The title says it all. And yo umight be asking, “Nick, what are you even talking about?!“
And that is a great question.
I turns out that someone has some pictures of some semi-trucks surrounding a smaller car during the tornado up in Birmingham last week.
And, before I explain why you should never do this, let me say a few things about Truckers: Most of these folks are great, great people. I’m biased, though, as I grew up in a Schneider National household. My dad – while not a trucker – has worked for the company my whole life. And I think I can follow the thought process of these truckers, too, they wanted to help! They are good people, trying their best to help.
But, sadly, this wasn’t actually helpful at all. Unlike a group of cattle protecting a calf from a predator, surrounding a small car to protect it from a tornado will not work.
And, in fact, may actually be much worse than simply leaving it alone.
Many semi-truck trailers are long, broad-sided cartons. These are not aerodynamic at all – from any angle. Most estimates suggest that a 60mph cross-wind is all that is needed to start to tip a truck and trailer.
The weakest tornado classification is EF-0 with wind speeds starting at 65mph. That means that even in the weakest tornado there is sufficient wind speed to topple a truck and trailer.
So, if these trucks would’ve caught wind from the correct angle to tip them over, they would’ve tipped over onto the car, trapping, injuring, or even killing the people inside.
Furthermore, if a tornado is instead, say, an EF-4 with wind at 175mph, than the small car closer to the ground has more of a likelihood to roll than be lofted up into the air. And surrounding the little car with massive semi-trucks is instead simply surrounding the car with ample projectiles – which can injure or kill people, too.
Here is the problem – tornadoes don’t care about what is in it’s path. Tornadoes will destroy anything and everything in front of them given the right conditions. They can strengthen and weaken given atmospheric variables, but will not be stopped by vehicles.
This is why the NWS does not use any vehicle – of any kind – as a damage indicator on tornado surveys. Tornadoes are equal opportunity destroyers for vehicles.
The Bottom Line
This time, everyone was safe. And that is great. And people cared enough to try to help, too. That is also awesome.
But that situation could’ve played out way differently.
The bigger problem is that no two tornadoes are alike. This is why there is no one single answer to the question, “what should I do if there is a tornado and I am driving in a car, or outside, and I can’t get to a sturdy structure?”
You have to assess the situation and make the right choice for each individual tornado.
But,while there is no right answer, there are plenty of wrong answers.
And surrounding a smaller car with larger vehicles during a tornado is always a wrong answer.
