dixie Alley.

[Christianlee]

Good heavens. We're looking into moving to NW Arkansas. There's a website that shows the location and grade of all known tornadoes since 1950 and there have been none in the town we're looking at. I'm wondering: Overdue? Or safe place.

Bentonville, Arkansas is 94% more likely than average to get a tornado. That is not so bad. Jackson, Ms. is 168% higher than average. Check the city-data site for your town. For example, Moore, Oklahoma is 250% more likely.

[Reluctant Watchman]

I wonder if a cob/earth home would survive that.

[Reluctant Watchman]

An f4 is pretty dangerous. That's the one you really don't want to meet. It'll do just like it did here and wipe most homes off the map. Only thing more powerful is an f5, which will gouge the earth as it goes - an f5 will even tear out the foundation on a home. A framed home doesn't stand a chance against an f4. This is really sad.

Sometimes, they come in so fast, they blow themselves out before they can turn into tornadoes. I think that's what happened to us, because we were under a watch beginning around 11 pm, and I think it lasted till 3-4. This morning was a beautiful sunrise, and perfectly calm.

All we got was a lot of wind - the trees on the edge of the property were bending at 45 degree angles. Then there was lots of hail, lightning, and then it just poured rain for the rest of the night.
We slept at the cabin last night so my wife could pull an all-nighter and get some mudding done. All night long, tornado sirens, emergency alerts, etc., but I purposely cut all the trees near the cabin so nothing can fall on it. Not even any shaking from the wind like our home in the city; just solid. no groaning or creaking either. nothing moved.

Sometimes, what happens in a tornado to a framed home is that the shear pressure on one side of the home is so great, it will rip the home in half. other times, the air pressure drops so suddenly, and the wind is so intense that the air pressure inside the home will cause the home to literally explode. The best defense against these extreme pressure differences and shear pressure is to build a round home - like the earth domes.

Other times, the home is hit with debris. A framed home with 3/4" plywood sheathing can only withstand so much pressure, and you can imagine what happens when flying debris - say, a 2x4 ripped from your neighbor's home - comes flying at your home at 200+ mph - it is going to go right through that plywood sheathing like it was made out of cotton candy. multiplied by hundreds of pieces of debris - it's going to tear a home apart.

Look at this framed home - this tree fell on it due to saturated soil + high winds - it cut through the roof and walls of this home like a knife through butter:
.

An LHBA home made out of logs is not going to do this if a tree falls on it.

Our log home has 17" logs, pinned with 1/2" x 18"-24" rebar spikes. The shear mass of the thing, plus being pinned with close to a half mile of rebar, is going to prevent it from exploding during a pressure drop like that. Even though it holds a massive volume of air, the roof alone weighs 75,000 lbs, with the walls adding another 300,000 lbs. A home that weighs that much is probably going to stay put, no matter what comes along.

Here's another example. Remember that home on "Mexican Beach" that survived hurricane Michael back in 2018, while all around it was wiped clean? https://architizer.com/blog/practice/de ... e-michael/



The owners said:

“At every point, from pilings to the roof and everything in between, when it came time to make a decision about what level of material or what to use, we didn’t pay attention to code,” said Lebron Lackey, sharing the story of the project with CNN. “We went above and beyond code, and we asked the question: ‘What would survive the big one?’ And we consistently tried to build it for that.”

Bingo. I think I read somewhere else where 20' pilings driven into the sand were required, so this guy went 40' into the sand with his.

that's what I did too. where it said 1 nail for each attachment point for the roof decking, I did two. And I did ringshanked nails, instead of smooth nails (more grip). 4x12 rafters became 5x12 rafters. 4' square base concrete piers for roof supports became 6' square base. 8" lags for door frames became 12"-14" lags. and on and on.

What rating tornado do you think your log home could withstand?

[mudflap]

Good heavens. We're looking into moving to NW Arkansas. There's a website that shows the location and grade of all known tornadoes since 1950 and there have been none in the town we're looking at. I'm wondering: Overdue? Or safe place.

well....the weatherliars love to hype things because it's good for ratings.

