[JimBob (OP)]

Hey there people. How are you?

Here, we are getting ready for the passage of another super cell thunderstorm. Every spring these fire up and rip across the US, mostly from the Rocky Mountains eastward. Only very rarely west of the Rockies.

The thunderstorms produce lightning, hail and many damaging tornados. People are killed at an all to regular interval.

Here is a picture of the weather radar for our area a less than 5 minutes ago. 





The arrow is showing the direction of movement due east, towards Austin, Texas.

I am accustomed to these things and take all the precautions I can, usually confined to turning off and unplugging this computer and the large screen TV, either of which could be fried by lightening.   

What would you do if you lived in an area like I do??

[Chemistry4me]

The thunderstorms produce lightning, hail and many damaging tornados. People are killed at an all to regular interval.

That is too bad.

FOG

[dentstudent]

Move.

[Don_1]

Considering the phenomenal power of nature you are up against, I wonder if there is much that can be done!

Perhaps I'd turn religious and start praying!!! Or as DS suggested, move.

[JnA]

If TV has taught me anything it is that in a tornado you wait until your house lands on a witch.

[Karsten]

I hear dome-shaped buildings, especially when made from concrete, are very tornado resistant.

http://www.essortment.com/articles/monolithic-wind-tornado_168.htm
http://static.monolithic.com/domesinnews/2009/niangua/index.html

Get battery back-up and emergency water and food supplies and wait it out. Oh yes, better don't build where floods are an issue.

[RD]

http://www.ohsep.louisiana.gov/factsheets/WHATTODOINATORNADO.htm

A tornado is the one occasion when those in mobile homes can be described as "upwardly mobile".

[JimBob (OP)]

OK, I am not in a mobile home - I was wondering more about he psychological impact that some people might have. It has been my philosophy that there is nothing I can do about it i am not going to worry about any of this. But others become super-paranoid, freak out and are total wrecks mentally because of this. I once had a pit bull dog that would freak out at any thunder and seek shelter under the couch or bed. I know people like this.

What is your reaction to natural occurrences such as this? 

[Variola]

What is your reaction to natural occurrences such as this?

Love every minute of it!! I am usually in awe when a big storm hits, I like being reminded just how human and feeble I am in comparison to nature, its good to feel humble.
If I lived in a storm-prone area I would naturally ensure my home was built to withstand storms, as best it could be. I may possibly be missing something obvious here, but I have never understood why in places like tornado valley, so many houses are made of just wood. Why not all brick?? You may lose a roof but it stands a better chance surely? Anyhow I digress....
The way I see it is that I could die tomorrow, in fact if I could die before finishing this message, so why worry about something you cannot control? Alll you can do is prepare as best one can for a storm, and take all sensible precautions. After alll thats what we do every time we get in a car, we put seatbelts on, lights on etc yet we have a greater chance of dying in a RTA that in a storm.

[paul.fr]

It would seem that you had a superbolt of lightning on Monday, did you hear it?

A typical stroke of lightning stretches as long as eight miles, and forms when a negatively charged region in a storm cloud begins to send out a stepped leader. This leader is met by another leader rising from the earth, allowing the cloud to discharge to the ground, reducing the negative electrical charge. That's typically how it works…

…but not always.

And when it doesn't work that way, things get interesting.

Occasionally, a severe storm will create a large thunderhead which develops a very strong positive charge in its upper reaches. When this charge becomes strong enough, it can produce what's called a positive bolt of lightning. Positive lightning develops in the same way as typical lightning bolts, but the positive bolt draws electrons upward from the ground. These lightning bolts tend to be much, much stronger than regular lightning, and may carry as much as a hundred times the energy of a normal flash of lightning.

These "superbolts" of lightning, thankfully, are very rare. Only about five superbolts occur for every ten million normal lightning strokes; typically, they're found only in severe storms during the winter, and are more common in and near Japan than anywhere else in the world.

Superbolts can reach way beyond the normal eight to ten miles of a typical lightning stroke. The longest superbolt on record reached from Waco, Texas to Dallas, after having traveled about a hundred and ten miles.

http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf001/sf001p10.htm

http://www.stormblogging.com/?p=47