Your Home’s Tornado Weak Spot

[@exothermal.sprocket]

Turns out in 2024, no one could actually afford a home anymore so the most safe place is outdoors, running quickly.

[@MsVan13]

They use to say open your windows during a tornado to equalize the pressure differential but that sounds counter intuitive. If I build a house I won’t include a garage attached. I want a partially underground home anyway.

[@whoever6458]

Underground homes save a lot on heating and air condition costs too. You can always build a separate structure for the garage so that the worst case scenario is that it messes up your car. You could even build a covered path to your garage so you don't have to get wet in the rain going to your car and then just don't attach it to the house but build it so it goes up to it or maybe only attach it in a way where your house wouldn't be damaged too much if a tornado ripped it away. I hope you get to build your house!

[@oscarfigueroa5744]

That's what we do here in Puerto Rico but during hurricanes.

[@Coasterpostalt]

Excuse my severe lack of knowledge, but how bad is flooding in that case?

[@vidform]

The building codes for homes and businesses in Tornado Alley should be extremely stringent. While there's no way to build a "tornado-proof" home, it's annoying how, after a home has been damaged or destroyed, the homeowners rebuild their home EXACTLY as it was before the storm without trying to build it BETTER. There should be major improvements and advances in how a home is built for tornado safety. Architects and engineers should use Tornado Alley as an influential testing ground for how to build the strongest homes in the world. Maybe Apple's former designer, Jony Ive, has some ideas. Something needs to change to keep people safer and reduce the amount of damage and debris to save money and lives. Excellent video.

[@danielwieten8617]

Great stuff once again. No one is doing stuff like this on KZbin. I hope your channel blows up soon!

[@tornadostories]

Super information, graphics and animation. Your videos are going from strength to strength. Great work Ethan 👍

[@StainlessTIG2]

I’ll never forget the Joplin, Mo tornado of 2011. I never imagined seeing damage of this magnitude by a tornado. I heard that the wind speed reached almost 200+ mph. I’m glad that I found your channel on KZbin

[@17thRepublic]

A tornado hit Euless, Texas on March 21st, 2022. The tornado was rated an EF0, but an attached garage door was partially collapsed. This proves that garage doors can easily succumb to tornadoes, and with EF2 winds I can totally see your point of the roof blowing off.

[@mmabagain]

I was in my first tornado at the age of 12. Have been terrified of them ever since. Having a tornado shelter installed in our garage was the best thing I have done for my own peace of mind. If you can afford it, it's worth every penny. Our shelter is from New Day Shelters and it is made for small families of 3 to 4 but more can fit. My wife, son, two dogs and a cat have had to use it several times during tornado warnings. And the owner/builder will work with you financially. He offered us a discount but we passed the discount on to another family.

[@stormchaserbraydenbarton]

Yeah we learned about this in one of my meteorology classes. Garages, especially westward facing once’s are the biggest weakness of a home, once it goes the roof then everything else is more likely to go. The reason I saw westward facing garages specifically is because forward motion is added to the velocity of the tornadoes wind speed itself which leads to enhanced wind speeds out of the west on the southern edge of most tornadoes.

[@bread9173]

I feel a tiny, very tiny bit safer that where I moved we have a braced garage door which we didn't have in my last house. We live in an area that also used hurricane brackets. That also makes me feel safer abour the roof. I live on the coast but we do get tornadoes (NC). Other than that, our house is the most solid built one we have moved too in a long time. My dad use to build houses/owned his own company before 2008 and he definitely wanted to find the best house if he couldn't build it himself. He nailed it with finding this one in terms of how its built it is very solid for a slab built house. We use to live further inland with more tornadoes and our garage door did buckle quite a bit when an EF0 hit our old house many year ago.

[@rainesbobo]

Note to self; by a house with a detached garage if I'm moving to tornado alley😂😂

[@timnewman1172]

It's a trade-off vs. convenience... if I had it to do over again, I wouldn't build directly attached using a breezeway or stay completely detached.

[@rainesbobo]

@Tim Newman exactly. Plus with a detached garage you could put an apartment above it to supplement income and have it be taller for larger vehicles or a lift. There's a lot more benefits to a detached garage than having an attached one

[@ian2372]

You can buy hurricane rated garage doors. They are reinforced and some are rated up to 110mph winds.

