by Mark Bunch/President Royal Gorge
Gun Club/Chairman Fremont County NRA

With states opening back up now that Covid 19 is less of a problem apparently than it was last year at this time. Things must have improved radically under village idiot Biden and the democrats right? LOL. Some of you Sentinel readers might be headed into harms way by traveling through Tornado Alley this spring, so make sure you take every precaution you can before doing so.
It takes a special breed of person to endure the stress that tornado season brings to your life. All the way from Wichita, KS, to Guymon, OK, I too have spent a fair amount of time in Tornado Alley during my travels as a Pharmaceutical Sales Rep. I know first-hand the sheer terror of listening to the sound of rain and hail on my SUV rooftop as I watched my windshield wipers go poof and simply disappear off of my windshield.
The rain and the wind were so loud it sounded like I was in a tunnel with a freight train bearing down on me. It lasted only seconds but haunted me for years. I had begun my journey in Colorado at around 7 a.m. and had a full day of seeing doctors ahead of me. The weather was beautiful when I left and by the time I rolled through Lamar, Colorado, several hours later there was nothing but black clouds on the horizon.
The local radio station in Garden City, KS, was playing some of my favorite country hits and somewhere in between all that music was an ominous weather report along Tornado Alley. Funnel cloud sightings all up and down U.S. Hwy 50. I needed to be in Wichita, KS, at 7 a.m. the next morning and had planned to finish my evening travels there probably around 10:30 p.m. I had been driving all day and had already crossed through a couple dozen zip codes or so. I was tired, hungry and wanted to get to my destination so I could finally relax.
I pressed on in my travels as the rain became harder and harder, inter mixed with violent hail. I was somewhere east of Dodge City when my Ford Escape was hit with a frightening gust of wind. It was so intense it pushed my vehicle completely out of my lane much like you would push your kitchen table sideways on a hard wood floor. The only difference was that I was traveling about 50 mph when it occurred.

Realizing that pressing on wasn’t the best decision that I had ever made in my life, I sat there on the side of the road and said a couple of prayers for a few minutes. I started to turn around when a Kansas State Trooper pulled up behind me with his lights on and told me to keep driving east. Seems a tractor rig had just blown over behind us when the tornado touched down and that stretch of road was blocked for the time being. That was about a mile behind us the Trooper told me and that was what blew my vehicle sideways in the road and what sucked my windshield wipers off my SUV.
So there we were. A Kansas State Trooper and myself, plodding along through the violent thunderstorm and wind headed east into the darkness. Power lines were down everywhere and most everything was dark. Sightings and touch downs were being reported all up and down the radio dial. I tried calling my mom, all circuits were busy it kept telling me. At times I could literally not see a thing through my windshield. I simply kept my vehicle lined up with the tail lights of the patrol car ahead of me. We drove for about another 20 to 30 minutes and the trooper pulled over into a wide spot in the road and I joined him. We sat there side by side as the storm howled. The radio was telling us all sorts of interesting things like how the State of Kansas has had the highest number of F5 tornados since they started counting them in 1880. Just what I wanted to hear on a night like this.
One car was headed west on Hwy 50 and as they headed past us, I said a prayer for them and for us. I knew there were Tornado sightings all around and all we could do was just sit and wait it out. I couldn’t drive anymore till the storm ended its’ fury, my windshield wipers were literally gone. Not damaged… simply gone. I’m from Colorado, I never knew it could rain like that. I swear at one point it was even raining inside my vehicle. I remember looking over into a field during a lighting strike and seeing what appeared to be a mail box and wooden post flying past us. Gee, I hadn’t seen a house in the previous 20 miles or so no telling where that came from.
Another hour or so passed while the trooper and I chatted about life and what we had planned for the summer. He was getting married and I was buying windshield wipers. Maybe even a spare set for the next time I did something stupid like not showing enough respect for a Tornado. Things slowly calmed down and cleared and we shook hands and proceeded on our way.
I made it through that ordeal by the Grace of God and some very good luck. Tornados are probably the most violent weather phenomenon that one can encounter. They can occur virtually anywhere in the world but the predominate location for the majority of tornados is in the south-central United States, dubbed Tornado Alley.

What is a Tornado?
A tornado occurs when a strong side-oriented wind covering the hot ground rises and collides with much cooler air. The heated air continues to rise while the cooler air continues to fall and the side oriented wind mixes the two together in a violent swirl. This violent swirl becomes what is referred to as a funnel cloud. Most tornados cover a very small portion of ground, oftentimes less than 100 yards wide.

Typically, tornados touch down for a few yards then leapfrog back into the air before touching down again. The most dangerous ones stay on the ground and cut a swath of destruction over a very wide area.
There are few structures that can truly withstand such forces, though concrete structures will come close. However, even these are dangerous to be in, since windows will be blown by the intense air pressure created by a tornado’s winds. Shards of glass are propelled like deadly glass knives, slashing anyone unfortunate enough to be in their path. Bits of rock, sand, or glass collected from the debris stirred up by a tornado can be driven toward anyone in their path, often with fatal results.
What can you do?
The best tactic for surviving such a storm is to be in an area that is protected from both its wind as well as the missiles that may be hurled by it. This is practical in the basements of most buildings. Generally, because tornados quickly travel through an area, if you can get below ground and have a barrier between you and flying debris, you can survive a tornado.
Unfortunately, homes in the most Tornado-prone parts of the country are often constructed without a basement. This greatly reduces the chances of occupants surviving a direct hit by such a storm. You can greatly improve your chances for survival by moving to an inner room or a hallway that has no windows.
If you are caught outdoors or if you are in a car, you need to get out as the storm can lift the vehicle, tossing it some distance and shattering the windows in the process. Resist the temptation to try and “outrun” a tornado like I unknowingly did as they are very unpredictable and it is easy to allow yourself to get distracted watching the storm and plow into another car or object.
Furthermore these storms may kick up enough dirt to make it impossible to drive when they are near—a bad situation if you’re hurtling down the road with limited or zero visibility. Try to find a ditch to lay down in or a depression in the ground. Your best bet is to lay face down with your feet facing the tornado and your hands and arms clasped to protect your neck and head. No doubt this will not be without risk, but people have survived close encounters with tornados by doing this exact thing.
One of the worst things you can do is to get under a tree, since bad thunderstorms occur with tornados. I have also heard lots of people say that you should get under a concrete overpass for protection, but I honestly do not think that is a very good idea. Most wind experts agree that if at tornado were to go right over the overpass where you were hiding, that the wind tunnel would just suck you out from under the overpass.
In the US, tornados have struck somewhere in every month of the year, though tornado season usually runs from April through September. It pays to remain alert during very warm weather when thunderhead cloud formations are visible. These cloud formations are created by the same conditions that may lead to a tornado. Tornado watches mean that the conditions are ripe for a tornado. A tornado warning means a tornado has been detected by radar or an on-ground spotter trained by the US Weather Bureau. The likely areas the tornado will travel are issued with these warnings.
If your town has a tornado siren and you hear it go off, do not dilly dally around. Get your family and yourself to a safe location or shelter. If you live where there isn’t a tornado siren present, get a good weather radio that takes batteries and keep it turned on to warn you of a pending tornado. If you’re in such an area, it pays to heed such warnings. Take it from me, I learned my lesson the hard way one stormy spring night.
Author, Mark Bunch, is an NRA Law Enforcement Certified Firearms Trainer and owns his own class 3 dealership with his partner and fellow Firearms Instructor John Hudson. They also own and operate an NRA training center and NRA 1 ft to over 1 mile gun range. He can be reached at: 719-276-3030, on the web or email him at: wwww.royalgorgegunclub.org