[johnspecial]

Originally Posted by linicx

Tornadoes are common in the Midwest. It is a fact of life. Most of the time it is nothing more serious than wind, rain, broken tree branches and sometime small hail. Tornado generally moves SW to NE. And they usually follow a path of least resistance... which means highways and no trees to disrupt it. Tulsa is a green tree city.

Tulsa is not the target city that OKC and Jopin, MO are. The last tornado of any size I remember played on auto row along I-44. They had great car sales that year! I like the area around Utica Square. It is near hospitals and doctors with some shopping nearby. It is a very nice family neighborhood of older, well-maintained homes.

We are not the midwest.. Tornadoes are more common in the south central and south east.

[teakboat]

With all due respect, US Census regions are about as arbitrary as US poverty level guesstimates. Cooked up by gov't bureaucrats.

One region of Oklahoma fades into another as you travel through the state. Is Miami, OK, which is near Joplin, MO, really less "midwestern" than Joplin? It has more in common with Joplin than it does with Texarkana and Idabel.

I'll agree that OK might be called "Southern", but Tulsa seems generally similar to KC and Indianapolis. What really is the difference.

[jfrebel]

Something I just noticed. That map has west virginia as part of the south. but they were union during the civil war. thats why they broke off from the rest of Virginia.

so wouldn't that make then northern?

On the issues of tornadoes hitting the midwest, well tornado alley is partly in the midwest, as well as the south. So linicx wasn't off base.

[Linda_d]

Originally Posted by Jaimie567

Hi everyone,
My husband just got a job in Tulsa and we are moving there in 2 months I have 2 small children and I'm absolutely terrified of tornados. Where is the safest, nicest area with great schools? Is it best to be around hills?
We were looking at Jenks but I hear there are some other great areas.

Thank you for the help
Jaimie

Be sure your house/apartment has a basement or storm cellar. Get some kind of weather radio and learn what to do when the tornado warnings sound. When I lived in NB, they used sirens, and they might still do that in small towns, but I don't know what they do in cities/suburbs today.

[Rubi3]

Originally Posted by nightbird47

Was that 2007? A friend of mine would slip out of the bedroom where they had a fireplace and the household was staying to tell friends they were okay, then hurry back to the warmer room. It was that which convienced me to get gas heat. I could heat the living room and boil something on the stove to heat the kitchen.

I'm thinking of finding something to put on the pipes which run up to the sink as twice this winter the cold water froze up enough I had to resort to the hair dryer. That's what would really worry me with prolonged feezing weather. I couldn't get out the front door since the snow banked up against it and the screen door wouldn't open. Now with the new storm door, its set just a little high with a board to seal the bottom so it doesn't snow me in.

I keep looking at shelter prices wishing I could actually afford one. Just room for me and the pets is fine.

I didn't remember the year, but I see Bass&Catfish did. The frozen food in my freezer was put on the deck and fared quite well.

One of my granddaughters and her husband install storm shelters, but I have no idea what they cost. I know they stay booked up this time of year. She says right after a storm, people want one installed the next day.

I see this thread has been invaded by the South. LOL

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by Bass&Catfish2008

Yes.

Broken limbs and downed power lines everywhere.

There was an old, huge tree which grew over my house and the one next to it along with one behind the house next to me. One has a stump. Neighbors across the streets lost all their big trees. I'm just glad that the trees to the side survived.

What surprised me was in O9 when that blizzard hit on Christmas Eve that the neighbors were just as surprised. We had icicles from roof to ground and the trees looked like Ice sculptures. I'm surprised only a few limbs broke. But I couldn't got down the street for a week since they plowed all the snow off the highway onto our street. I just stood at the window watching people get their cars stuck.

I was really really glad I had the kind of heat I had since with all that ice and open powerlines that was a worry.

[nightbird47]

Originally Posted by Linda_d

Be sure your house/apartment has a basement or storm cellar. Get some kind of weather radio and learn what to do when the tornado warnings sound. When I lived in NB, they used sirens, and they might still do that in small towns, but I don't know what they do in cities/suburbs today.

Where I live they have sirens. They must have upgraded them over the summer since when they tested them it was a clear but windy day, and the tv was on but they were still very very loud. The last time they went off you could hardly hear them. I can hear the nearby and more distant one.

[johnspecial]

Originally Posted by teakboat

With all due respect, US Census regions are about as arbitrary as US poverty level guesstimates. Cooked up by gov't bureaucrats.

One region of Oklahoma fades into another as you travel through the state. Is Miami, OK, which is near Joplin, MO, really less "midwestern" than Joplin? It has more in common with Joplin than it does with Texarkana and Idabel.

I'll agree that OK might be called "Southern", but Tulsa seems generally similar to KC and Indianapolis. What really is the difference.

With all due respect, you are in the minority on this one. Oklahoma is a southern state. Wisconsin and Ohio are midwestern states. Miami and even towns in the NE quadrant have more in common with north Arkansas towns than they do KC which is almost 300 miles away. Culturally, historically, politically and even weather wise, Oklahoma is southern.

[teakboat]

OK is less Southern than Alabama or Louisiana. It is less midwestern than Ohio or Michigan. It defies simple labels.

I have spent time in true southern areas, and I have spent a lot of time off the main roads in Oklahoma. Oklahoma is definitely not the old south. It is just Oklahoma, somewhat unique. I like Oklahoma better actually.

And I own land in the Arkansas Ozarks, my family comes from there. I can attest to the statement that the Okies are friendlier than some of those surly and resentful Arkansas'ns...