When I first moved here, we lived in a trailer. First night I heard a tornado siren, I didn't know what it was, so I woke my wife up to ask her. "Honey - they are saying on the news we should go to a shelter if we live in a trailer..." She rolled over and grumbled, "don't worry about it - they say that stuff all the time!". and went back to sleep. She's lived here her whole life, and has never seen any direct damage from a tornado.

Also, there are places that are tornado magnets within "Tornado alley". It's not like tornados come through and devastate every home in the entire state (...but convincing my mom that that's not the case is another story!). There's a place here - an exclusive subdivision with an HOA and construction requirements (one of those "3/4 brick, 1/4 vinyl, 2 car garage, hedges only in front yards, no fences" kind of uppity places). It attracts out-of-staters like crazy. It's on a bit of a hill (that's a clue!) - higher than the surrounding area. And it gets hit with tornadoes all the time. One time, a tornado wiped out a home, and damaged several others. The one that had their home completely destroyed - it took them a year to rebuild - just in time for another tornado to come through and wipe the same house off the map for the second time. That land is now abandoned.

Weathermen will lie and say tornadoes can strike anywhere. Sure - they can - but they don't. They get their energy from the differences between low and high pressure- along strong frontal boundaries. As long as there are no large obstructions, a tornado can carve a path of destruction hundreds of miles long - lifting briefly here and there for a few miles at a time. So, knowing that, if you can find property in an area where there IS a large obstruction (hill, river, etc.) that will change the air pressure (temperature difference, usually), then you can disrupt the tornado's energy source and be relatively safe. Here's an example. The areas in yellow haven't seen tornados since the 1950's, if ever, because the Appalachian mountains disrupt the tornado's energy source:



All I did was overlay a topographical maps over a tornado map. And when you do, you'll realize that tornadoes don't usually strike on the lee (back) side of a hill when the front of the hill faces the prevailing winds. So our cabin - we bought the land with this in mind - is on the lee side of a small (1200') hill, which is about a mile away from our property - and our part of town has never had anything more than an f1 come through the part where we built. now, sure, tornados have struck North and South of our place - big ones - but not our direct area. Varying by a few miles can make all the difference, if you know what to look for.

[mudflap]

An f4 is pretty dangerous. That's the one you really don't want to meet. It'll do just like it did here and wipe most homes off the map. Only thing more powerful is an f5, which will gouge the earth as it goes - an f5 will even tear out the foundation on a home. A framed home doesn't stand a chance against an f4. This is really sad.

Sometimes, they come in so fast, they blow themselves out before they can turn into tornadoes. I think that's what happened to us, because we were under a watch beginning around 11 pm, and I think it lasted till 3-4. This morning was a beautiful sunrise, and perfectly calm.

All we got was a lot of wind - the trees on the edge of the property were bending at 45 degree angles. Then there was lots of hail, lightning, and then it just poured rain for the rest of the night.
We slept at the cabin last night so my wife could pull an all-nighter and get some mudding done. All night long, tornado sirens, emergency alerts, etc., but I purposely cut all the trees near the cabin so nothing can fall on it. Not even any shaking from the wind like our home in the city; just solid. no groaning or creaking either. nothing moved.

Sometimes, what happens in a tornado to a framed home is that the shear pressure on one side of the home is so great, it will rip the home in half. other times, the air pressure drops so suddenly, and the wind is so intense that the air pressure inside the home will cause the home to literally explode. The best defense against these extreme pressure differences and shear pressure is to build a round home - like the earth domes.

Other times, the home is hit with debris. A framed home with 3/4" plywood sheathing can only withstand so much pressure, and you can imagine what happens when flying debris - say, a 2x4 ripped from your neighbor's home - comes flying at your home at 200+ mph - it is going to go right through that plywood sheathing like it was made out of cotton candy. multiplied by hundreds of pieces of debris - it's going to tear a home apart.

Look at this framed home - this tree fell on it due to saturated soil + high winds - it cut through the roof and walls of this home like a knife through butter:
.

An LHBA home made out of logs is not going to do this if a tree falls on it.

