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I watched some scarry videos on youtube showing the tornado of April 2011 in downtown Raleigh. Bad idea! It scared me SO much!
I am SO SO scared of bad weather, I try to take it easy but can't help it, it scares me tooooo much!
What can you tell me guys about bad lightning/storms, tornados in Raleigh (does it happen often?)? I will be living 5 mins walking distance from east-downtown/in the historic part of town.
Tornadoes are rare in the Triangle area, but thunderstorms are pretty common in the spring and summer. We get a fair number of tornado warnings, but it's pretty unusual for a tornado to actually touch down in the urban parts of the region. I've lived in the Triangle since 1995, and April 2011 was the first time a tornado touched down in Raleigh (or Durham) in the time I've lived here. As far as I know, the last tornado in the Triangle prior to April 2011 was in 1989.
In the spring, we tend to get storms as cold fronts move through. These are generally wide spread and very predictable. They will show up in the forecast days ahead of time. The fronts often cause a lot of damage in the midwest, but are usually much weaker by they time they reach us.
In summer months, we get pop up thunderstorms. Humidity builds through the day, and combined with unstable air causes thunderstorms. These storms tend to be scattered. Forecasts can predict the chance of pop ups on a given day, but they can't predict exact locations. The "normal" summer pattern is to have hot/humid days, with storms developing in the early evening through dinner/bedtime.
We get lots of thunderstorms (having one now in fact), but tornadoes aren't that common. The 2011 tornado is the only one I'm aware of that hit downtown. 1989 , I believe, brought tornadoes on Glenwood Avenue and Areas near theree. We sometimes feel the affects of hurricanes, Fran caused a lot of damage here in 96. I doubt that your chances of a storm are much greater here than anywhere else, though!
The difference to me coming from the midwest is: when we had tornado warnings, we went to the BASEMENT! Here, we sit and hope we don't get hit because there is not a basement and If it lifts my house, me standing with a family of 5 in tub or closet isn't going to save us! 9No, I am not a weather expert, so unsure how many people survive that go through a tornado w/o a basement, but wish I could build a bomb shelter!
I don't worry about them much. I think there have been more tornados in NJ where I grew up over the past 8 years than there have been here in the Triangle in that time.
On the list of things to worry about when deciding to move here I would rank it VERY LOW.
The tornado breakout in 2011 was an incredibly rare event for NC. NCSU has a brilliant write-up available if you want to read about why the event happened and why it was so historic. It puts things in perspective and you might learn a few things. What should be clear after reading this page is:
You do not have to worry about events of this magnitude happening again any time soon.
Though very severe, the event was forecasted almost perfectly days in advance.
As said in the write-up: "All of the fatalities in central North Carolina occurred in mobile homes or in a vehicle. There were no fatalities in permanent homes or structures despite the significant damage produced by the storm."
The mountains to our west tend to take the steam out of severe weather systems moving east. The ones you have to watch out for are the lows coming up out of the Gulf, because they don't have to cross the mountains to get to us, and they have plenty of tropical moisture to work with. But as mentioned, that scenario is not common.
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It scared me SO much! 
