Just Recieved Another Tornado Watch, How Would You React?

hauntedtexan

hauntedtexan

Member
Location
Central TX
Ahh, Springtime in Texas. I'm pretty sure my neighbors and I react differently to tornado watches and warnings than those who do not deal with them regularly. In all the years I have lived in Texas, the closest one has ever gotten is a bit over a mile away. My personal choice is to leave it in God's hands. When he wants me, he takes me. Just need enough time to place my head between my legs so I can kiss my butt goodbye....
 

I live in Northeast PA. And the tornadoes we get; you Texans would laugh at. I live in a "manufactured" home ( they get mad if you call them 'mobile'). I don't know what I would do, if even my type of tornado was aiming for me.
 

I guess all of you in Texas are use to those warnings. In northern New Jersey they are scarce but recently we have had a couple of small ones touch down. My reaction is usually to freak out. That and lightning strikes scare the heck out of me.
 
fuzzybuddy said:
I live in Northeast PA. And the tornadoes we get; you Texans would laugh at. I live in a "manufactured" home ( they get mad if you call them 'mobile'). I don't know what I would do, if even my type of tornado was aiming for me.
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Here is an idea! Since tornadoes seem to attracted to mobile home parks, we need to put some on an aircraft carrier and lure them out to sea!
 
Here's our notice:

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for North and Central Texas.

.DAY ONE...Tonight.
Thunderstorms are expected to move east into the I-35 corridor by
early evening. The strongest storms will likely become severe with
hail to the size of baseballs and destructive winds in excess of 70
mph. The tornado threat will gradually diminish this evening, and
the storms will likely dissipate in East Texas by late evening.

Additional thunderstorms may develop after midnight, but the severe
threat with any activity during the early morning hours will be low.
 
We lived in Wichita, KS., for about 4 years...in the late 60's/early 70's...and the community had a big underground storm shelter. Every Spring, it seemed that we had to run to the shelter at least 5 or 6 times, and stay there for 3 or 4 hours while a huge storm passed. We had tornadoes come down as close as 1/4 mile away, and one destroyed a fairly good sized shopping center about 1/2 mile away. Anyone who lives in "tornado alley" should have some place nearby, or in their house/yard that is reinforced and able to withstand one of these storm. Tornadoes are the worst storms, as they can pop up within seconds. Hurricanes do far more damage, but at least the people in those regions usually get several days notice to get prepared.
 
My wife's sister lives in Oklahoma City. Last year she had a concrete shelter installed in her garage. She doesn't have a basement. Nothing has come close to her so far, but she figured better safe than sorry. We've actually had a few tiny twisters here in Orange County that have done a little roof damage in years past. I can't imagine being in one of the big ones. Our big ones are earthquakes; zero warning. Nothing like being woke up in the middle of the night with the house shaking. Jump up and see what you can keep from tipping over. All our tall furniture is anchored to the wall.

Hauntedtexan -- I hope you're OK tonight.

Don
 
I spent 18 months in Oklahoma in the early 80s. It's a helpless feeling, hard to describe. So glad to be back in California.
 
Grampa Don said:
My wife's sister lives in Oklahoma City. Last year she had a concrete shelter installed in her garage. She doesn't have a basement. Nothing has come close to her so far, but she figured better safe than sorry. We've actually had a few tiny twisters here in Orange County that have done a little roof damage in years past. I can't imagine being in one of the big ones. Our big ones are earthquakes; zero warning. Nothing like being woke up in the middle of the night with the house shaking. Jump up and see what you can keep from tipping over. All our tall furniture is anchored to the wall.

Hauntedtexan -- I hope you're OK tonight.

