Tornadoes and Flying Trucks

Flying trucks would normally be a crazy idea that no one would ever expect to see. This is why is was so surprising when so many of us saw on the news last week during a series of tornados that ran through the Dallas metro area. Thank goodness no one was severely hurt or killed. What a scary sight it would be to see a full size container truck flying through the air. So what does it take for a storm to knock around a semi truck trailer like it's a ball thrown into the air? Well first we need to consider what the overall make up of a truck is. Generally truck cabs are made up of metal just like other vehicles and the containers are all metal as well. The dimensions can be up to 60+ feet long and usually at least 8 feet wide which would look like a small building flying through the air. The other part is that the weight of cargo container alone can be up to 21,500 kilograms or 47,300 pounds. With adding the weight of the cab, this is an incredible load to can the wind of a tornado. The tornadoes that picked up and threw the trucks and trailers in Dallas were only EF-2 level storms. There are up to level five storms so this was a relatively low winds or a tornado even though the storms were throwing the shipping trailers around like paper falling through the sky. Can you imagine an EF-5 level storm and the damages that would follow?