When I lived in the Midwest it was a rare summer day when you did not have a tornado watch or warning of some type. We averaged about 3 close calls per summer in Michigan.
I moved to Central KY five years ago. The first year I was here, a couple of very large sheet metal warehouses on the south side of the parkway were, on my way to work one day, on the north side, with most of the insulation stuck in the trees.
Other than that, and the one where the car I was in was actually IN a tornado, we’ve mainly only had warnings. The great thing about tornadoes, unlike earthquakes, is that they usually only affect a few people, not an entire area.
I lived through some impressive earthquakes in Seattle and LA. I’ll take tornadoes any day over earthquakes.
I lived mainly on the west coast, we would occasionally get a “test” of the Emergency Broadcast System. I always assumed it was for nuclear war. Now I live in KY and we constantly get storm and tornado warnings. We have yet to take one seriously, though. It may be why we were in a tornado when everyone else stayed at the back of a wal-mart.
You guys get the mid- and late-summer severe weather. Here in Texas, it happens mostly in the spring.