Is it better to keep doors inside your house OPEN or CLOSED during a tornado? And why?

Answer 1

Myth or Misconception #4 .... Opening windows to equalize air pressure will save a roof, or even a home, from destruction by a tornado.

The idea that moving one thin pane of glass is going to protect a roof or house from one of the most violent natural forces on the planet has a certain absurdity about it. It is probably born of wishful thinking and faulty logic, stemming from the need to do something .... anything. In reality, opening windows is a dangerous and useless waste of time, and could actually be harmful to the house.

To get to the very center of a mature tornado (where the pressure may be low enough to cause some explosive effects), the windows would have to endure 100-200 mph winds in the walls of the vortex. Those winds would be laden with boards, stones, cars, trees, telephone poles, and the neighbor's roof shingles as well as wind pressure of more than 100 pounds per square foot. This barrage would blow more than enough ventilation holes in the building to allow any pressure difference to be equalized.

Even with the windows closed, most houses and commercial buildings have enough openings to vent the pressure difference in the time that it takes for a tornado to pass. The engineering team at Texas Tech's Institute for Disaster Research (Minor et al., 1977) point out that the pressure drop inside a tornado with 260 mph winds is only about 10%, or just 1.4 pounds per square inch. Most buildings can vent this difference through its normal openings in about three seconds. That is sufficient time even if the tornado is moving forward at a very rapid 60 mph. In the real world, the discussion is pointless. That violent a tornado would totally blow apart a house before the central low pressure ever arrived. Venting of air to relieve pressure would not be an issue.

If the home owner opens the wrong window, air can rush in and exert pressure on the structure from the inside--like blowing air into a balloon. It is unlikely that the resident knows where the construction weak points are. In addition, the wind fields in a passing tornado are very complex and constantly changing. It is not possible to predict the strongest direction of attack. The best advice from every engineer with whom the author has ever discussed this is to leave the windows alone and get into the basement or other shelter as fast as possible. One should not think first of the house roof, but of the impact of one's death on one's family, or of one's self unnecessarily crippled or scarred for life.

I don't recall the exact origin of the "window opening" advice, but do recall that the original advice was to open windows in both the front and the back of the house. Theoretically, this would allow air to move through the house, and reduce any buildup of interior pressure. Somehow, the advice was altered to include only the windows on the north side of the house, (away from the tornado). There is no evidence that any opening of windows ever helped to hold a roof in place. The best advice is still to forget the windows and get to a shelter.

Answer 2

Keep one door open that opens onto a shady spot, probably the opposite of where the sun is in the sky, preferably with some plants or foliage that is shading the ground outside the door. Next to the door somewhere, put some bowls of water that have a rag hanging over the side (one end in the water, one out in the air), or even a bag or block of ice. Then, upstairs, or in the highest location possible, open a window or two. The rising heat will flow up out of the high opening, sucking the cooler air from the shaded open door down below. When the cool air goes past the water, it will bring that nice coolness with it through the house as it makes it's way eventually up and out the vented heat escape.

Answer 3

Don't open the windows when there is a tornado, they used to say it equalizes the pressure keeping the house safe, not so, that doesn't cause the damage, debris causes the damage, Large flying objects flying in the air causes most of the destruction. Although the wind can rip your shingles off, but that is as far as it goes.

Answer 4

G'day mate,
depends on where you are gonna be when the tornado hits.. open all doors and windows and piss off out of there.. don't even stop to get the photos..
Material posessions are not even worth a broken leg..
A tornado has a very low pressure area involved at its base, that is why it can lift items up it's funnel and if a low pressure area suddenly envelopes a home.. the windows and doors need to be open to let the air out other wise it will explode with the high air pressure inside variation with the current ambient air pressure outside..

Answer 5

OPEN....i f you have time to. I was in a tornado and had no warning so i didn't have time to open. Lost material things-everything!!! But thank God , just to be alive. I got my back broke , glass in legs, buries everywhere.....Blessed to be alive....by the Grace of God!!!!

Answer 6

I've always heard to keep windows cracked open to even out the pressure so that they won't shatter. I really don't think it matters. You'll just be glad you survived if you're unfortunate enough to experience one first hand.

Answer 7

get away from windows,period.But if you must,closed.Having windows open would cause outside objects to bring you harm