I’m watching local news. They pre-empted Oprah, which didn’t bother me cuz I don’t usually watch her. In fact, I don’t really watch any TV during the day.
So why am I tuning in at 4 pm on a weekday?
Two words: Tornado Watch.
Yep, I’m a weather wuss.
I blame it on California. Since they have no weather.
Okay, they DO technically have weather. But most of the time, it needs those little air quotes:
“WEATHER.”
Because growing up in a region with an annual rainfall total in the single digits did NOT prepare me for life in tornado alley Georgia.
***
Know what I’m really good at? Earthquakes. Seriously, they don’t faze me at all. ‘Course, when you compare earthquakes to tornadoes, you observe some key differences:
1.
Earthquakes come without warning (most of the time). In contrast, tornadoes are usually preceded by two hours of hand-wringing television coverage by news crews named something like Severe Weather Truview Radar Team Titan, along with rain, thunder, lightning, and hail. (And terrified dogs trying to crawl under the sofa)
2.
By the time you notice an earthquake, the worst is usually over. And you can be pretty sure that the aftershocks will be less severe than the initial quake.
Here’s me awakened by an earthquake:
Huh? Which dog is shaking the bed? Ohhh, maybe it’s an earthquake. I wonder if I should get up and go to the doorway? Aw, but the floor’s cold… Oh wait! Nevermind. It’s over. Zzzzzzzz…
But a tornado? The TV coverage is enough to keep me from even going to bed.
And our first spring in Georgia, whenever I was awakened by thunder in the middle of the night, I got out of bed, went down the stairs, sat on the sofa, and watched weather coverage on the TV. My son had just started consistently sleeping through the night, and there I was, inviting more sleep deprivation. I couldn’t help it, y’all. I’ve acknowledged that I have a problem.
3.
You usually know when an earthquake is happening. Although it is possible to experience one without knowing if you’re in a moving vehicle or a tall building.
Unless you’ve got a video camera and witness it while standing on your porch, you never really know if a tornado will hit your house.
Until it does.
And all the “Run whenever you see hail”s and “It sounds like a train”s don’t make it any easier. Because you know what else comes after hail or a sound that could be mistaken for a train? NOTHING. Just more storm.
I made the mistake of telling LC about the train comparison. Now anytime he hears a hard rain, my almost-as-tall-as-me 11-year-old boy begs to go to the basement.
(Okay, a small exaggeration, but not by much.)
(He has to get by me first.)
4.
Most earthquakes hit a wide area, but leave little to no damage.
Now, if you’re not from California, you probably don’t believe me. That’s cuz you guys only hear about the quakes that have their epicenter in a big city and are severe enough at the epicenter to knock down buildings or bridges. But that is so not the norm. I’m not exaggerating when I say that sometimes in Cali, it’s pretty ordinary to feel more than one tremor per day.
Tornadoes, on the other hand, hit a relatively small area within a storm. But the area they hit is usually scraped clean.
***
So, let’s recap:
Earthquakes:
Frequent but random. And usually harmless.
Tornadoes:
Rare but predictable. And always destructive where they hit.
Of course, I’ve spent half of my adult life here in Georgia. And I’ve never been anywhere close to a tornado. During the other half of my adult life (and all of my childhood), I experienced hundreds of earthquakes. Thousands, maybe.
So it makes perfect sense that I’m all casual about earthquakes and terrified of tornadoes, right?
Right?
Okay, like I said before, I’m a weather wuss. I think I need a 12-step program.
16 responses so far ↓
1 Nicole // Feb 18, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Totally agree. Being a California girl myself, they’re no big deal. When we moved to AZ in the middle of Summer and Monsoon season, I was completely fearful of the electrical storms. But now those don’t bother me either. Tornados??? No.
Hunker down, Dorothy.
