Well that was fun! My first tornado watch!

[MnMomtoboys]

OK, DO NOT do anything I'm relating here, I'm just sayin..

I lived many years of my life in Kansas where tornadoes are abundant (reference: Wizard of Oz). For natives, a tornado watch/warning is pretty much an invitation to go out on your porch and watch the storm(I SAID DO NOT DO THIS)

I have found that the media/warnings were way over reactive, but they are erring on the safe side. The thing with tornadoes is that they can wipe out the house next door to you, but leave your petunias swaying in the breeze.

So while you should take precautions during a warning/watch, don't let it ruin your day,

I grew up in Wichita. I got yelled at a lot.

My niece once was driving home and didn't know there was a bad storm out until she saw a tornado to the left of her. It was far enough away not to hurt her, well it did scare the daylights out of her.

 

[iwrbnd]

OK, DO NOT do anything I'm relating here, I'm just sayin..

I lived many years of my life in Kansas where tornadoes are abundant (reference: Wizard of Oz). For natives, a tornado watch/warning is pretty much an invitation to go out on your porch and watch the storm(I SAID DO NOT DO THIS)

I have found that the media/warnings were way over reactive, but they are erring on the safe side. The thing with tornadoes is that they can wipe out the house next door to you, but leave your petunias swaying in the breeze.

So while you should take precautions during a warning/watch, don't let it ruin your day,

I grew up in Kansas and this is exactly what all the dads in the neighborhood would do!

 

[Planogirl]

I grew up in Wichita. I got yelled at a lot.

My niece once was driving home and didn't know there was a bad storm out until she saw a tornado to the left of her. It was far enough away not to hurt her, well it did scare the daylights out of her.

I got caught in a blinding rainstorm once driving in the middle of nowhere along the Texas coast and suddenly the emergency system thing went off on the radio. The recording said that a funnel cloud had been spotted in roughly the same area I was and oh my was I terrified!

 

[Elmo9607]

Yup...in Illinois everyone goes out on the porch and watches. I particurarly like staying out on the covered porch at night and watching the lightning shows.

If the storm is severe enough, I have a friend who I will chase it with (we both have training in observing severe weather and chasing...plus he is studying meteorology and geography at NIU and I have studied weather extensively on my own for years and years) and we will make reports to the NWS.

We don't have the kind of storm chasers up here that are in Kansas and Oklahoma and Texas. Often it is just a "one man show" out there spotting and chasing for the NWS and someone needs to make storm reports. If we can help in even a small way, we like to.

Luckily, there is a siren right by my house. If I'm at home and the siren goes off for a warning, I have to head to the basement right away. My house is surrounded by trees and hills and you can't see 1/4 mile in any direction. On the other hand, if I go a mile up the road, you can see for miles every which way

 

[mhsjax]

Not that much different during the storm itself, except that you are in it for hours on end. You get plenty of batteries, water, and shelf stable food, and then hunker down when the storm starts rolling in. We sit and watch TV until the power goes out, then read or whatever. Being in Raleigh, we hardly ever get the main part of those storms, but the last one that rolled right through here did $120K damage to our house, and we were without power or water for 10 days. Main difference in damage from tornado to hurricane is that tornado damage is only in the path of the storm, where hurricane is widespread damage and flooding. I hope to never see either again in my lifetime!

I have a friend that lives in Raleigh, luckily they escaped any damage to their house, but did loose about 5 trees.

As far as hurricanes, depending on how it comes through your area, you can get a double whammy, cause a lot of times tornadoes follow.