tornadoes?? (Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco: buying a house, buying, tornado)

[luvmykids08_10]

how bad are the tornadoes? Is it something you just get used to? I really do think my family and friends are trying to scare me right now. Thats why i wish i didnt tell anybody about this relocation because of things like this.

[Acntx]

Originally Posted by luvmykids08_10

how bad are the tornadoes? Is it something you just get used to? I really do think my family and friends are trying to scare me right now. Thats why i wish i didnt tell anybody about this relocation because of things like this.

Dallas-Fort Worth is located at the southern end of "Tornado Alley," but instances of truly violent tornadic activity are rare. The city I currently live in was hit by an F4 tornado in April 1994, but the number of injuries and deaths was very low due to a lot of advanced warning. The majority of confirmed tornadoes in our area are weak and produce only minor or scattered damage.

We do get our fair share of severe thunderstorms during the spring and early summer months. While the risk of tornadoes shouldn't be discounted, by taking simple precautions such as monitoring media outlets when storms are in the area and purchasing a weather radio that could alert you to severe weather occurring late at night or if power is lost, you'll be fine. Speaking from personal experience, a weather radio can come in very handy during periods of bad weather.

It shouldn't deter you from moving here.

[BigDGeek]

I was born and raised in Dallas and have spent most of my life here. I've never even seen a tornado.

[kazyn]

I've seen 6 tornados in my lifetime and none were up here, all south of here (around Waco, where I grew up) or in Oklahoma where I stayed a few early summers.

I actually kind of like watching them, in all their destructive and uncontrollable rage, but of course I'd never want to see it rip through a town. We used to live "in the country" with a bunch of farm land around us, and we sat on the porch and watched 2 of those 6 pass by us. It's incredible, really. I'm a storm lover kind of guy, though. I go out and sit on the patio every time we get a good loud thunderstorm.

[TurtleCreek80]

Originally Posted by BigDGeek

I was born and raised in Dallas and have spent most of my life here. I've never even seen a tornado.

THIS. There have been two tornados in the city of Dallas since the 1950's. One was last year. It did some damage in a warehouse district, but no fatalities. They are more common to the north & west of here.

Also keep in mind tornado damage is very limited. It's possible for one side of a street to be leveled and the other side to be just fine. It's not like a hurricane where the damage is widespread for miles & miles.

[PrincessKick]

Hail is a much bigger threat here IMO. Yay for garages.

[psychomantis]

How bad does the hail get in Dallas? Should I be worried about my car parking in an uncovered lot at an apt complex?

[kazyn]

Originally Posted by psychomantis

How bad does the hail get in Dallas? Should I be worried about my car parking in an uncovered lot at an apt complex?

It's not like it hails daily, but it did get somewhat bad a few weeks back (maybe a few months now). My truck didn't get hit at all, some peoples cars were totaled.

Honestly, if it were that bad, do you think the gazillion people we have living here would still be here?

[momof2dfw]

45 years in Dallas and I have never seen a tornado nor have I had any property damage because of one.

As others said, hail is more of a threat as is high winds. We get more high winds and straight line winds than anything. Not enough to make me all worried about it though.

[PrincessKick]

Originally Posted by kazyn

It's not like it hails daily, but it did get somewhat bad a few weeks back (maybe a few months now). My truck didn't get hit at all, some peoples cars were totaled.

Honestly, if it were that bad, do you think the gazillion people we have living here would still be here?

I lived in apt complex for about 6 months a few years back. We had a one car garage. We had four hail storms during that time. The one vehicle that we did not have in a garage received damage during the last of the four. Mainly small pits but they were visible. Our house had two broken windows and I lost some plants from this last storm. If you end up buying a house here, the roof is something to be sure to get checked out.