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Absolutely but the point was that this poster from Boston couldn't understand how people live with Tornados, in particular Dixie Alley.
But I couldn't go back to Michigan either.
I think it is sad when people move from places like California and have no idea how it is going to be.
Understandable, I think the point I was trying to make is if Michigan scares you with tornadoes, there's very few places you could live if you fear them.
I think the bigger issue is tornado alley has been shifting eastward and I could unsterstand why it might affect the OP and residents in the southern states as they have more frequent and dangerous tornadoes there.
I am from Boston too but I lived in Michigan for a couple of years.
I am with you. I don't understand it.
What got to me was that LITERALLY every Wednesday for the entire summer we would have a "tornado warning" from 1 AM to 6 AM for the entire state. Sure ok I never actually had one -- though there were a few close calls -- but it was the worry and the absolute no ability to get safe if there was one.
Everyone was just like oh well. In Massachusetts as well we all have basements but in the midwest most people don't. When I moved to Michigan I didn't realize they had twisters so frequently so I asked my apartment complex... were was the shelter. No shelter. You are just apparently on your own taking a risk. I was gob smacked.
I think people from the midwest just don't know what it is like to live someplace where you don't have twisters and has basements. They just don't know any better.
Given how much land really can't be used due to twisters I wonder why no one has tried to find a way to minimize them. Like I don't know, release a ton of cold air at the edge of a state to stabilize the air.
Yup and here in Boston everyone has a basement too. Not sure i know of any house here without one. I was surprised to learn many houses in Tennessee don’t have a basement. At least then if tornado at night is a risk can just sleep in basement
Tornadoes that come barreling through my city causing serious damage are rare. The last one happened in 1990. The last one before that was in 1975. The destructive path of the two tornadoes was so narrow, none caused significant damage to the home I was living in. All it did to me was to convince me to have a storm shelter for my next home. So, to be well prepared for the next bad tornado, many people have installed storm shelters for their homes. Those shelters give people a lot of peace of mind for when the next tornado warning is issued. Having your home fully insured for loss due to tornado also helps.
Ice storms and hailstorms are probably more common and aggravate more people, perhaps to the point of wanting to move away from it.
It might be more stressful to live in an area where strong and highly destructive earthquakes have been known to occur. There is no prior warning issued. People knowing that hasn't kept San Francisco from growing.
So every 15 years or multiple times during your life and your kids life you can expect to live through a terrorizing tornado experience? Where even if it doesn’t hurt you or family it may still rip up everything you or your neighbors own? Seems scary how can anyone plan for the future like that
Also as I noted, it doesn't matter if we actually GET a twister. When there is a tornado warning from 1 am to 6 am your life becomes a constant terror zone.
Most of the people I knew in Michigan didn't have a basement and my apartment complex had no shelter or, even place to hide. My best option would be to run down three flights of stairs and huddle in the center hallway.
You're referring to tornado watches, not tornado warnings. Tornado watches aren't very stressful. They just inform you conditions are favorable during the time period prescribed for tornadoes to form within the area of the watch. What prompts a tornado warning? It's when a tornado is reported on the ground, or a funnel cloud sited, or a strong low-level rotation is indicated by weather radar. That's when things really becomes stressful.
People in Oklahoma didn't take tornadoes all that seriously until the famous Moore tornado of 1999. It contained the most powerful winds ever recorded on earth at 301 mph. Many houses were literally blown away, leaning only concrete slab foundations. 38 people were killed. More people than ever saw the need have a home storm shelter.
So every 15 years or multiple times during your life and your kids life you can expect to live through a terrorizing tornado experience? Where even if it doesn’t hurt you or family it may still rip up everything you or your neighbors own? Seems scary how can anyone plan for the future like that
Once again, with a storm shelter and home insurance. The worst severe weather event for me in the last 15 years was over a big hailstorm on the home. Insurance paid $13,000 to replace the shingles.
April, May and June are the worst months for tornadoes. The other months are considerably less likely for a tornado to happen. I'd be more stressful being in California worried about when the next big quake was coming.
Never heard of dixie allie but I was surprised how many tornados come through north georgia. never thought of it as a hotspot cause it's hilly and near the mountains.
So every 15 years or multiple times during your life and your kids life you can expect to live through a terrorizing tornado experience? Where even if it doesn’t hurt you or family it may still rip up everything you or your neighbors own? Seems scary how can anyone plan for the future like that
Didn't Boston experience a terrorist attack some years ago? You're really over exaggerating everything.
Tornadoes can occur pretty much anywhere. And there have been notable ones in the Northeast, too.
But I'd only really think about them if I lived between the Rockies and Appalachia. But there's only two areas in the country where I'd think of it as a likelihood that at some point I'd probably be in a direct way affected by a significant one either because it hits my house, that of someone I know or at least a place I am familiar with and those are central Oklahoma and north central MS/AL.
Outside of those areas, it's of course possible - ask the residents of Joplin, MO, Mayfield, KY or Rochelle, IL - but not quite common enough that I'd consider it likely to make that experience.
As a resident of a town that was partly destroyed by a tornado (Tuscaloosa), what you have to remember is:
1. Tornadoes are incredibly localized. Even the worst tornadoes won’t be more than a mile or so wide. 99.9% of land is untouched by a tornado in the state of Alabama every year. As an example, in Tuscaloosa, there is a scar still visible on Google Earth of the tornado damage that caused great pain and suffering a decade ago. As bad as the tornado was, easily 90%+ of the metro area had no damage. Tornadoes aren’t like hurricanes that can take an entire region offline.
2. The vast majority are weak. Only the strongest 2-3% of tornadoes are the monster EF4-5 we see on tv. For most tornadoes, heading to the bathroom during an EF1 or 2 will be sufficient for survival. In those rare EF5 cases where nothing can stand, you leave your life in the hand of God and pray for the best (which let’s be honest Southerns are better at doing that anyway)
If you live down here long enough, you will get to know the weather patterns. The warnings cover huge swaths of areas. Watch the sky and know what you are looking for and you can be forewarned before the weather alerts hit for your specific area. Course at night you have to listen, as close as I am to three RR crossings, those train horns can make you wonder.
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