Nicole’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday: Guess What I’m Getting…
2 katdish // Feb 18, 2009 at 6:57 pm
What’s your problem? Didn’t I just read you have a basement? Try hunkerin down in a walk in closet with a six foot tall man, two whiney kids, a dog and a cat during hurricane ike while your neighbor’s tree branches are smacking into your metal garage door and who knows what else is flying around smacking into your house. Then, when you finally get your power back, realize that entire cities close to you are no longer there. Am I making you feel better yet? I’m just sitting here at the barbershop waiting to get my kids hair cut. I could go on…
3 Kim Ice // Feb 18, 2009 at 7:14 pm
Steph-I agree earthquakes are a part of everyday life out in CA-and we did get used to them. It’s funny though, I like the fact that you get lots (and lots) of warning on tornadoes. I think your chances of surviving a tornado are much better than the huge earthquake we know is gonna hit CA someday-with absolutely no- nada- zilch-warning. And basements-they are the best for riding out tornadoes. In fact, the F5 we had in OK several years ago made that quite clear!
4 Steph at the Red Clay Diaries // Feb 18, 2009 at 7:37 pm
Greaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. Two of my first three comments make me feel like a big baby for even mentioning a fear of big storms.
(Nicole, we can hide in the corner and suck our thumbs together.)
Katdish and Kim,
You’re right. I’m a total weenie. And I AM lucky to have a basement. But my family doesn’t really appreciate it when I insist on hiding down there for an hour on a totally sunny day because the weather man says there MIGHT be a storm in my area. I bow to your storm experience.
5 Kim Ice // Feb 18, 2009 at 8:09 pm
Okay, I admit it. I am sort of fascinated by tornadoes. I mean, last week we had 2 touchdown in OKC and I stood by the door and watched the clouds while the tornado alarms were going off. Most of the time the people who are killed were in mobile homes or out in their cars. Except in the case of the F5-then you need to be underground.
I just re-read this and it makes me sound crazy.
Really, I’m not……
6 Rachel@Grasping... // Feb 18, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Sorry that you have no commenters mourning the horribleness of tornadoes with you.
I don’t mind them either.
I once watched one go down the street while standing behind the glass doors at work.
But I blame my insanity on my mother, whom legends say sat and rocked my three year old self ON THE PORCH while a tornado came down our street and knocked a tree through the roof of the house.
Yet, her fear of roaches rubbed off on me and if I see one I might possibly have a heart attack.
So really, you’re better. At least your fears are logical.
Rachel@Grasping…’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday: Princesses Can Play with Trains Too!!
7 Vanity of Vanities // Feb 18, 2009 at 11:01 pm
Yeah. I pretty much think you’re a baby, too!
What is this “tornado alley” you speak of from GEORGIA?! Are you serious? Have you ever been to Texas, or even worse, Oklahoma?! Psh. I scoff at Georgia and her “tornadoes.”
I will sympathize with you on one point. You’re not scared of earthquakes simply because you grew up with them. I am not scared of tornadoes for the same reason. I have driven alongside wall clouds, trying to beat the funnel to my house. No big. But when I moved to Miami, I was petrified. I mean… the ocean’s coming to eat me!
And earthquakes? Um… the GROUND is not supposed to move! NO THANK YOU!
So, I get it. But, I still think you’re a big baby. Just like you would think the same of me if we went on a trip to Cali.
Vanity of Vanities’s last blog post..Don’t Worry; I’ll Repent FOR You!
8 Charlie // Feb 18, 2009 at 11:36 pm
Steph neglected to mention how she insisted on buying a weather radio right after we moved to Georgia. It would go off in the middle of the night with a National Weather Service warning–for south Georgia hundreds of miles away!
I grew up in New Orleans. We had hurricanes. And mega-thunderstorms (I remember getting 14 inches of rain in 12 hours). But earthquakes didn’t really bother me when I lived in California. For that matter, I don’t worry about tornadoes either.
Stephanie worries enough for all of us.
