Tornado myths

Since twisters create fear and dread, they are also a source of science fiction. Even though tornado chasing has been around for decades, artifacts of legend and lore tend to reach mainstream science in various paths. See also the myths debunked section in Wikipedia's Super Outbreak article.

• Right-turning tornadoes

An unfortunate misconception created by twister chasers who even claim to have this event on video. However, on closer inspection, while the chaser is in the heat of the chase, the chaser inadvertantly does a left turn into the path of the tornado and falsely proclaims evidence when the error is actually caught on tape.

However, this does not dispell the fact that a tornado can meander about on the ground. The general direction of a tornado is controlled by the system from which it has spawned.

• Tornado Plasma

Edward Lewis has claimed tornadoes are associated with plasma effects, and Peter Thomson of the United Kingdom has experimented with charged sheath vortices, which self-organize in plasmas subjected to electric currents.[1]. While tornadoes are frequently coincident with lightning, the hypothesis that electromagnetic phenomena (plasmoid phenomena) may generally or wholly induce large-scale tornadoes is not widely accepted by others in the field.

This neither confirms nor denies the existence of plasma in a tornado or as a tornado progenitor. But, really, lightning is a part of a thunderstorm and can exist anywhere in the vicinity of the storm. The vicinity can reach distances up to 10 miles away for violent storms.

• Tornado Magnets—Mobile Home Parks

Twisters are attracted to mobile homes—not really.

A large number of mobile homes--usually of poor construction--dot the countryside. Because of their poor construction, a weak storm that leaves little damage to well-built structures might devastate a trailer park. The news media frequently seek out trailer parks in the path of storms to find a tale of woe for a "news story." (see trailer trash) This fits into the idea of more targets means more hits.

• Freak electromagnetic effects

... as well as from electromagnetic effects, which frequently cause "freak" occurrences like wood impaling metal or stone, dried grasses (straw) impaling wood or animals and other similar effects inexplicable by fluid dynamics alone - there are some anecdotal accounts of fowl being entirely plucked of their feathers by tornadoes, which could be explained by static electricity effects...

This one is absolutely off base, no static about it. The impaling of objects by flimsy straw has everything to do with a subject in physics called classical mechanics. In short, the straw is flying through the air like a missile or a bullet and collides with a stationary object. The object is pierced because the impulse force of the straw is constrained to a tiny area, ie. the force per unit area is large because the cross-sectional area of the straw is tiny.

• Safe Shelter Under Bridges

Highway overpasses are the best shelter if a tornado approaches while you are on a road—a particularly dangerous myth.

Sensational footage taken by a television crew hiding from a tornado under an overpass helped to convince many that bridges are good shelters when a tornado is nearby. The members of the television crew (and several other travellers) survived by huddling high underneath the bridge and bracing themselves against support columns while a weak tornado appeared to pass directly over the bridge. The reality of the situation is more sobering—when directly hit by tornadoes, the confined spaces beneath overpasses increase the speed of the winds due to the Venturi effect. Travellers should not seek shelter from a tornado's winds under bridges.

• and others please add...