Would you rather be in: a tornado or a hurricane?

If given the choice between having a tornado swoop down on your neighborhood, or a hurricane, which would you prefer?

I dunno, hurricane winds ain't no joke. I guess I'll go with them though.

We're in tornado alley, so I've lived through a couple of them, including one that destroyed our home 19 years ago. And, I'd like to point out, I don't know what the significance of this is but I just realized something, they don't name tornadoes, but they do hurricanes, why is that?

i guess tornado

I think I'd rather take my chances with a hurricane. Supernova, try this on for size:

Hurricanes (as well as Cyclones and Typhoons) take a substantial amount of time to build up and develop. During that time they can be tracked and monitored as they gradually head off towards a potential target. There are comparatively few per season and they are sufficiently significant to treat as individual events.

Tornados develop very quickly and last a comparatively brief amount of time. A single tornado is capable of inflicting damage on a much smaller scale and in a more limited area. Though victims of a tornado might face tragedy, the scale of damage is minute compared to the potential damage of a hurricane.

Hurricanes are named and tracked because they are bigger and more significant...and because they exist long enough to be identified. Tornados exist only very briefly and are gone soon after they come in to being. Professionals monitoring tornados do name and number them, but the general public doesn't have reason to use those names and numbers.

Hurricane. Boston gets them frequently.

Alan Smithee wrote:I think I'd rather take my chances with a hurricane. Supernova, try this on for size:

Hurricanes (as well as Cyclones and Typhoons) take a substantial amount of time to build up and develop. During that time they can be tracked and monitored as they gradually head off towards a potential target. There are comparatively few per season and they are sufficiently significant to treat as individual events.

Tornados develop very quickly and last a comparatively brief amount of time. A single tornado is capable of inflicting damage on a much smaller scale and in a more limited area. Though victims of a tornado might face tragedy, the scale of damage is minute compared to the potential damage of a hurricane.

Hurricanes are named and tracked because they are bigger and more significant...and because they exist long enough to be identified. Tornados exist only very briefly and are gone soon after they come in to being. Professionals monitoring tornados do name and number them, but the general public doesn't have reason to use those names and numbers.

Maybe, but I can't help but think, how long did it take for everybody to recover from Katrina? And the only tornado I can think of for several years that the damage compares is this last bunch of them in Joplin, you don't really hear about damage from tornadoes being as severe as some of the horror stories coming out of the south's storms in recent years.

Supernova wrote:

Alan Smithee wrote:I think I'd rather take my chances with a hurricane. Supernova, try this on for size:

Maybe, but I can't help but think, how long did it take for everybody to recover from Katrina? And the only tornado I can think of for several years that the damage compares is this last bunch of them in Joplin, you don't really hear about damage from tornadoes being as severe as some of the horror stories coming out of the south's storms in recent years.

Right. So why would they give the same signifigance to tornadoes by naming them?

Supernova wrote:

Alan Smithee wrote:I think I'd rather take my chances with a hurricane. Supernova, try this on for size:

Maybe, but I can't help but think, how long did it take for everybody to recover from Katrina? And the only tornado I can think of for several years that the damage compares is this last bunch of them in Joplin, you don't really hear about damage from tornadoes being as severe as some of the horror stories coming out of the south's storms in recent years.

First of all, Katrina was only a category 3 hurricane when it hit New Orleans. It wasn't as powerful when it hit land. The only thing it did was crack the leeves, which flooded the city. People were recovering from Katrina because the response was low, not because of the hurricane itself.

I have survived a hurricane so I would pic a hurricane.

Forgive my ignorance....but what's the difference?

I think a tornado, if I had a safe place

Marc - here's what I know about the differences:

Hurricanes form over water - usually tropical water as the water needs to be warm - and move over the water, gaining strength and speed. Though they can hit land with quite an impact, the force can't be sustained over land, so the storm will then loose force, but can created a LOT of damage and destruction just by hitting the coast. Hurricanes can also be huge and very... wide - or maybe spread-out is better.

Tornadoes form on land and are usually very concentrated. Where a Tornado touches down, damage will occur - think funnel cloud. They also aren't as wide - something like maybe a mile or two, but more often not as big.

Hurricanes can last for several days, while tornadoes don't last that long. Hurricans can also produce huge waves and come with huge storms and lots of rain whereas a tornado might have rain, but not always. Winds can also be stronger in tornadoes.

I remember being told yeas ago that one of the main differences is that hurricanes form on water and tornadoes on land - that sufficed for me until I got into some of the more advanced sciences in high school

Tornadoes can strike without much warning but you should have days to prepare or evacuate for a hurricane unless you're on an island. I have more of a choice not to be around for the hurricane.