9 Steph at the Red Clay Diaries // Feb 18, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Charlie:
Shut up.
Thank you.
10 Helen // Feb 18, 2009 at 11:41 pm
I can sympathize. My mom is afraid of weather, too. All weather.
Snow-You will get frostbite.
Rain-You will get pneumonia.
Tornado-You will get carried away.
Wind-You will get blown away.
Sunshine-You will get a sunburn.
Don’t ask me why, but if I remind her that I have an extra sweater in the car, she feels better. Like I am going to wear a sweater to protect myself from sunshine….
Helen’s last blog post..My first posts…
11 Steffj89 // Feb 19, 2009 at 6:31 am
K…on one hand I agree with Kim, cause I too grew up in OK. And I tend to be one of the ones who storm watches…as a matter of fact my dad and I went to the storm chaser class with the weather guy from channel 9 in OKC when I was about 20. pretty cool actually….
Kim what part of OKC are you in? Have to admit my mom was underground for it…and she calls me 200 miles away to tell me to take the boys to safety NOW stephanie…its coming your way.
she is like the other posters mom afraid of all weather….2 snowflakes and its a blizzard…steady rain its going to flood…lightning…tornados are going to kill us all
i watched the F-4 that hit Fort Gibson several years ago just across the river from me while I was 9 mos preg…its just an unfathomable sight…
but i will take my tornados and even a blizzard over another damn ice storm any day….
and over an earthquake or hurricane, or even the thought of a tsunami…
we all have our own “baby” reactions to some weather and i do think it has to do with being so used to something you can ignore it and being up close to something you cannot control and havnt ever seen before…
Steffj89’s last blog post..Update from Hell
12 rachel@justanotherdayinparadise // Feb 19, 2009 at 11:03 am
I hate to do this, but you have to stop. People are going to figure out that you’re not [gulp] a native. : ) Having lived in Oklahoma, it’s really not that bad. You know it’s going to come, so you get ready. My husband once talked on the phone while we hunkered down in the bathroom (kev) and specifically, bathtub (me) with the mattress. That was the worst one I’ve been through. It went right over the top of us and hit the electric company that was less than a mile away. We view tornadoes the same way you view earthquakes: short and sweet, usually not as bad as it could be.
rachel@justanotherdayinparadise’s last blog post..Ah, my glory days. . .
13 Kim Ice // Feb 19, 2009 at 11:12 am
Steff-I live in the historic district in downtown OKC(doesn’t that sound nice-read “old house”)and yes, ice terrifies me. You have absolutely no control (walking or driving)! And in Dec 2007 we were without power for 6 long days-that is the worst! I watched the tornado in Edmond (1986?) and took cover in our hallway with my two boys-they were scared but I was strangely calm. But now with the pinpoint acuracy that the weathermen have, you can pretty much tell if it is going to hit your street or not.
14 Amy Warden // Feb 19, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Call me crazy, but I was the one sitting on my computer in the second floor of our house while the tornado siren was going off…..growing up in Kansas I guess I’m not so worried. Maybe I should be. BTW, the little banter between you & your husband was hilarious!!
Amy Warden’s last blog post..25 Random Things About Me
15 Steffj89 // Feb 20, 2009 at 12:07 am
Kim,
we had friends who live in that area…my folks live out around county line/nw expy area. mom was in her cellar the whole time. she was really upset the Chuck E Cheese got hit cause she likes to take the kids there…
i dont remember one in 86, but that would be during the 2 years we were away from the city.
i live on the Illinois River now and have many more issues with things like ice and floods and crazy storms these days
steff
Steffj89’s last blog post..Craft it Forward
16 thefarmerfiles // Feb 23, 2009 at 7:00 pm
LOL I am not at all afraid of quakes. But I was terrified of Hurricane Isabel in 2003in VA and possible hurricanes in Hawaii.
thefarmerfiles’s last blog post..The Big Reveal
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