For all of us that struggle with this ...

I don't have any answers on how to conquer this very REAL fear!

One particularly horrifying experience I had was in 1974 ... I was in junior high and we all had to go out into the hall for real (not a drill) ... I was literally frozen with terror so the teacher and two of the football players had to pick up my desk with me in it and bring me out into the hall ... To top it all off, I had already been teased mercilessly by my family the year before as a tornado went through our neighborhood.

I decided to start reading anything and everything I could in an attempt to educate myself about them and that helped a little, but I'm no fool ... That stuff can still kill a person dead no matter how much knowledge they have about it.

Since then, I've been caught out in a tornado or two, and stranded in a snowstorm as well, and believe it or not, I've also slept through a couple of tornadoes!

Also, in an attempt to overcome my fear I became a storm chasing junkie that had their share of close calls and decided it was best to leave all that foolishness to the experts and to get my fill of it by watching their feeds on twitter and other weather related platforms.

When it's hitting closer to home now, this is how I handle it ...

My first coping mechanism (and safety go to) is to stay at home and hunker down if I have enough lead time (knowledge).

My second coping mechanism (and safety go to) for when I'm already out and about and bad weather starts moving in is to be aware of my surroundings and know where some safe places are that I can get to if necessary.

I still enjoy watching storms, but I still find myself anxious and panicky sometimes because I've seen what they can do!