Alternative Modes of Transportation: Part Four & Five Surviving a Tornado/Hurricane

TORNADOES, HURRICANES & THE TIV

A Tornado Intercept Vehicle is a reinforced automobile used for storm chasing.
Courtesy of Wiki

In 2006 I survived a tornado that touched down near Sullivan, Missouri. Every since I have been obsessed with becoming a storm chaser. After all, while everyone else was running to the basement to seek shelter- I was outside admiring the view and saving as many animals as I could. (Don't Go Trying this Please, even I can admit this was very stupid of me.) This, I believe is what spawned my love for disasters and weather. I've always loved unpredictability, and weather is certainly one of the few ways you can make a career out of it. In the years after this incident, I began funneling (ahaha) my time towards The Weather Channel, Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and the History Channel.

One of my favorite shows on TV today is Storm Chasers on the Discovery Channel. This is where I found the Tornado Interception Vehicle or TIV. Created by Sean Casey Of IMAX in 2003, the TIV & TIV II are vehicles designed to drive extremely close or even into the path of a tornado. I believe that they should reconsider naming it a SIV or Storm Interception Vehicle as this vehicle could not only be used for tornadoes but for monitoring hurricanes that make landfall as well.

So, there is no better way to be above ground moving and still manage to stay alive during these two storms other than a TIV. I wish I could take credit for this but I can't. Certainly if you wanted to build your own TIV you could, just don't rip off Mr. Casey's design. Maybe you could even use that Organic Material I was talking about in my Tsunami bit for the outer shell. This would certainly make the vehicle one of a (my) kind, :).

In test conducted by Mythbusters, the TIV II was able to survived in wind speeds of 250 MPH- Quite an accomplishment. Through research I've come across the highest wind speeds ever recorded for a Tornado and a Hurricane. Currently a Tornado in Australia is the highest ever recorded coming in at 253 MPH. As for a Hurricane, they ring in at about 200 MPH.

P.F.S. The TIV took 8 months to build and 40 welding students. Don't Go it Alone.

Happy Storm Chasing & Don't Get Yourself Killed ;)

On another note, if you don't wanna see the storms, you could buy one of these. They're a great investment, and have tons of purposes like surviving a terrorist attack, hurricane, tornado, or for a life as a hermit.
Buy A Beehive Bomb Shelter

P.P.F.S. A bomb shelter will not protect you in a tsunami, as the air ventilation system would likely fill with water. It also won't protect you from a volcanic eruption, even if the shelter did survived the magma you'd likely just be Pompeii V.2.

xoxo disaster girl