20 April 2009
The Mobile Home Problem- It's Getting Worse
Posted by Dan Satterfield
There have been 16 deaths from tornadoes in the USA this year. 9 of them in mobile homes. 2 more outdoors. One in a vehicle, and 4 in homes and buildings. Think about that for a second. Mobile homes make up only a small portion of the housing in this country, but in most years, at least half of the tornado deaths are in them.
An EF2 tornado will destroy a mobile home park, but someone in a wooden, or brick home, will likely not even be injured. EF2 tornadoes are a lot more common than the big killer EF4, or EF5 twisters. Those are actually very rare.
I’ve been involved for awhile in supporting legislation that would require mobile home manufacturers to include a NOAA weather radio in all mobile homes. This legislation has little chance of passing. Mobile home manufacturers do not want buyers to be reminded that they are getting a home that is tornado bait.
Image from NWS Huntsville Office
Still, if everyone who lived in a mobile home, were to go to a safer structure when a Tornado Watch was issued, the death toll would be cut in half! We forecasters are getting pretty good. Tornadoes rarely happen outside of a Severe Thunderstorm, or Tornado Watch now.
Two people died Sunday night in North Alabama. I was on my way back from a Climate Seminar in Chicago, but Meteorologist Spencer Denton interrupted programming, and tracked the storms. He repeated, several times, our usual warning to those who live in mobile homes, to go to a safer place. What did he get for his trouble?
Over two dozen emails, complaining about missing the Amazing Race on CBS.
If your life is so boring that missing a TV show requires an email, with all caps and a bunch of exclamation points, then you have my sympathy, but not my understanding. Those emails are always outnumbered by those thanking us for breaking in, and warning them anyhow.
Classic "Comma Head" hook Echo on Nexrad Radar Sunday Evening. This storm killed one person.
My favorite complaints, are the ones that warn us they are writing the FCC. Do they they not know, that as holders of a public broadcast license, we are required to serve the community. I can assure you that running the Amazing Race instead of a Tornado Warning is not what the the FCC considers as serving the public. So good luck getting a response to that complaint!
I suspect, the FCC is as thick skinned about this type of email, as I am.
Mobile homes are a good option for many people who cannot afford a typical frame home. Just one thing to remember though, a few hours a year, you need to get to a safer place, until the storms pass.
Mobile Home Destroyed by EF2 Tornado Friday 10 April 2009- Viewer Pic.
The NWS in Huntsville has finished a preliminary storm survey. all of the Sunday night tornadoes were EF0 and EF1. The only deaths, and injuries, were in mobile homes.
One forecast that could have been much better, was the Sunday before last. The Gravity Wave/Wake Low event was not forecasted. It now looks as if this was primarily a wake low, that formed on the back side of a complex of non severe thunderstorms. They are getting more attention, and study now. Meteorologists like myself, along with others at the NWS, and university researchers, are working on learning more about them. Hopefully next time, we can give you some warning that one may occur.
My previous post has a lot of info on this.
More on the Climate Seminar in Chicago soon. It was fascinating.
Later,
Dan
Dan Satterfield has worked as an on air meteorologist for 32 years in Oklahoma, Florida and Alabama. Forecasting weather is Dan's job, but all of Earth Science is his passion. This journal is where Dan writes about things he has too little time for on air. Dan blogs about peer-reviewed Earth science for Junior High level audiences and up.
I don’t see how anyone can see how The Amazing Race or some other stupid show is more important than watching to see whether or not a tornado will be coming toward them. I, for one, truly appreciate you guys at WHNT and everything you do! So thank you!
Maybe you are barking up the wrong tree? The people who really can make homeowners/mobile homeowners act differently are the insurance companies whether it is health, property, or life insurance.
Let the insurance companies say: If you want your policy to be valid, you have to have a weather radio and follow instructions given or else–sorry, too bad for you!
And frankly I think this should apply to EVERYONE who lives in areas with a certain level of tornadic (is that a word) activity.
I don’t know how parents can go to sleep at night when severe weather is expected and not have a weather radio.
Another thought . . . I can’t imagine living in a mobile home and then, when the weather gets bad, having to go out INTO the weather. Maybe some law should be passed that all mobile home parks should have weather shelter accommodations for the number of residents they have.
Where do people generally go when they don’t have friends/family to hunker down with?
Here’s an idea. Do a lottery drawing after every severe weather alarm. Only people with weather radios can win. You have to register your weather radio for your “lottery ticket.” Put a small tax on the radios to pay for the lottery.
BTW, thank you for the work you do. I have a weather radio, and I APPRECIATE the warnings I get.
Interesting thoughts Chanda. We are beginning to see the insurance companies raise rates dramatically for coastal areas because of the scientific predicitons on Climate Change. The politicians may not read any of the Peer reviewed Science, but the insurance companies certainly do!
Dan
I grew up in a mobile home . . . but you better believe we got out of there any time the weather got bad. Thankfully our great-grandmother next door had an old fashioned “storm pit”. Kudos to Spencer and all the other guys who broke in for these storms the other night which took me a bit by surprise, as to how severe they got.
If there is anything the common man (me) can do to help this legislation along that you say has little chance of passing, please let me know. What the mobile home companies are saying is crap, and they know it . . . like you said, they just value their sales more than the safety of their customers. (Maybe you didn’t say that in so many words . . . but ain’t it the truth?)
People really should not complain about missing a tv show, especially if they think about what all could happen to them if WHNT did not do such a amazing job as keeping viewers weather aware.
I really do enjoy you and all the other meteorologists keeping all TN Valley Viewers weather aware and doing a great job at it.