Preventing Tornadoes: Myth or Reality?

[davenn]

Do some reading up on the formation of thunder storm cells --- most important to understand that! :)

Then carry that reading on to the next stage as to the reasons why some thunder storm cells produce tornadoes and some dont. The conditions required within the stormcell that need to be just right to produce a tornado

on a side note... I also really don't think you grasp the magnitude of what you are suggesting about depleating a "gas" from a given sized area. How do you think you could deplete the gas of say 10 cubic kilometres ( the avg sized storm cell) without all the surrounding "gas" in the area rushing into fill the void... that in itseld if going to produce very strong winds into that void

Dave

 

[davenn]

For example, tornadoes (dust devils) form quite happily on Mars, whose atmosphere contains no oxygen at all.

nice example ... dave :)


D

 

[Hobin]

I've read through this thread, and I wonder if some people might be going about this the wrong way. As some have pointed out, the amount of energy involved is huge; direct intervention will probably not be feasible for at least quite some time. However, there are other ways to minimize damage caused by tornadoes. The most obvious ones have already been mentioned: better warning systems, and making infrastructure more 'tornado-resistant'.

Something else I've been thinking about is this: how about redirecting the tornado to a less populated area? (Preferably, a completely unpopulated area.) I suspect this would be much easier than trying to weaken a tornado directly, for the same reason deflecting a flying object is easier than stopping it (although a tornado is admittedly much more complex). If the local weather (in the path of the tornado) significantly affects it's direction and force, trying to affect the tornado indirectly seems conceivable.

Unfortunately, most of what I said is only blabbering because, as has also been said, we don't know that much about how tornadoes work. And let's not forget that redirecting a tornado to less populated areas doesn't exactly make everyone happy and those unhappy people would likely want compensation, which makes this more expensive.

 

[SW VandeCarr]

I've read through this thread, and I wonder if some people might be going about this the wrong way. As some have pointed out, the amount of energy involved is huge; direct intervention will probably not be feasible for at least quite some time. However, there are other ways to minimize damage caused by tornadoes. The most obvious ones have already been mentioned: better warning systems, and making infrastructure more 'tornado-resistant'.

Makes sense so far.

Something else I've been thinking about is this: how about redirecting the tornado to a less populated area? (Preferably, a completely unpopulated area.) I suspect this would be much easier than trying to weaken a tornado directly, for the same reason deflecting a flying object is easier than stopping it (although a tornado is admittedly much more complex). If the local weather (in the path of the tornado) significantly affects it's direction and force, trying to affect the tornado indirectly seems conceivable.

Too bad you couldn't stay on the rails. How in the world do you redirect a tornado? Do you put on your orange and yellow uniform and point to the right (or left you're in the UK where these things are pretty rare.)?

Unfortunately, most of what I said is only blabbering because, as has also been said, we don't know that much about how tornadoes work. And let's not forget that redirecting a 0tornado to less populated areas doesn't exactly make everyone happy and those unhappy people would likely want compensation, which makes this more expensive.

Bold mine.

Yes indeed. Let us not forget.

 

[Hobin]

Too bad you couldn't stay on the rails. How in the world do you redirect a tornado? Do you put on your orange and yellow uniform and point to the right (or left you're in the UK where these things are pretty rare.)?

I don't know how to do such a thing specifically, that was sort of the point. I think it might be easier to try to change the direction/force of a tornado by modifying some variables in its path, instead of directly trying to affect the tornado. Obviously, I haven't tried any of this out on any tornadoes nearby, nor do I even know whether we even have the equipment to try any of this right now (I think not).

 

[davenn]

I don't know how to do such a thing specifically, that was sort of the point. I think it might be easier to try to change the direction/force of a tornado by modifying some variables in its path, instead of directly trying to affect the tornado. Obviously, I haven't tried any of this out on any tornadoes nearby, nor do I even know whether we even have the equipment to try any of this right now (I think not).

Again as I commented to the other poster...

read up on how thunderstorm cells are formed and what conditions are required within a storm cell to allow it to produce a tornado. Once you have some of those basic understandings you will realize the massive energy releases are involved in a large storm cell and how futile our attempts would be to try and dissapate the storm without doing severe damage in the process.
Altho the total ins and outs of tornado formation may not be completely understood, they are understood well enough to predict which storm cells are likely to produce a tornado. That can be and is done relatively successfully. Us storm chasers do it every spring and summer in the mid-west USA and other countries.

It really still boils down to building structures that can either withstand the tornado onslaught ( probably easier to build structures to withstand big earthquakes!) or try to improve warning times for people to get to shelters for their protection.
But unfortunately good warning times for tornadoes are the same as for earthquakes ...
ie. when the tornado/quake is some distance from an urban area, early warning can be good. But if the tornado forms within a few km's or over (likewise with a quake right under) an urban area there can be no early warning.cheers
Dave

 

[Evo]

What I don't understand is why buildings in areas prone to tornadoes are not required to have underground shelters?

I live in Kansas, and moved from a house with a basement with a concrete sheltered space only a few feet wide that would provide the most safety, to an apartment that doesn't even have a basement. We have an excellent tornado warning system, but most of the buildings have no basement shelter. What good does a tornado siren do if I have no shelter to go to? Why isn't there a law that makes at least one shelter per apartment complex mandatory? If a tornado hit here, I'd be toast. The same for most small businesses. There is no place to go.

 

[chemisttree]

I guess they figure you can ride it out in your clothes dryer. I've never heard of anyone that was killed that sought out the clothes dryer refuge.