Hangars fly at Nashville

[Thruster88]

Sad to see this

[onetrack]

Yow, that's some mega-million dollar damage bill in those photos. The intensity of American tornadoes is incredible.

[Old Koreelah]

We are lucky they are rare in Oz. North America seems to suffer a few Cyclone Tracey-sized tornado disasters each year.

[tillmanr]

They have an annual tornado season. Seems that warm moist air from the Gulf travels north and mixes with the cooler winds off the Sierras and around they go.

 

Tornado Season. Tornadoes can occur at any time of the year. In southern states, peak tornado occurrence is March through May, while peak months in northern states are during the summer. Tornadoes are most likely between 3 and 9 p.m. but have occurred at all hours.Nov 1, 2019

[F10]

[langted]

This string is a little old, but I just noticed it.  My career was in Nuclear Power.   I worked at two plants on the Great Lakes (Northern Mid US).   Both were hit by mid sized Tornados, well within their design.  Inconvenient to the plants, but devastating to normal structures.    We joke that Tornados "normal target" is trailer home parks.   Not a good place to be at the wrong time, but honestly, the VAST majority of homes and small towns are never hit in normal human life spans.    

[onetrack]

I posted the link to this historical tornado-aviation-damage story previously, but it's probably worth putting here again. A tornado in 1952 took out two-thirds of Strategic Air Commands B-36 Convair "Peacemakers", in one hit.

 

It left the SAC reeling in the knowledge that their mainstay against the Cold War Russian nuclear threat was in tatters. A massive repair program was initiated immediately, to get as many B-36's up and running, ASAP.

 

The repair work was deemed an urgent National Priority, and was spread amongst three groups - Convair, the USAF logistics teams from Kelly AFB in San Antonio, and the SAC's own repair teams.

It took only one week before the first fully-repaired B-36 was back on duty, the second week, nine more were brought back to full availability, and within one month the 7th Bomb Wing was back at full operational strength.

 

It's surprising that the SAC failed to understand the basic military tactic of never gathering all your major assets in one place. They learnt a major lesson from this event, and spread the B-36's around whenever severe weather was forecast again.

 

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/remembering-the-1952-carswell-afb-tornado-that-damaged-two-thirds-of-sacs-b-36-force/

[Old Koreelah]

30 minutes ago, onetrack said:

...It's surprising that the SAC failed to understand the basic military tactic of never gathering all your major assets in one place...

Even after Pearl Harbour they were slow to learn. Japanese fighters flying over the mountains from Lae to attack Port Moresby were delighted to find Allied bombers and transports lined up in neat rows.

[langted]

4 hours ago, onetrack said:

I posted the link to this historical tornado-aviation-damage story previously, but it's probably worth putting here again. A tornado in 1952 took out two-thirds of Strategic Air Commands B-36 Convair "Peacemakers", in one hit........

 

........It's surprising that the SAC failed to understand the basic military tactic of never gathering all your major assets in one place. They learnt a major lesson from this event, and spread the B-36's around whenever severe weather was forecast again.

 

https://theaviationgeekclub.com/remembering-the-1952-carswell-afb-tornado-that-damaged-two-thirds-of-sacs-b-36-force/

Thanks-- I loved the link, reading a few of the associated stories as well.   Sadly, indeed it's a lesson not learned over and over.   And beyond military, even to supply chains like the recent Japanese fire-induced micro-chip shortage that has cut deeply into US auto production.   I guess It's just easier and cheaper (absent a mishap) to put all the eggs in one basket.    

[F10]

I remember Hurricane Andrew I think it was, caused severe damage to Kermit Weeks’ aircraft collection. Was watching some of his utube clips, taken at his “Fantasy of Flight”, still down in Florida....If I was him, I would be having sleepless nights.....but then you have Tornados in the Midwest...can’t win. Still wish I had his collection however.....!

[tillmanr]

I was in Orlando three years ago and spoke to a number of substantial aircraft operations and the word was to move North during the summer/ cyclone season. Drifting a little, I was driving  I40  about halfway East to West, in I think April and was surprised to hear on the TV that the cyclone season was late in arriving that year.

Edited June 8, 2021 by tillmanr
Typing correction

[langted]

If you live in a Gulf state or east coast of the US, you WILL encounter hurricanes (cyclones) at your property, and they spawn tornados as well.   But although widespead, the winds are slower than tornados, and you have many days to prepare or evacuate.  Tornados, on the other hand, come at any time with only minutes warning (if you have a siren alert system), or seconds if not, and the winds can be ridiculously high.   The Nuclear plants I worked at were designed for 360 mph, though that's the extreme upper end.  There was a famous one a couple decades back that sucked up soil down to the clay subsoil of a whole midwestern town.  The sirens around here sound like air raid sirens, and its pretty spooky when they go off in the middle of the night.   But all said, I'd rather have the tornados (knock on wood).   Guess its the "devil I know".  

[Old Koreelah]

9 hours ago, langted said:

… I'd rather have the tornados (knock on wood).   Guess its the "devil I know".  

I’m impressed by those mass-produced tornado bunkers we see buried in Midwest backyards.

A few Aussies have installed similar shelters here to survive our massive bushfires.