[swake]

Originally Posted by orca17

I'm probably not a good one to ask. I left Oklahoma in 1998, one of the reasons being that I got tired of wondering if my house would still be standing every time that the sky got dark. At one house where I lived in Moore, I literally had a tornado siren in my back yard.

I lived in Norman, Moore, Del City and Midwest City during the 20-plus years that I lived in the state. Two of the places where I formerly lived have been wiped off the face of the earth by tornadoes since my departure. I don't miss it whatsoever. I now live in the desert southwest.

You are worried about the wrong things. Heat in the southwest is worse than Tornados in Oklahoma. By Far. Tucson and Tulsa are similar sized cities. In 2016 alone Tucson had 61 heat related deaths. Or more than twice as many tornado deaths as Tulsa has had in 70 years.

https://news.azpm.org/s/59980-heat-c...first-thought/

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by swake

Tulsa County is a pretty large and populated place. 700k people in the county. For example, there have been 95 tornados in the county in the last 70 years. A little over 1 per year. But most tornados are small and most by far cause no deaths and no damage.

In the last 70 years only 30 people have been killed in Tulsa County by a tornado. And even that is skewed. With modern weather reporting only one person has been killed in the last quarter century. As a comparison, Coronavirus, which has not been that bad in Tulsa, has killed 61 people in the last three months, or more than twice as many as tornados have in the last 70 years.

https://www.weather.gov/oun/tornadodata-county-ok-tulsa

It's funny. All the modern weather reporting has saved lives but it has hyped up the fear of tornadoes in a big way.

We had tornadoes come through in GA, AL, TX not yet in OK.

This is an interesting observation. Traditionally the "dry line" (which is where tornadoes much of the time get their energy to form) sat in western Oklahoma and the border of the Texas panhandle. They say in the last several years the "dry line" has moved eastward for significant periods of time. As a result we are seeing more frequent tornadoes in the SE and mid southern states.

[Threestep2]

No tornadoes but storm damage last night

[stablegenius]

Originally Posted by KayneMo

I have lived near downtown OKC for 4 years and have only had to nearly take shelter once, that was earlier this year.

I was getting a quote on a shelter and the owner of the company said in twenty years he’s only ever had to get into his shelter once. This was in drumright

[Talisman09]

I think I would almost trade for a tornado if I could get rid of the @#$%^! chiggers in Oklahoma...

[StillwaterTownie]

Originally Posted by stablegenius

I was getting a quote on a shelter and the owner of the company said in twenty years he’s only ever had to get into his shelter once. This was in drumright

It's been nearly 16 years for me and have yet to get in my safe room once over a tornado. If I ever hear that dreaded roar from a storm, I won't hesitate one bit to get in it.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by StillwaterTownie

It's been nearly 16 years for me and have yet to get in my safe room once over a tornado. If I ever hear that dreaded roar from a storm, I won't hesitate one bit to get in it.

That's because you bought a safe room. Tornadoes don't want to waste their time with you.

[Bert_from_back_East]

Originally Posted by swake

Tulsa County is a pretty large and populated place. 700k people in the county. For example, there have been 95 tornados in the county in the last 70 years. A little over 1 per year. But most tornados are small and most by far cause no deaths and no damage.

In the last 70 years only 30 people have been killed in Tulsa County by a tornado. And even that is skewed. With modern weather reporting only one person has been killed in the last quarter century. As a comparison, Coronavirus, which has not been that bad in Tulsa, has killed 61 people in the last three months, or more than twice as many as tornados have in the last 70 years.

https://www.weather.gov/oun/tornadodata-county-ok-tulsa

If you have lived most of your life in a state that seldom records tornado-related fatalities, such as Arizona, Idaho or Maine, for example, then even 30 recorded tornado-related fatalities over the span of 70 years in a geographically small area, such as Tulsa County, for example, is still very shocking. For the record, there are entire U.S. states that have not recorded as many as 30 tornado-related fatalities since statehood was first granted, never mind counties. In other words, perspective is paramount as it relates to this issue.

Also, I find it odd that most homes in Oklahoma, which is squarely located in "Tornado Alley," do not feature basements. I imagine that the construction and installation of a panic or safe room after the purchase of your home is expensive and not something that every home-buyer can afford to do, which is unfortunate.

[Threestep2]

Originally Posted by Bert_from_back_East

If you have lived most of your life in a state that seldom records tornado-related fatalities, such as Arizona, Idaho or Maine, for example, then even 30 recorded tornado-related fatalities over the span of 70 years in a geographically small area, such as Tulsa County, for example, is still very shocking. For the record, there are entire U.S. states that have not recorded as many as 30 tornado-related fatalities since statehood was first granted, never mind counties. In other words, perspective is paramount as it relates to this issue.

Just because someone has not lived in a geographic region weather there is very shocking?

Originally Posted by Bert_from_back_East

Also, I find it odd that most homes in Oklahoma, which is squarely located in "Tornado Alley," do not feature basements. I imagine that the construction and installation of a panic or safe room after the purchase of your home is expensive and not something that every home-buyer can afford to do, which is unfortunate.

This is an evergreen topic. What do you base this statement on?


OP had issues with quite a few US states and ended up in NE. Best of luck to her.

[eddie gein]

Originally Posted by Bert_from_back_East

If you have lived most of your life in a state that seldom records tornado-related fatalities, such as Arizona, Idaho or Maine, for example, then even 30 recorded tornado-related fatalities over the span of 70 years in a geographically small area, such as Tulsa County, for example, is still very shocking. For the record, there are entire U.S. states that have not recorded as many as 30 tornado-related fatalities since statehood was first granted, never mind counties. In other words, perspective is paramount as it relates to this issue.

Also, I find it odd that most homes in Oklahoma, which is squarely located in "Tornado Alley," do not feature basements. I imagine that the construction and installation of a panic or safe room after the purchase of your home is expensive and not something that every home-buyer can afford to do, which is unfortunate.

We don't have basements because

A) frostline is not low enough that a foundation requires it. A basement requires digging lower and elevating the cost of construction

B) In many places the water table is too high and this causes all kinds of problems.

C) Much of the state has clay soil which expands and contracts and will crack a basement wall every time and is way to expensive to fix.

The cost of safe rooms is pretty high but is pretty much standard in higher priced homes. They can dig you a modular cellar for pretty cheap this days if you want one of those.

Tornado risk is real but it's certainly not as big a risk as getting in your car and driving around.