Myth Busters: Should you open your windows before a Tornado?

With the recent tornado outbreaks hitting our heartland Wonderful Windows & Siding thought it would be appropriate to cover the topic this week.  

For years, it has been advised to open your windows or even doors before a tornado passes.  Luckily, for us in Southeast Texas we aren't faced with tornadoes the size or magnitude they face in Oklahoma.  In fact, the last time we had a major tornado outbreak in the Houston area was in November of 1992 when a cluster of six tornadoes struck with one of them being a F4 scale devastating the Channelview area. Nevertheless tornadoes do occur in Harris County as it is the number one county in Texas for tornadoes. 

Before we can bust this myth let's discover it's origins...

When a tornado comes through pressures outside change drastically within seconds, wind is blowing at over 100 mph and it is thought that by opening windows you can potentially save your home by cracking windows or opening doors.  This could relieve your home of the drastic pressure thus saving your home from catastrophe.  Right?

The Weather Channel recently highlighted this myth in one of it's stories:

As you can see research has been proven that this tactic has been shown to do MORE DAMAGE to homes.  Opening your doors and windows as you can view in the video gives storm and pressure quick and easier access to destruction and some cases total devastation.

So best bet for you and your family during a storm would be to not worry about your windows and instead find immediate shelter. 

Wonderful Windows & Siding offers a range of great storm windows that's perfect for storms... Built to withstand high winds and debris they can surely take a punch.  But opening them before a storm will not save your home.  

MYTH BUSTED!

Visit Wonderful Windows and Siding online and schedule your Free Consultation today on our new line of Storm Windows or call us at 281-565-3565.