Ai Domes & Tornadoes
The following info covers Ai Domes & Tornadoes.
In August
1992 American Ingenuity domes were put to the ultimate test of
strength when they faced the wrath of Hurricane Andrew as it
slammed into south Florida. Winds at the nearby Tamiami
airport were clocked at 212 mph, spawning over 100 tornadoes
within the storm and leaving practically everything in its
wake leveled. Nearly 200,000 people become homeless overnight.
Even a tower at the Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant, designed
to withstand 200-mph winds, was irrevocably damaged by this
fierce storm. We were not surprised, however, when we learned
that our domes survived – in great contrast to the thousands
of conventionally built houses of their neighbors.
45′ Dome went thru Hurricane Andrew & Tornado with no structural
damage.
Above is picture of a 45′ American Ingenuity dome home built
in 1989 that was in the direct path of the devastating storm,
bearing the worst Andrew & a tornado could deliver; yet it
suffered no structural damage. A two wide metal horse trailer
was impelled against the dome leaving a paint skid marking on
the dome where the trailer slide around the dome to the other
side. The horse trailer caused a crack in the riser wall and a
chunk of concrete to break loose. The dome owner, caulked the
crack and mixed up fiber concrete and filled the chunk and
then painted the area.
Due to the type and direction of the debris scattered around
the dome’s neighborhood, an engineer from the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (F.E.M.A.) surmised that a tornado
had struck the area. The engineer’s own Alabama home had been
hit by a tornado a few years ago, so he was impressed by the
integrity of the dome on an emotional as well as a
professional level. The dome structure had withstood not only
the force of a hurricane but a tornado as well. The incredibly
intense winds ripped open double entry doors and 12′ sliding
glass doors, which had been covered with protective plywood
sheathing. Even though the wood and glass doors of the
entryways succumbed to the wind and allowed interior water
damage from the rain, the dome itself stood strong.
The Ai dome’s F4 tornado warranty covers the dome’s exterior
shell and does not include windows and doors.
High speed
tornado winds pick up debris which can be hurled through
windows and doors. As a result if you live in an area prone
for tornadoes, consider building within the dome a safe room
with concrete walls to protect your family from flying debris
coming through windows and doors. At end of this article is
definition of Tornado Alley.
The tornado picture is from Wikipedia and is of tornado near
Anadarko, Oklahoma. The funnel is the thin tube reaching from
the cloud to the ground. The lower part of this tornado is
surrounded by a translucent dust cloud, kicked up by the
tornado’s strong winds at the surface. The wind of the tornado
has a much wider radius than the funnel itself.
The following info came from www.livescience.com
Tornado Alley?
Where is
The borders of Tornado Alley are not clearly defined. They
vary, depending on the criteria used — frequency, intensity,
or events per unit area. Generally, a tornado alley map starts
in central Texas and goes north through Oklahoma, central
Kansas and Nebraska and eastern South Dakota, sometimes doglegging east through Iowa, Missouri, Illinois and Indiana to
western Ohio.
While the “Wizard of Oz” still conjures up images of Kansas as
a tornado-prone area, that state is not the most highly
impacted state when it comes to tornadoes. According to the
National Climatic Data Center, Texas reports the highest
number of tornadoes of any state, although its very large land
mass accounts for that status. Kansas and Oklahoma are second
and third respectively when it comes to the number of
tornadoes reported, but those states report more tornadoes per
land area than Texas.
Convergence of conditions:
Tornado Alley has all of the weather conditions needed for a
tornado to take shape. Tornadoes form when three different
types of air converge in a specific manner: a layer of warm
and humid air near the ground along with strong southerly
winds; colder air along with strong west or southwest winds
line the upper atmosphere; and a third layer of very warm dry
air that hovers between the warm and moist air at low levels
and the cool dry air above.
While not as familiar as Tornado Alley, the designation Dixie
Alley generally refers to another part of the country that is
likely to experience tornadoes — generally the upper Tennessee
Valley and Lower Mississippi Valley.
Florida’s almost daily thunderstorms spawn a large number of
tornadoes, designating it as the state with the with the
highest number of tornadoes per square mile. However, a
relatively small percentage
considered high intensity.
of
Florida’s
tornadoes
are
Globally, latitudes between about 30 degrees and 50 degrees
North or South provide the most favorable environment for
tornadoes. The United States records about 1,000 tornadoes a
year, by far the most prolific of any region in the world,
with Canada ranking second at only 100 per year.