Uncompromising Lubbock TX, Siding Installation Complements Planned City Upgrades on Tornado Warning Systems

Eight months of intense heat and a mildly cold winter make a year in West Texas. It’s nothing Americans elsewhere would find very extreme, but being within what is commonly referred to by the media as Tornado Alley, the threat of a powerful cyclone passing by neighborhoods is a constant source of worry to its residents. In such conditions, a safe room above or below ground is the surest way to survive the turbulent winds.

The biggest tornado to ever hit the city of Lubbock, Texas happened in 1970. It was, at that time, the most costly in the United States, having hit the central business district of the midsized city. Not all tornadoes are as powerful; close to 100 tornadoes have hit Lubbock since 1950, and for a house lying in a tornado’s path of destruction, it is important for its Lubbock, TX siding installation to be uncompromising.

An estimate of 38.9 percent of all tornadoes are mild with intensity F0, the lowest level in the Fujita Scale. The remaining 61.1 percent, representing F1 to F5 intensities, are potentially destructive to homes; a tornado with an intensity of F1 has winds moving at 117 to 180 kilometers per second and is comparable to the wind speed of a hurricane. Sidings, roof shingles and other protruding home exterior features can easily be detached from the walls and ceilings, weakening a house’s structural integrity; if carried by the wind, these flying debris launched into the atmosphere become hazards to anyone and anything outdoors.

This May, coincidentally the most tornado-prone month for Lubbock, city officials began reviewing their tornado warning system. Among the things they consider reviving are tornado sirens, which Lubbock abandoned 30 years ago. Fox reporter Matt Ernst is skeptical about how effective they would be. He argued that existing siren warning systems in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham in Alabama and Joplin, Missouri did more damage than help in their respective 2011 tornadoes.

Ernst explained that Birmingham and Joplin residents have grown used to sirens warning them of tornadoes that went too quickly, were too weak, or were too far from their neighborhoods. The people’s indifference to warnings, which Ernst and his colleagues refer to as “siren mentality” is an outcome that he doesn’t want Lubbockites to develop. By June 13, the Lubbock City Council has created a Tornado Warning Task Force, who will oversee a study on improving the city’s emergency notifications, particularly sirens.

South of Lubbock is the city of Midland, who has seen a total of 20 tornadoes with intensities of F2 or higher since 1950. Its most recent notable tornadoes in May 2010 and April 2011 claimed no fatalities but damaged a combined amount of $183,000 in property. As with Lubbock and other tornado-prone cities, a solid Midland, TX siding installation project, offered by dependable home remodeling contractors such as Lubbock-based Jones & Associates, ensures that homes are ready to sustain the least amount of damage should a moderately powerful tornado pay a visit to the neighborhood.