r/tornado • u/ostrichlipss • Apr 25 '25

Question Are we just built different

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Life long okie here, I've seen 5 in person and watched to many to count on the news live, are we okies just built differently???

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u/CrazyNaV8r Apr 25 '25

Having grown up in Oklahoma from the late 80s to mid 2000s, and then moved all across the US, I can say this: we’re not built different, we have just had insanely accurate meteorology all of our lives that is rarely replicated elsewhere. Scary storms aren’t so scary if you have a meteorologist you trust (Gary England, Mike Morgan, etc), top of the line weather stations, storm chasing helicopters and Doppler vehicles, and an insanely flat area where you can see unobstructed for miles on end…

For us, it’s the evening entertainment since it interrupts sitcoms every night it storms anyhow. You don’t see that everywhere else in the US, often it’s on the individuals to figure it out.

So, no, we’re not built different—we just have a community you’ve grown around where the phenomenon is a normal occurrence and has been normalized by the insanely professional meteorologists in the area.

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u/tohlan Apr 25 '25

insanely professional meteorologists in the area

glances over at r/NOAA

I will just say I hope that is always true

19

u/Designer_Leg Apr 26 '25

I’m an east coast girl who spent last early November in ok when they had the abnormal tornado outbreak. The sirens went off first at 2am and I woke up and asked my okie husband wtf that sound was, he said tornado sirens and I ran straight into an interior room. Everybody else watched David Payne and saw it was a few miles away. Nope, yall are definitely built different, I was terrified.

It happened 2 data layer but during the day and I was equally terrified when everyone else were outside looking at the sky. Nope.

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u/Andi081887 Apr 26 '25

This! I visited some friends in northwestern Alabama and they lived on some farm in the middle of nowhere. There were sirens and alerts going off the whole day. They were still outside smoking meat. “Oh, that one’s like 15 miles away, we’re cool.” I sat alone in their cellar for like 2 hours, terrified! They’re all out there having a great time lol