TTD survives first storm

well its good to know that rollercoaster fanatics are also meteorologists. dick goddard would probably know the most about cedar point and weather problems since hes been around probably since cedarpoint started out as pavilions.

Who is Dick Goddard

It has been discussed before that the style of supports on MF could hold up a 700 foot coaster in tornado speed winds. Although it may be nothing more than rumor, it seems like a fairly accurate statement.

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-Chris Woodard
"If you're standing in an uncomfortable position, that means you are in the right position because you are riding Mantis!" - Mantis ride op doing spiels on closing day.

I believe that ttd could hold up to a very strong storm ever a stronger tornado. When a tornado hits the name of the game is how well the wind catches the structure. If you look at the structure of ttd it’s very open and somewhat small. Most tornados would have a lot of trouble knocking it down.

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It is interesting to think about what a tornado would do to the rides at CP, but what about the GP? I'm sure the scene would be nothing short of nightmarish with little shelter and the panic that would definitely take place.

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Millennium Force Laps-103
**Vertigo Launches-21**

Here in Lansing a few years back one of the news stations ran a story about a couple who had gotten on Power Tower in 1998 or 1999 and got left on the ride when the ride operator took off. There was footage of the waterspout coming, but it hardly did any damage.

I doubt CP would ever see anything more than an F1, and if they saw that I'd be surprised. Oh, by the way, if an F5 tornado was to hit cedar point, I'm sure that most of the rides would end up in lake erie and you'd be left with nothing but some land.

I got to thinkin about this same topic, though, while I was waiting in line for the Texas Giant at Six Flags over Texas last summer.... But that park has been there since like the 60's sometime and never been hit.. and thats in the middle of freaking TEXAS
*** This post was edited by bholcomb 4/22/2003 9:36:11 AM ***

It's not just the wind that damages - much - if not most - of the damage is done by the debris whirling inside the tornado. So if a tornado strong enough to pick up a few cars along the way were to hit TTD, it would sustain serious damage. However, only an F4 or F5 tornado could do that, and those are unlikely at CP.

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F5 Tornadoes are huge, up to a mile across. If that was to sweep across the Point, anything that wasn't bolted down (and much of the stuff that was) would get washed into the lake.

Oh, and Dick Goddard is a really old weather forecaster in Cleveland. He works for Fox 8 news.

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Come on people, this poetry's not going to appreciate itself!

Yes realmadrid311, there was a storm that did do damage to the Mine Ride in the 70's *** Edited 5/17/2005 4:10:29 PM UTC by Cedar Point Lady***

You know there's not much surface area or anything on a steel coaster for the wind to to get a hold of.. I doubt the wind itself would do much damage.. the real danger would be objects hitting it.
*** This post was edited by Marcus 4/22/2003 1:11:29 PM ***

I could be wrong but the rides at CP are engineered to withstand the stongest of tornados. Marcus is right the danger is the objects hitting them.

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CP Coaster Guide
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The fastest and tallest coaster ever built on the Planet!!

It wouldn't actually be the twister destroying the huge coasters, but rather the debree flying around at 100 mphs colliding with all the rides and their supports.

C'mon.. I know you've all see the flying cow in twister!!!

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Ryan McCanimal
Webmaster of Thrillgallery.com
"eye for an eye makes the whole world blind"

you guys all sound so surprised over this, these rides are professionally built and engineered to sustain winds and storms of the magnitude we have recently seen.

Sure something COULD knock them over, I dont doubt it, but not the story that just recently hit.

What a horrible sight that would be if one of Cedar Point's monsterous ride would be destroyed by a tornado.

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Gas for drive to Cedar Point: $25
Ticket to Cedar Point: $43
Drink while in line for ride: $3
Travel 410 feet in the air: Priceless

When was this storm?

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Gas for drive to Cedar Point: $25
Ticket to Cedar Point: $43
Drink while in line for ride: $3
Travel 410 feet in the air: Priceless

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tremor said:
F5 Tornadoes are huge, up to a mile across. If that was to sweep across the Point, anything that wasn't bolted down (and much of the stuff that was) would get washed into the lake.

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yes i was just thinking this same thing...and if it was an F-4 or F-5 it wouldn't need to go from parking lot to park because it's the size of the park...that's nuts to think about.
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Snake River Falls 03 (newbie)

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Well, as a old-time CPer now living right in the middle of Tornado Alley, and a long-time meteorology buff, I'd like to add a couple things.

First off, to Big D: A tornado could care less about a body of water being in its way. The main circulation extends far upward into the storm, sometimes up to 30,000 feet, and isn't affected by what's at ground level. Case in point: one of the most powerful tornadoes on record, the Tri-State Tornado of 1925, crossed the Mississippi River at one of its widest points before continuing its destructive path from Missouri into Illinois and Indiana. There are plenty of other examples of this if you do the research.

Size doesn't matter, either. The largest tornadoes (approaching 2 miles wide) tend to be among the weakest, generally producing only F0 or F1 damage. You can have violent tornadoes that are only a few hundred feet wide. This is especially common as the tornado enters the "rope-out" stage -- as the rotating air column narrows, its airspeed increases dramatically. It requires far less energy to get a smaller vortex spinning fast enough to cause F4 or F5 damage.

The biggest threat from a tornado to the Point would likely be flying debris. Much like skyscrapers, the rides are designed to withstand quite a bit of stress -- even strong wind probably wouldn't bother them. However, start pummeling those support structures with objects traveling at over 200 MPH, and there's no telling what could happen. And if a strong tornado struck while the park was open...well, let's not go there.

However, that depressing thought is certainly a far outer fringe scenario. Out of the roughly 1,000 tornadoes that occur in the U.S. in an average year, only 1% of those fall into the "violent" category (F4 or F5). The majority of those occur in the central and southern U.S. Still, such a tornado occuring in Ohio is not out of the realm of possibility -- remember the Xenia F5 during the Super Outbreak of 1974, and the F4 that struck Van Wert just last year, during that surprise December outbreak. There have been 29 violent tornadoes in Ohio since 1950, according to NCDC statistics.

But, combine the odds of a violent tornado with the odds of a tornado actually hitting the Point -- it's probably not going to happen.