Don
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One of my closest friends and her hubby have been living in Oklahoma City for the last 4 years, to be close to their daughter and grandchildren. She has told me some pretty hair-raising stories of the weather there!! I grew up in SoCal and have memories of earthquakes that I would just as soon forget. During the Sylmar earthquake in 1971, I ran downstairs in a panic to see my mother holding on for dear life to the 26 gallon aquarium that was in our living room. She managed somehow to keep it from toppling off its stand, but after the shaking stopped, we discovered a half dozen fishies flapping around in a couple of inches of water in the corner of the room because they had sloshed out of the aquarium. We were very lucky that our home was spared severe damage. After that, my dad anchored all our tall pieces of furniture to the wall !!
 
hauntedtexan said:
Here's our notice:

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for North and Central Texas.

.DAY ONE...Tonight.
Thunderstorms are expected to move east into the I-35 corridor by
early evening. The strongest storms will likely become severe with
hail to the size of baseballs and destructive winds in excess of 70
mph. The tornado threat will gradually diminish this evening, and
the storms will likely dissipate in East Texas by late evening.

Additional thunderstorms may develop after midnight, but the severe
threat with any activity during the early morning hours will be low.
Click to expand...


Hope all ended up okay .... my daughter lives in your part of the state. I haven't checked in with her. .. bad mom!
Down on the coast, we've had stifling hot weather all week.... hoping for some rain this weekend, but without golfball size hail.
 
Yesterday we had three more touch down west of us and the day before a couple more in the same general area......about seven years ago we had one come within 150 yds. of us and I had a shelter installed in the garage shortly afterwards.

It's kinda funny in a way, guess what movie was on TV yesterday while the tornado warnings were flashing across the screen ?.......the 1996 movie 'Twister' with Helen Hunt.
 
Stay safe Haunted! We've had a few small tornadoes here over the years, and when I heard warnings I just waited and watched before I took any action. I've witnessed one in the distance behind my house. We have a room in the basement without a window, so if there's a real immediate threat, we'd head down there with the pets. Also have some emergency food and water in the basement if needed.
 
My main point here is this, we have 4 more days of the same weather predicted coming up. While living in California, I was visiting a friend's house in Landers when the earthquake hit. In Buffalo, My wife and I were hit by "October Surprise" when an ice storm hit when there were still leaves on the trees, which broke from the weight of the ice and took out power, in freezing weather, for about a week. (at least our food didn't spoil) Not to mention the crippling, life ending blizzards we played in as kids. While I lived at my lake house in remote Tahuya, Washington, a freak windstorm left us isolated from supplies until our Collins Lake community joined together to clear all the hundreds of trees that came down the mountains and blocked the only road to town, since community services were busy with the more important neighborhoods.
Soooo, we are all subject to God's will and mother nature and can only do what we can do. If he wants us, he will take us and worrying about the things we have no way to avoid or stop because of where we live, is just life. None of us get out of here alive... I think old age is to slow us down so we're easier to catch. :eek:hwell: So, don't sweat the small stuff and try hard to ignore the mowrons (comes with a Texas accent). Peace to all y'all! I hope I have thanked with rep bonus, all those who cared for my safety. If God is willing, the rest of the week will be a breeze....
 
Luckily, we haven't had any damaging storms in the area this Spring, but we have received over 15 inches of rain this May, so far, and there is more on the way. A couple of months ago, we were in a moderate drought, and now we are several inches above normal rainfall for the year. Just finding an opportunity to mow the grass is a challenge, and the yard is starting to look like a hay field. I did get the garden planted a few days ago, but it has turned into a muddy swamp. You can bet that out there in August, when we really could use some rain, things will be bone dry....ahh, the pleasures of MidWest weather.
 
I grew up in Mississippi where tornadoes were very common. Back then we had a storm cellar built under ground and we would have to go and get in it until the storm passed. As a kid, I was more afraid there would be spiders in the cellar than the storm. Now living in Georgia, the technology is better. I get alerts on my phone, we have tornado sirens that will sound and the local news stations will cut regular programming to monitor the storms. We have an underground basement and that is where we go. But I stay on edge when the weather gets rough.
 
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