I’m new to hurricanes after years in tornado country, mainly the Midwest. Let’s compare.
Hurricanes deliver anticipatory misery and often feint in one direction before angling off, causing unneeded worry for some. Tornadoes strike with so little warning there’s no time to worry.
Hurricanes then linger for hours, destructive and pokey. Tornadoes speed along, destructive yet quickly gone.
Hurricanes cut a wide path, like the drunk uncle who swipes an arm across the dinner table, knocking place settings and serving dishes crashing to the floor. Tornadoes are the erratic, ill-behaved toddler who shatters an heirloom bowl.
Hurricanes can be avoided by evacuating. With tornadoes, you’re stuck.
Hurricanes prompt stubborn people to ignore their destructive potential and refuse to evacuate. Tornado warnings prompt stubborn people to watch from porches while refusing to shelter in a basement or interior room.
Both kill. Both destroy property.
But – and this is big – across the inland tornado alley, there are no hurricanes. Hurricane country has both, because hurricanes spawn tornadoes, as we saw ahead of Hurricane Laura last week in Louisiana.
I hate ’em both.
