Ten years ago today, the most prolific tornado outbreak on record swept across the southeastern United States. Part of a larger outbreak that started a few days earlier, the unrelenting barrage of supercells that day produced more than 200 tornadoes from Mississippi to New York. The sheer number of tornadoes was eclipsed only by their fury, reducing entire neighborhoods to rubble and leaving more than 300 people dead—an astronomical toll by modern standards.
Physical reminders of the tornadoes linger in communities struck by the storms on this date in 2011, from still-empty slabs on abandoned plots of land to visible scars that cut through the woods like an underscore on satellite imagery. But it’s the unseen damage of the outbreak that’s still fresh for folks who survived and witnessed the devastation that day.
Storm anxiety is a significant and underrecognized problem in meteorology. While there are plenty of weather enthusiasts who salivate over a tornado watch, not everyone is thrilled by the prospect of huge tornadoes churning away on the horizon.
This type of anxiety manifests itself in lots of ways. Some folks are stunned with terror at the simple mention of thunderstorms in the forecast. Meteorologists in hard-hit areas report getting regular calls from folks seeking reassurance that everything will be okay. Others become stressed when they hear thunder, or if the leaves rustle a certain way. Think of the foreboding wind chimes in the movie Twister and you’ll have a sense of the little reminders that can set off one’s severe weather anxiety.
Extreme weather can be a traumatic experience for those who endure the brutal conditions of a landfalling hurricane or the helpless horror of an approaching tornado. Fear of storms affects the quality of life for those who live in storm-prone regions, and a deep fear of past disasters repeating makes it harder to talk about predicted severe weather outbreaks.
Overwhelming fear and worry about extreme weather is an ever-present undercurrent when we’re talking about an impending severe weather event. The tornado outbreak on April 27, 2011, became the benchmark for all severe weather outbreaks that have occurred in the southeast in the decade since.
It’s not easy for looming severe thunderstorms to crawl out from the shadow of past outbreaks. That historic tornado outbreak and others like it made it easier—and that much harder—to talk about the potential for severe weather going forward.
Folks pay more attention to the weather now. Big disasters elevate tracking the weather from small talk to a survival skill. Weather radar terminology is household vocabulary now. Alabama meteorologist James Spann’s catchphrase to remind viewers to take tornado warnings seriously, “respect the polygon,” is a well-known saying across his state.
But that vigilance can come with a cost. Staying aware of the weather means you’re aware of how common severe thunderstorms are in the southeast during the springtime. You’re more likely to be aware of just about every community devastated by the latest whirlwind, and no matter how unlikely, it’s tough to shake the worry that your town might be next.
This past March, the southeast endured two rare high-risk severe weather days in the span of two weeks. Meteorologists in the region had to spend a significant amount of time reiterating for their audiences that neither outbreak would be a repeat of the historic event a decade earlier. That situation has played out time and again in the years since that outbreak, and this kind of unsettling flashback happens with every disaster, whether it’s hurricanes on the coast, floods on the rivers, or ice storms up north.
Storm anxiety affects each person in a different way. It fades with time for some and it never really goes away for others. There are ways to manage it. I’ve written about my own experience before. I write about the weather and my stomach still does backflips when my phone lights up with warnings. I manage to grit my teeth and get through the storms by putting on headphones and listening to smooth jazz.
It’s not always as easy as turning on music or scrambling to pay for expensive medical visits. There is free and meaningful help out there. The federal government runs a toll-free Disaster Distress Helpline where trained counselors can help callers deal with the grief and anxiety that precedes or follows a bad storm.
We can all do our part to make the lead-up to a bad severe weather outbreak more informative than stress-inducing. People who experience anxiety from storms seek out information from lots of sources, which means they often follow numerous meteorologists and weather enthusiasts on social media.
Meteorologists should always keep these folks in mind when discussing upcoming bad weather, such as avoiding comparing one outbreak to a previous event unless evidence points to a historic severe weather potential. Popular weather hobbyists and storm chasers could stand to be more sensitive to folks in harm’s way, avoiding hyping up a severe weather risk out of excitement or rooting for bad weather to strike a particular area. Tornadoes are more than just swirling winds and colors on the radar. There are real people out there, and a storm stays with them long after the skies clear out.
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April 28, 2021 at 08:50AM
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The Lasting, Unseen Damage Of Historic Tornado Outbreaks - Forbes
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