Greekchat Severe Storm Watch Spring/Summer 2014

[ZetaPhi708]

From the Weather Channel Twitter feed, they are reporting a lot of severe weather across parts of the country tonight.

[amIblue?]

We're on watch for severe weather between 2 am and 5 am. Yay us!

Be safe, GCers.

[AZTheta]

A friend in Owensboro KY just reported that her house was struck by lightning. Neighbors heard the BOOM! Lot of electrical equipment in the house fried. Told her "call the FD and get them out to check out your house NOW". Too scary.

[MaryPoppins]

Slept through 3AM Tornado Warning but very tired.

[sailboatgirl]

I'm in Oklahoma, and it's the time of year that I sleep in something that I don't mind my neighbors seeing when we have to shelter in the basement AND when I sleep with my go-bag and a flashlight by the bed. Sigh. At least I'm lucky and there is a basement in my building. Last Spring there was a HUGE line of storms stacked up one night and in my 4-apartment building, we had an additional 7 people, 3 dogs and 2 cats since people's friends didn't have basements.

[ZetaPhi708]

Hardcore severe weather moving through AR now and heading towards MS & TN. Stay safe everyone....

[Jill1228]

Dealt with it yesterday in Iowa. I drove home from Chicago yesterday. Everything was good until Iowa City. Had to pull over on the I-80 for 30 minutes

[Kevin]

Originally Posted by sailboatgirl

I'm in Oklahoma, and it's the time of year that I sleep in something that I don't mind my neighbors seeing when we have to shelter in the basement AND when I sleep with my go-bag and a flashlight by the bed. Sigh. At least I'm lucky and there is a basement in my building. Last Spring there was a HUGE line of storms stacked up one night and in my 4-apartment building, we had an additional 7 people, 3 dogs and 2 cats since people's friends didn't have basements.

Growing up, we had a storm shelter. When bad weather came, we had 10-11 folks down there.

Last year, our roof had to be replaced and we flooded twice due to insane amounts of rain and hail. Insurance being slow, we just last week finished replacing our floors (the whole house).

There's definitely a storm shelter in our future. Lots of people go with the kind that go in your garage. Thing is, I keep cars in the garage, gasoline for mowers and tons of stuff that will burn, so that doesn't seem like a viable option. Maybe something in the back yard?

Those pre-cast concrete shelters don't really even cost that much.

[amIblue?]

I am not liking this weather. At. All.

[TriDeltaSallie]

I have to admit I never understand why people who live in tornado country think it is so terrible to live in the north where we get snow and ice. I'd take those every single time over tornadoes on a regular basis. At least with snow and ice we get time to prepare and it rarely threatens your life. Tornadoes are just too random and you can't really ensure your safety.

And I can't imagine living somewhere with tornadoes and not having a basement or storm cellar. It boggles my mind.

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by TriDeltaSallie

I have to admit I never understand why people who live in tornado country think it is so terrible to live in the north where we get snow and ice. I'd take those every single time over tornadoes on a regular basis. At least with snow and ice we get time to prepare and it rarely threatens your life. Tornadoes are just too random and you can't really ensure your safety.

And I can't imagine living somewhere with tornadoes and not having a basement or storm cellar. It boggles my mind.

Here's some interesting info about shelters/basements in the south and why everyone doesn't have one:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/s...adoes-23507691

I agree with you, though - I'd much rather deal with snow and ice than a tornado. Having moved to Houston, I pretty much avoid all of those things. Hurricanes can be a problem, but again, at least we get a warning.

A tornado would simply be terrifying.

[aephi alum]

Stay safe, everyone!

[AnchorAlumna]

Tornadoes are not THAT random. They do tend to follow the same general paths every year. We've had so much growth in the past 20 years in our area that plenty of people are new to the area living in houses built by people who haven't been here that long. Where a tornado might tear up a neighborhood today, 15 years ago when it did the same thing, all it got were some trees and cotton plants.

In 61 years here, I have yet to see a funnel cloud.
*PAUSE*
Damn, that was a big lightening strike.
Ah, they've just sounded the all clear.

Yeah, our weathermen can kick your weathermen's butts.

[Sciencewoman]

My sister and her husband and daughter were herded into the storm shelter at the Joplin, MO Lowe's for a couple hours on Saturday, with about 40 other people. The tornado siren was going off the whole time. Most of the people had lived through the horrible tornado from 2011, and there was one woman who was very panicked. There was another doctor in the shelter with them. She said she was on call 3 years ago when the tornado hit, but couldn't get to the hospital due to debris and downed power lines. Now they have extra staff on site when severe weather is forecast, so they aren't left shorthanded should this happen again.

[TriDeltaSallie]

Originally Posted by AnchorAlumna

Tornadoes are not THAT random.

I mean more in the sense that it takes out one row of houses and the houses across the street don't even lose a piece of siding. Or it devastates one part of town and the other has a few broken limbs.