[@loglad5394]

​@ian2372 that would only be able to withstand a high EF1 then at most

[@tornadoclips2022]

Love the video especially the examples and models and thanks for talking about how the low pressure from tornadoes makes a big difference. I also think that in some instances it’s probably better for the garage door to cave in and blow the roof off because if they where reinforced then it could add a significant amount of force on the frame of the house especially the wind loaded side that’s already has a huge amount of wind loaded force in the first place. This is probably why garages aren’t reinforced in tornado alley especially since you would have to change the whole frame of the house in order to hold more forces. I suggest testing this theory with your 3d printed house but you need to use a higher powered air source possibly a leaf blower or something

[@pearrtree]

Outstanding effort being put into these videos! You will be big someday!

[@primalespeon2811]

Bro I just wanna say the amount of effort you put into these videos is insane I learn so much and I feel like you should be getting wayyyy more views!

[@junefirst]

Thank you! Tell your friends ;)

[@DanMaul-ip1is]

My MIL lived through the last tornado here in Ohio around Indian Lake. The tornado ripped parts of her roof off and ripped the garage door from it’s rollers and sucked the whole door out and wrapped it around a tree down the street

[@DungNguyen-ru5kg]

Many builders installed cheap and weak aluminum garage door to new homes, very vulnerable to high lateral wind force, there are some things that home owners can do to re-enforcing the rails by adding more brackets, replace metal screws which will loosen overtime due to vibration with nut-lock-bolts, adding L shape aluminum bar horizontally to each panel, 2 is best. Lastly, add metal brackets at wooden top and bottom corners door frame.

[@alliggins2373]

So would an old school solid garage door , one you have to grab by a handle and pull up to open be much better than a typical roll up garage door ?

[@ian2372]

First upgrade to any home should be a reinforced hurricane rated garage door. They aren't that expensive and well worth it.

[@rockcvn71]

That was a freaky description of looking up and your roof gone. I guess if the tornado is moving at 55 mph...all will happen quick. Wow great video Ethan.

[@nolaray1062]

Happens quickly but feels like an eternity!

[@nicholaspayne349]

If Colin furz can build a underground tunnel from his house to his shop I think I can build a single room. Some of the tornados that hit central Oklahoma where I live are unsurvivable above ground. I don’t feel very safe in my interior closet at all. I wish that all new homes in the plains area of America should be required to have a storm shelter be it above or below ground. My last house had a safe room that I kept my guns and canned food in. That was nice.

[@scarpfish]

There is no such thing as "unsurviveable above ground" as scads of people survive EF4 and EF5 tornado impacts above ground all the time, which is why TV meteorologists have been discouraged from using that phrasing. You also have to realize that 99% of tornadoes aren't of that intensity. While I admit shelters of some type are ideal, you also have to realize that homes need to be built for the occupant's everyday needs, not to serve as a fortress for an event that even in the most tornado prone parts of the world it will likely never have to deal with. Mandating shelters would simply make homes cost prohibitive for a lot of folks.

[@Techno-Universal]

If it’s an EF4 or more powerful the destruction often starts at the garage door with the roof and walls being destroyed from there and eventually even a concrete slab may be ripped out if your home has one.

[@hearmeout9138]

