The 13th Apostol: You know you grew up in tornado alley if...

You know you grew up in tornado alley if...

*The first thing you do if you hear tornado sirens during the day is check your
watch to see if it's noon.
*You don't get worried unless the sky looks "green".
*You use the word "tornado" as a verb.
*You chuckle at all the facebook groups called "I survived the ___ tornado."
*You might go indoors when there's a tornado, but you won't "seek shelter" for
anything less than an F3.
*You know what Doppler radar, Hook echo, wall cloud, and rain-wrapped all
mean.
*You've never exactly memorized the tornado precautions, but you've heard
them enough times that you know them by heart anyway.
*Watching the weather is entertaining. And red on the Doppler radar is exciting.
*The phrase "Tornado on the ground, take your immediate tornado precautions"
sends exciting shivers up your spine.
*You've seen photos/videos of tornados and said, "Wow, that's a nice one!"
*You can feel/smell tornado weather brewing a few hours before the storm
actually begins.
*There's an odd feeling as though you've misplaced something if you make it all
the way to June without a tornado warning near you.
*You think people that live in earthquake and/or hurricane prone areas are
crazy.
*You know what people are talking about when they mention the "May 3rd"
tornado.
*You watch the movie "Twister" just so you can point out all the inaccuracies in
it.
*You know your weathermen by their first names. i.e. Gary.
*When you hear the tornado sirens go off, you go outside to watch the storm
and take pictures.

* Most of the tornado video footage comes from everyday people with
camcorders instead of from actual news/weathermen.
*You're sure there's a giant tornado magnet hidden somewhere in Moore. And
that there are smaller ones distributed throughout trailer parks.
*You know that the four seasons are actually: summer, late summer, winter (if
you're lucky), and tornado.
*You don't consider it windy until the windspeed is faster than 30mph.
*You are highly entertained by people from outside tornado alley when there is
a tornado watch. (Especially if you're the one who's visiting the other state.)
*Your school has tornado drills. And you assumed that schools in every other
state had them as well.
*There's enough random stuff in your tornado shelter that you could live there
for a year.
*You stand under your carport or open your front door to watch hail and/or
thunderstorms.

* You know the difference between a basement, a cellar, and a storm shelter.
*The weather is a completely acceptable subject for conversation, at any time,
for any occasion.
*Your local mall has "tornado shelter" signs posted.
*It doesn't bother you the next day to find out that your area was under a
tornado watch the night before and you had no idea. Unless, of course, it
caused you to miss some interesting cloud formations.
*Getting to "play" in the basement/cellar/storm shelter excites you or numbers
among your favorite childhood memories.
*You keep matches, candles, and candleholders in more than one place in your
house.
*Your town will never get hit by a tornado because you're between two rivers or
because an old Indian legend says so.
*You complain about severe weather reports that interrupt the TV show you're
watching.
*You can get together all your most important possessions in 2 minutes flat.
*When tornado sirens woke you up in the middle of the night...you rolled over
and went back to sleep.
*You've ever tried to reassure someone by saying that "if anything forms it will
only be a little tornado"...and couldn't understand why this didn't calm them
down any.
*It's normal for your area to be under a tornado watch for multiple days in a
row.
*You laughed at everything in this list, but you also respect a tornado's power.
And you know that after it's over, clean-up and re-building has to begin.