Seen a lot and been through a lot.
If you want to experience one safely, go to Universal Studios in Orlando, there is a "Twister" ride/show there that is really close to the real thing. Doesn't quite have the smell or the right shade of green, but when the sirens get really loud and the rumble starts, your heart does pound. Made me kind of nervous, standing there watching it coming towards me, when my whole life I've been taught to cover when it gets that close. It is as close a feeling as you will get without being in the real thing. I don't know if it will affect someone who has never been in one the same way as it does those of us that deal with it a lot. A lot of people were screaming, so maybe it does, or maybe they are the type to scream at everything, who knows? It was really neat, though.
I was raised in Arkansas, and saw plenty. We lived in Tornado Alley, and they always followed the same path through Central Arkansas. When we moved to Oklahoma, it seems like we don't get as many, but the ones that do hit, might be stronger. I haven't looked up statistics, but that is just how it seems to me.
Chickabator, I am really sorry about your friend, Becky. When my DS was 3 weeks old, the big F-5 hit here in Oklahoma. A baby the same age as he was got sucked out of his mother's arms and was never seen again.
I cannot imagine having to deal with that. I had nightmares for a long time about that, and I always think of that baby when there is a storm, or when DS hits a milestone. It just really affected me. In that same storm a little 18 month old girl was found covered in mud sitting under a tree. She was ok. It's odd how things like that happen.
I still love the storms, and I wait until the last minute to go inside. We have never had a direct hit, but they have gone over and dropped debris (rocks, hail, other people's stuff) or done the sucking the walls and windows in and out while vibrating the whole house. That is scary, especially in the middle of the night, and we have satellite, so when you turn on the TV, there's nothing to tell you what is going on. When we move, we've got to get a storm radio. There's no sirens out there.
My mom wants to go on a storm chaser tour. I might send us on one, sometime. It would be exciting, and definitely an adrenaline rush. I doubt dad and DH would let us, though.
We hide when they get close, but we don't go crazy. Either you live through it, or you don't. You can't outrun them and we don't have basements here. We go in the bathroom and hope for the best. There's not a whole lot else to do.
Hope everybody stays safe this storm season.
Looks like it's come early.
Shelly