Our house has a two-car garage in the basement as our driveway wraps around and allows entry from the side. We were hit by an EF3 tornado and we sheltered in a relatively protected alcove. While my family was under a large steel desk, I was near the corner of the alcove and could see outside through the garage door windows. This was at 4a.m and the lightning was so intense that I could see things outside reacting to the winds. I also watched leaves, small branches, and pebbles and dirt stick to the garage windows, moving along the surface in jerky motions due to the wind and strobe effect of the lightning, and then suddenly be violently seized and plucked away to oblivion. It almost looked like claymation or the dance floor at a rave. For probably 30 to 40 seconds the garage doors held firm and provided this macabre visual display. During this time the house was crackling, popping, and bouncing from trees falling on and into it. Water was dripping from our floor joists in the basement because much of our roof and windows had succumbed to the assault. At the very end, the bottoms of the garage doors were giving way to the wind and they finally developed a vertical crease in the lower two panels and with a whoosh of wind, they crumpled inward blasting us with the overwhelming odor of freshly-cracked pine and sulfur dioxide (injected into natural gas lines for leak detection). My wife quickly sprung from under the desk, ran upstairs, began maneuvering through tree branches that were in our house until she reached the master closet. It was soaked, clad with insulation and wood splinters, and she was looking up at the dark sky. She pulled a large box from the shelf above the clothes racks and found that her wedding dress was completely untouched. It wasn’t wet, was still securely folded in the box, and she grabbed it and was all scratched up from climbing through the tree branches but she didn’t allow a single blemish to her prized cargo. As usually happens in marriage, all my clothes were impaled by wood splinters, coated with wet insulation, and smelled like the sewer. My only joy came when the insurance adjuster told her that all of her Louis Vuitton accessories could not be salvaged. 😬 Our cars were parked outside and died traumatic deaths. After a few days, I discovered that the pool of water under my hot water heater was not just rainwater that somehow got into the basement. The water heater was about 11 years old and it was surmised that the momentarily pressure drop from the tornado had caused the tank (which likely had some rust-weakened areas) to swell and burst. My wife was happy that she had saved her wedding dress even though the designer accessories and shoes she had collected for years were a complete loss. It did infuriate her that my Callaway clubs and golf bag came through unscathed. The saddest thing though was that they condemned basically everything that my 5 year-old daughter had. Adding insult to injury, both of my children’s best friends who lived in the neighborhood did not rebuild and moved away. They really never overcame that and both have lingering social anxiety effects from the sudden loss of their most important friendships.

[@unseenadventures8130]

Im a mason but building with my father for years. We use hurricane strap on every building

[@xMissQueenxo]

always hated our detached garage but now it makes me feel better lmao

[@Novachronogaming]

note to self: put some random shit in the middle of the garage door so the wind is more evenly distributed like the walls

[@Gigitygoo55]

What if your basement has a garage door? That’s my problem, I have a full open basement but a ramp that leads to a garage door in the basement. That’s where we go for severe weather cause I’m sure it’s safer that being on the ground level, but curious if it’s even safe at all now!!! 🤔

[@dannyllerenatv8635]

My home has heavy duty impact windows installed since I live in a hurricane prone area. I know a violent tornado would still obliterate them, but I wonder if impact windows could at least bide a little more time for the structure.

[@whoever6458]

Why not just build a separate structure for the garage? Then, the tornado might suck up your garage and your car but maybe only suck a few tiles off of your roof. I imagine windows are another weak point, especially large windows. I saw a tornado once when I was a little kid and people used to think that you needed to open your windows for whatever reason so we were running around doing that when the tornado came over. It hadn't touched down yet though so it just made things windy. Luckily, it touched down a little later in an area with no houses and never did any damage. I don't think it was very big though since it was in California. It sure was exciting to me as a little kid. We had some severe thunderstorms a few weeks ago and I saw a rotating wall cloud but it never dropped a tornado. I did report it to the weather service on my app when I saw it. It seems like most wall clouds around here don't put down a tornado although there have been a handful of damaging ones in the next valley over.

[@TheNamesCharles]

Loving the in depth analysis you take with your videos man. Quick question, do you think the addition of louvers in a garage would help dissipate the pressure inside of the garage should a tornado hit? Potentially like how the backdraft damper of a fan works? Or has that theory already been explored?

[@junefirst]

I think there may be some validity to your theory. I’d think there’d be a positive effect. However, I don’t think it’s practical from a cost perspective, as it would make the door a lot more pricey. Great thinking though! I love the ingenuity. Glad you’re liking the videos!

[@Straswa]

Great work June First, thanks for the in-depth information.

[@fredwaring3356]

Can't believe these homes are built without basements

[@catthecat2623]

Damn! The tornado's *also* a proud watcher of Not Just Bikes

[@KaileyB616]

If I lived somewhere with a lot of tornadoes (like Moore, Oklahoma) I would definitely build my home partially or even mostly underground. I feel like there's got to be better ways to build homes in tornado and hurricane prone areas...

