Can I ask about tornados?

[Lovestonap]

For mumsnetters in the USA, particularly those states which are more prone to tornados, how common are they?

I'm a bit fascinated by them at the moment. Are they common like you'd experience a couple every 'season' or is the area of counties/states so large that actually a tornado near your home town would be a once-in-a-lifetime event? Does everyone have storm shelters built into their houses?

Hope I've made sense. Just being curious about how people and extreme weather co exist.

I live in central Pennsylvania, have done since October. I dont have any direct experience of them but have had a handful of tornado warnings over the last few months. DH has told me that if I hear a strange noise as though a train is coming I need to get to the basement. A few weeks ago one touched down in a near town and it ripped up fences and trees. A few years ago a whole barn was taken apart. Not as extreme as some areas but damage is possible. I'm sorry I dont have much experience but thought I'd share as a newbie to the area and potential weather.

It depends where in the states you live. I lived in Oklahoma for nearly 4 years, which is right in what they call “tornado alley”. Fortunately we lived near downtown OKC, which has apparently never been hit by a tornado, but we frequently had to shelter in the children’s closet when the warning sirens sounded (if there is a tornado approaching your county, the sirens go off throughout the county, so you will hear them even if the tornado is miles away).

The warnings tended happen around April and May, which is storm season there. Sadly not all houses or even public buildings have shelters. We ended up in the children’s closet because, in the absence of a purpose built shelter or basement, the advice was to move to a room furthest away from any exterior walls or windows. We had an”oh shit kit” in there at all times; a rucksack with a torch, bottles of water, snacks and a small battery powered radio.

I did used to find storm season nerve wracking, but most of the locals seemed pretty blasé. “Storm chasing”; actually driving around and trying to catch sight of and film tornadoes is actually a thing!

Thanks for your replies. It sounds really frightening but as if tornadoes don't actually strike all that often (at least not in the same place?)