@bookish1 I don’t know about 10—15 minutes warning. The sirens go off all the time, and we just ignore them (staying close to a basement, though—or go storm chasing.) If a tornado actually DID hit it we’d probably have less than a minute to get undercover. We wouldn’t go, unless it was actually tearing up the house.
One time my husband was out of town, about 100 miles away. Something wicked this way came…the clouds, SERIOUS SLCs, the wind, SERIOUS screaming wind. It was scary, scary shit, dark outside at 7:00 in the evening. Then it got really, really still. All kinds of hell was breaking loose…then it suddenly quit. No birds, no movement, not a breath of air. That was freaky. I ran to the top of the cellar stairs,paused, and then sat down on the top stair, ready to move (it’s dirt cellar, funky and dark and spidery, snakes even, maybe.). It was raining, hailing, thundering, the wind was beating on the house….I seriously thought the windows were going to blow it. I called my husband. I was scared and I know he could hear the tremor in my voice. But he just chuckled and got all reassuring and condescending, telling me there was nothing on the weather channel, so everything was fine. Right about then, just like a Hitchcock movie, the power went out . Again he chuckled told me everything was just fine because there was nothing on the weather channel. He talked like I was a silly little girl, afraid of her own shadow.I was so PISSED I hung up on him. I have lived here ALL OF MY LIFE AND I’VE ONLY BEEN SCARED ONE OTHER TIME. I know what the hell trouble is when I feel it, hear it, see it. I never did go into the cellar (I would have leaped the stairs, rather than running down them, though) but the house was rocking and it was dark. About 10 minutes later, after everything was calm, my husband called back (I almost didn’t answer the phone) and he said, “Val! They’re talking about multiple tornadoes hitting Winfield!!!”
I screamed “NO SHIT???!!!!” and hung up on him again.
He calls back, “Are you OK??”
I hung up on him again.
Then the sirens went off.
I was really gratified when, about 6 months later, we were talking with someone and the guy said something like, “Remember when that funky storm came through?” I said, “Yeah, that was freaky-scary.” He said, “YES it was!” I glared at my husband who just studied his shoes.
So, that’s an example of the kind of warnings we get. One time a massive hail storm hit. About 10 minutes after it passed hail warnings came on TV. sigh.
I think everyone relies on their own senses, more than any weather report. You can FEEL it all over your body, hours before it hits.
@flutherother How is there no escaping a hurricane when you have warnings days in advance?
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