Our log home has 17" logs, pinned with 1/2" x 18"-24" rebar spikes. The shear mass of the thing, plus being pinned with close to a half mile of rebar, is going to prevent it from exploding during a pressure drop like that. Even though it holds a massive volume of air, the roof alone weighs 75,000 lbs, with the walls adding another 300,000 lbs. A home that weighs that much is probably going to stay put, no matter what comes along.

Here's another example. Remember that home on "Mexican Beach" that survived hurricane Michael back in 2018, while all around it was wiped clean? https://architizer.com/blog/practice/de ... e-michael/



The owners said:

“At every point, from pilings to the roof and everything in between, when it came time to make a decision about what level of material or what to use, we didn’t pay attention to code,” said Lebron Lackey, sharing the story of the project with CNN. “We went above and beyond code, and we asked the question: ‘What would survive the big one?’ And we consistently tried to build it for that.”

Bingo. I think I read somewhere else where 20' pilings driven into the sand were required, so this guy went 40' into the sand with his.

that's what I did too. where it said 1 nail for each attachment point for the roof decking, I did two. And I did ringshanked nails, instead of smooth nails (more grip). 4x12 rafters became 5x12 rafters. 4' square base concrete piers for roof supports became 6' square base. 8" lags for door frames became 12"-14" lags. and on and on.

What rating tornado do you think your log home could withstand?

My engineer studied the plans in minute detail and told me confidently that it could withstand an f4.

[Original_Intent]

I listen to Ryan Hall Y'all on YouTube - when there is severe weather anywhere in the lower 48 He stays live and has weather chasers on the ground to keep people notified - and they are usually tracking multiple storm cells and he is quite good, usually warns an area about impending tornado before the weather service issues an alert.

Anyways, yesterday he said the chance of any person ever being directly impacted by a tornado is very, very small, but also to take it seriously if there is a warning or an alert. That mess in Rolling Fork it is amazing there weren't a lot more than 23 killed.

[Lizzy60]

I listen to Ryan Hall Y'all on YouTube - when there is severe weather anywhere in the lower 48 He stays live and has weather chasers on the ground to keep people notified - and they are usually tracking multiple storm cells and he is quite good, usually warns an area about impending tornado before the weather service issues an alert.

Anyways, yesterday he said the chance of any person ever being directly impacted by a tornado is very, very small, but also to take it seriously if there is a warning or an alert. That mess in Rolling Fork it is amazing there weren't a lot more than 23 killed.

I also watch Ryan Hall on youtube. His friend, and meteorologist Andy Hill has started his own YouTube channel and they were both broadcasting simultaneously on their separate channels, but connected to each other, yesterday. As Andy, the degreed meteorologist, who is a young man, was watching the debris fields from the tornadoes, he was choked up, and almost seemed in shock. I felt strongly that he knew very well what kind of devastation was occurring there on his radar screen.

Many of the storm chasers stopped chasing, and joined the efforts to find the injured, and transported as many as they could, in their vehicles, to local hospitals.

[endlessQuestions]

I'm within a few hours of this. We thought it was coming our way in the morning, but the storm must have shifted, because we just had torrential rain for awhile with average winds.

[BigT]

Good heavens. We're looking into moving to NW Arkansas. There's a website that shows the location and grade of all known tornadoes since 1950 and there have been none in the town we're looking at. I'm wondering: Overdue? Or safe place.

Bentonville, Arkansas is 94% more likely than average to get a tornado. That is not so bad. Jackson, Ms. is 168% higher than average. Check the city-data site for your town. For example, Moore, Oklahoma is 250% more likely.

Thanks. We’re interested in Bella Vista, a few miles north of Bentonville.

For tornadoes: “98% greater than the overall U.S. average.”

Yet none since 1950:

8A75A8AA-68E6-4FF9-87B8-C8B6CC810EFB.jpeg (519.59 KiB) Viewed 165 times

Odd.

[Christianlee]

Good heavens. We're looking into moving to NW Arkansas. There's a website that shows the location and grade of all known tornadoes since 1950 and there have been none in the town we're looking at. I'm wondering: Overdue? Or safe place.

