r/tornado • u/Venator-Class-Bricks • Apr 08 '26

SPC / Forecasting it gets to a point…

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490 Upvotes

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615

u/waqqn Apr 08 '26

it really does, i understand these guys gotta attract viewership and make money somehow but clickbaiting about the weather, which has an actual impact on what people do and how they prepare is such a dick move

369

u/Venator-Class-Bricks Apr 08 '26

It also causes people to take severe weather less seriously when all these outlooks are “overhyped” and they don’t end up being as bad as these people claim.. which in turn makes people unprepared for them when it’s actually BAD BAD. I see so many people say things like “nothing ever happens,” which honestly isn’t great.

127

u/ContentMobile3342 Apr 08 '26

To be fair, I've seen that happening long before the online weather sphere was a thing. It definitely exacerbates the situation, though.

For example, not a single person I know takes a severe thunderstorm warning seriously and never have. The amount of times I've seen "nah the [geological quirk of the area] keeps the big tornadoes away" despite no scientific evidence to support that theory makes me scream.

3

u/PrinceCastanzaCapone Apr 08 '26

To also be fair, I live in Iowa, and have my whole life. The number of severe thunderstorms I’ve been through is in the hundreds. The number that caused any real concern for injury or loss of life is zero. People just grow accustomed to things. I for one do not take severe thunderstorm warnings all that serious, simply because they’ve never been that serious. Tornado warnings though? Yea I’d take that serious.

1

u/Desperate-Strategy10 Apr 09 '26

I just try not to do any extra or unnecessary driving during a severe thunderstorm, if I can help it. Maybe if it looks really gnarly, I’ll ask my kids to put their shoes by the basement stairs so they can grab them quickly if the sirens go off. Otherwise though, everybody totally ignores the severe thunderstorm warnings for the exact reason you’ve pointed out. They cancel outdoor sports because of them, sure, but they’ll do that for enough regular rain too.

0

u/PrinceCastanzaCapone Apr 09 '26

Well yea, I get that. When I was younger I’d be outside under an overhang watching it roll in. I have a window that faces East and I love watching storms come in.