[mkfarnam]

Originally Posted by BornToFly

Thanks Jammie I didn't realize there might be a shelter I could drive to! I'll definitely want to have a thorough plan and be prepared, otherwise I'll drive myself batty with worrying anytime there's a storm, so I'll add that to my list of things to locate right away once I'm down there. I'll be bringing my GPS so I shouldn't have too much of a problem finding it, but I don't like to rely completely on technology, since sometimes it doesn't work when you need it most, so I like your idea of driving there a few times! Thanks again!

Oh, and are the weather radios pretty easy to find there? I haven't ever seen any in Maine, I guess because there's just not much need for them, but I'd like to get one when I move.

I just noticed your location says SD, Jammie, but can anyone else answer this please?

I believe jammie is from OK.............

[colleeng47]

Originally Posted by mkfarnam

The tornadoe siren goes off every Friday for practice.

In Mustang they go off every Saturday at noon. The neighborhood dogs love it. They howl to their heart's content.

[mkfarnam]

Originally Posted by colleeng47

In Mustang they go off every Saturday at noon. The neighborhood dogs love it. They howl to their heart's content.

Same with mine.....and the others

[BornToFly]

Originally Posted by redbird4848

Oh yeah, radio shack, wallyworld and other places carry them.

Originally Posted by Jammie

Yup, I live way up here where there's another impending blizzard coming. We're also in tornado alley so the same things apply for both of our states. OK has a longer tornado season then we do because it's warmer earlier down there, but we have some problems from them up here, too.

Good luck to you in your move.

Thank you both, again!

[fromdust]

Originally Posted by colleeng47

In Mustang they go off every Saturday at noon. The neighborhood dogs love it. They howl to their heart's content.

yup, okc sirens every sat. at noon. unless its cloudy with possible showers, then they dont mess with it.

[Goodpasture]

WE don't need no friggin sireens........we just sniff the air and set out on the porch till we see it comin or someones house or truck flys by..........

[lasomeday]

We also have the highest paid weathermen that will get up in helicopters and chase the tornados. So, we have a lot of warning that is usually pretty accurate. Just be sure to have the internet or tv on when there are storms around in the Spring.

[StillwaterTownie]

And don't panic like me and relatives did during the Friday the 13th tornado in Stillwater back in 1975 and try to flee in a car during a tornado warning. It may not be survivable. Here is my personal survival story as to what happens when you don't:

I've rode a tornado out while in a car before. It was probably the most frightening experience of my life. It was the Friday the 13th Stillwater, Oklahoma tornado from June of 1975. I was at home with my parents and a visiting nephew. Severe weather was forecasted that day. It was around 5:30 pm. I went outside to see if a storm was gathering. Was it ever. From SW to NE, the sky looked a very dark, ominous looking mess, all too typical and scary looking of a bad storm's approach. I went inside to hear what TV 9's weather man, Gary England, from Oklahoma City thought about the storm. He believed radar indicated a tornado was forming. Very soon, Stillwater's tornado sirens started sounding.

My father, nephew and myself watched toward the northwest for signs of a tornado coming. (This was unusual for it to be coming out of the NW rather than SW.) We soon spotted something in the distance. Not a funnel, but rather a piece of debris floating high in the air. Like idiots though, we all panicked and fled in the car, headed for shelter downtown in the Stillwater city hall basement. It was about a mile away.

We were doing ok on the drive until just a block from city hall when all hell started breaking loose. Suddenly the wind erupted into a very loud roar. The wind made a pounding noise upon the car. With the roar going on, I looked outside and suddenly spotted pieces of roofing peeling off a large building and going straight up in the air as if being sucked off by a vaccum high in the sky. But that awful view was instantly interrupted by the startling sound of a very loud blast. My nephew and I instinctively ducked down in the back seat faster then my mother could shout "Get down!". While down, I could sense that the car was strangely wobbling like some of the 4 wheels were not staying on the ground. But thankfully soon, the roaring wind subsided and the car stopped. I raised up and found we were parked just outside city hall and we all rushed in to its basement. The blast I heard was caused by the window on the driver's side of the car blowing out. The side of our car that faced the tornadic winds looked like it had been sandblasted. While keeping control of the car, my father saw a pickup flip upside down.

In the city hall basement, I came across my neighbor lady. She was obviously in a lot of distress, biting her fingernails, furiously going back and forth on them. As it turned out, she and her husband actually were crazy enough to follow us in their car in our mad dash. They said they had to dodge falling trees on the way.

We went back home and were relieved to discover little damage to our home aside from some shingles blown off. The only heartbreaking damage was to an elm tree in the front yard I used to play on as a kid. All the major limbs on the tree were blown down and later the tree died.

The neighborhood to the southeast of me was harder hit with a lot more trees down and front porches blown off being typical. But at one intersection, 14th and S. Perkins Rd. where the tornado peaked out at an F3 or so, several homes were totally demolished and beyond repair.

My family and I lucked out more than anything else with the Friday the 13th tornado. My mother though later had to go to an eye doctor to get something out stuck in her eye.

People have been known to have been killed from large debris slamming through a car window during a tornado. And years later in 1990 such a terrible thing did happen in Stillwater when a young child was killed by flying debris while riding in a car in an attempt with a parent to escape a tornado. They didn't want to take a chance staying in their trailer home.

These days when there's a threat of a tornado I have the good sense now to stay home and take cover in my safe room that I had to include when building my new home.

[_redbird_]

Got room for another in the "Don't do as I stupidly did..." club? We have been caught on the road numerous times during thunderstorms. We left Anadarko once just ahead of a storm and got caught in Verden under massive downpour so bad we could not see out of the windshield. At least we were at the edge of town and parked under a gas station arbor.

On one occasion we were heading home from the city, trying to outrun a thunderstorm just east of Seminole, OK. That thunderstorm's leading edge had some northeasterly 60 mpg gusts pushing hail and downpours. But they always lasted a few seconds as we were right on the front edge of it.

Then, out of the blue, the wind did a total opposite turnabout, and we were in a 60 mph gust of southwestern wind. Wild! Our car was bombarded with hail. Luckily we outran it. But you are right, never NEVER try to outrun the front edge of a spring thunderstorm, because they fly over in a few minutes anyway.

Best to find shelter and ride it out.

[okpondlady]

Originally Posted by Goodpasture

WE don't need no friggin sireens........we just sniff the air and set out on the porch till we see it comin or someones house or truck flys by..........

The man I married was a Storm Spotter when he was single and could be reckless. Now we stay home mostly when the warnings/watchs come..since I am not alone I ain't nearly as afraid of storms. BUT. I was raised in Oklahoma by a Grandmother who grew up here also. Before Doppler Radar. If it started storming in the evening... she went to the cellar. I spent MANY MANY nights in the cellar as a child/teenager. She had a bed and a lamp. All we needed to bed down for the night. Of course she didn't sleep..nor did Grandpa. I learned early to fear tornado's. The thing is.... just watch the weather. The weatherman makes sure we know whats going on. You can get a battery powered weather radio about anywhere.

How I judge when it is time to go to the storm shelter, in our town. When the electric goes off and I don't have the TV... I already have everything else unplugged, just unplug TV and split. I have a small bag for the girls with a change of clothes, now they are old enough to carry themselves they get to pack it. A change of clothing, a book or something to entertain them (for mine it is a book) and just jump in the car. Our town's shelter isn't to far from my house, about a mile.