Bentonville, Arkansas is 94% more likely than average to get a tornado. That is not so bad. Jackson, Ms. is 168% higher than average. Check the city-data site for your town. For example, Moore, Oklahoma is 250% more likely.

Thanks. We’re interested in Bella Vista, a few miles north of Bentonville.

For tornadoes: “98% greater than the overall U.S. average.”

Yet none since 1950:

8A75A8AA-68E6-4FF9-87B8-C8B6CC810EFB.jpeg

Odd.

It’s all a dice toss.

[Cruiserdude]

Good heavens. We're looking into moving to NW Arkansas. There's a website that shows the location and grade of all known tornadoes since 1950 and there have been none in the town we're looking at. I'm wondering: Overdue? Or safe place.

Bentonville, Arkansas is 94% more likely than average to get a tornado. That is not so bad. Jackson, Ms. is 168% higher than average. Check the city-data site for your town. For example, Moore, Oklahoma is 250% more likely.

Thanks. We’re interested in Bella Vista, a few miles north of Bentonville.

For tornadoes: “98% greater than the overall U.S. average.”

Yet none since 1950:

8A75A8AA-68E6-4FF9-87B8-C8B6CC810EFB.jpeg

Odd.

Gorgeous part of the country, can't blame ya

[BigT]

Bentonville, Arkansas is 94% more likely than average to get a tornado. That is not so bad. Jackson, Ms. is 168% higher than average. Check the city-data site for your town. For example, Moore, Oklahoma is 250% more likely.

Thanks. We’re interested in Bella Vista, a few miles north of Bentonville.

For tornadoes: “98% greater than the overall U.S. average.”

Yet none since 1950:

8A75A8AA-68E6-4FF9-87B8-C8B6CC810EFB.jpeg

Odd.

Gorgeous part of the country, can't blame ya

Thanks. But, just today we found the city has a plan for Agenda 2030, but they call it 2040. Sigh. I guess the fight will rage everywhere. A crap shoot.

[Christianlee]

Thanks. We’re interested in Bella Vista, a few miles north of Bentonville.

For tornadoes: “98% greater than the overall U.S. average.”

Yet none since 1950:

8A75A8AA-68E6-4FF9-87B8-C8B6CC810EFB.jpeg

Odd.

Gorgeous part of the country, can't blame ya

Thanks. But, just today we found the city has a plan for Agenda 2030, but they call it 2040. Sigh. I guess the fight will rage everywhere. A crap shoot.

A lot of input from Walmart there.

[SantaFe]

I listen to Ryan Hall Y'all on YouTube - when there is severe weather anywhere in the lower 48 He stays live and has weather chasers on the ground to keep people notified - and they are usually tracking multiple storm cells and he is quite good, usually warns an area about impending tornado before the weather service issues an alert.

Anyways, yesterday he said the chance of any person ever being directly impacted by a tornado is very, very small, but also to take it seriously if there is a warning or an alert. That mess in Rolling Fork it is amazing there weren't a lot more than 23 killed.

I also watch Ryan Hall on youtube. His friend, and meteorologist Andy Hill has started his own YouTube channel and they were both broadcasting simultaneously on their separate channels, but connected to each other, yesterday. As Andy, the degreed meteorologist, who is a young man, was watching the debris fields from the tornadoes, he was choked up, and almost seemed in shock. I felt strongly that he knew very well what kind of devastation was occurring there on his radar screen.

Many of the storm chasers stopped chasing, and joined the efforts to find the injured, and transported as many as they could, in their vehicles, to local hospitals.

I don't watch msm but I did hear of an impending tornado warning in Mississippi from an alternative website. I looked it up last night before going to bed but didn't see anything in the area where my niece lives. I forgot about it until just a few minutes ago when I came to check in on LDSFF. As soon as I saw the post I called my niece. She lives around Oxford. She watched Ryan Hall too and spent the night going about 90mph out running it. She had dreamed about it the night before and that helped her make her decision to bolt. She's ok but frazzled. She said she lives about an hour from where it hit. No damage to the house but some to other buildings on the property.

[marc]

Also today:

[marc]