[@_Sami__]

Good thing my house doesn’t have a garage then Also good thing I don’t live in tornado alley

[@tomastos9]

I didnt even notice how this guy has less than 2k subs and has even lower views for like 5 days, so underrated

[@junefirst]

Glad you liked the video! Spread the word! :)

[@tomastos9]

@@junefirst storm season is kicking up in the usa right now but here in finland theres like virtually no tornadoes in my area like ever, i would love to see a photogenic tornado one day

[@Chunkydamonke]

2:29 I felt that voicecrack

[@brandonlee9238]

You're very intelligent Etan, great scientific presentation vid. Subscribed to you from Max Olson. Keep up the great work bro.

[@thelivingmiracle]

If I were to live in a tornado prone area. I would live underground

[@jorgemarquez655]

Could I in theory park a car inside my garage and one in my driveway to keep the garage door from warping in and out?

[@petraperez1075]

I have a conundrum in my current home. This has been bothering me since moving in, knowing the danger of tornadoes. My basement is partial, with the other part being taken up by the attached garage. Preferred shelter would be underneath the stairs or the basement bathroom (only a 1/2 bath, no tub), but I’ve had reservations given the proximity of the garage.

[@junefirst]

I would say the back areas of the basement furthest from the garage may be your best location. The bathroom, although no tub, it probably pretty good as well, just as long as its not sharing a wall with the garage.

[@timnewman1172]

Enclose & reinforce the area under the stairs... it is structurally the strongest place!

[@petraperez1075]

Thank you both so much for the suggestions! I really appreciate it!

[@keithscott2062]

So why do very few homes in tornado prone areas not have basements? Where I live just about every house has one.

[@UpstateChaser]

Great video! Learned a lot

[@esmeesmeralda701]

Fantastic info man,

[@norliasmith]

Hey is the channel name a reference to the New England Tornado Outbreak on June 1st, 2011?

[@junefirst]

Yes! I witnessed the Western MA EF3 come thru my hometown and it drove my passion to study tornadoes!!

[@b.e.a.u__]

I always wondered why the houses in America are made of a woodwork frame, why no concrete floors and walls? Wouldn't that offer a better protection?

[@williamabaker12]

One word: cost

[@Liittlebrother]

What if you had a concrete roof? Entire concrete house?

[@officialuaaf]

My birthday is June 1st 2002 and I love learning about whether like this. Definitely sticking around lol😅

[@joelrivardguitar]

I have always wondered if this was a vehicle in the El Reno wedge. At 16:54 (going by the clock in the video) a few inches below the "T" in "Not" a light appears and travels towards the right. The car is spinning so it flashes on and off. This is the time and location where the stormchasers were hit. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZ-shmV_npd4mZo The camera pans down first then as it comes up the light can be seen, it's quick flashes like a firefly. The camera was over 2 miles away so a car would be very small. A minute or so later they filmed the fastest moving subvortex a bit further down the road and another video analysis (A Hank Pecos video on the fastest moving tornado ever) put them at about 1.5 miles from the funnel at that point. The tornado was headed directly at them at around 55 mph.

[@EOS04WEYLAND]

Do you think soon you could make an explanation video on the rolling forks EF4 and possibly the other two EF3’s from the same system.

[@junefirst]

Working on that currently. Takes some time to get these out :)

[@Seek_Him]

We just had that happen in Texas/ Oklahoma.

[@AmyraCarter]

Gotta have structural braces on the weak points...

[@garrylearmonth9313]

Wow a lot to think about, so put the roller doors up a bit from the bottom (equalise pressure from inside to outside) ???? park your cars outside of the roller doors, provide a windbreak for the doors ????? Open windows around the house to let the pressure equalise ???? Wow you have opened up a can of worms. Best place has to be underground out of the wind, so long as debris doesn't land on your exit point............ Again opens up a can of worms....... Build a Brick wall around the bathroom area "inside'" your house??? So many questions.

[@Boskibro]

Dude the quality is awesome but trust me, soften the light. Get a soft box or something to make the light less jarring and more even on your face

[@junefirst]

Yeah... been messing around with the lighting a lot recently. I use a Milwaukee Light Tower with a pillow case over it. I gotta invest in proper studio lighting.

[@Wildwoodjake]

My garage is underground