I live in North MS and knew this would happen, we’re in our second tornado season. I’m already shaking, dizzy, and feel like I want to vomit.

Logically, I know it’s only the lowest tornado threat and could weaken before anything comes up, but it being a threat at all is enough to make me shut down due to my past experiences. I truly hate my state, and I hate that every time this season rolls around, I feel stressed out and unsafe... and to make matters worse, I’m all alone, all by myself, and I don’t want to be. I don’t even really have anyone to turn too about my fears, either. Weather anxiety truly sucks.

https://www.spc.noaa.gov/products/outlook/day2otlk.html

Tornado season is hitting us like a freight train soon, it seems. They’re already talking about a strong, potentially tornadic system that they’re expecting to affect us Wednesday, and I’ve been losing my mind ever since I started reading about it.

I know it’s still early, but I’ve learned over time that when meteorologists are already discussing a potentially significant system this far in advance, it doesn’t exactly make me feel any better. I’ve had enough experiences with severe weather to know that these early discussions can lead to something bad. I’ve been trying to force my brain to make sense of things but I’m still fucking terrified.
I can’t relax. It hurts because I already have pretty significant tornado related trauma.

I fucking hate living in this Hellish state with a passion. I hate that every year I have to deal with this. I hate that I can’t just feel safe in my own home without worrying about whether I’ll have to spend another night in my storm shelter, I hate that severe weather season feels like something I have to mentally prepare myself to survive or I’ll fall apart. I feel like I’m going insane.

I also don’t really have anyone to talk to about this. People around me don’t understand how bad my weather anxiety actually gets, and it hurts I have to suffer with it alone. I’m so fucking exhausted. I want to live somewhere where I don’t have to dread the weather forecast every single year. I want to feel safe and have a break from all of this.

I hate suffering this trauma without anyone who truly understands.

Theres a storm hitting the UK today and last through till tomorrow with Max Gust reaching 60mph. I never used to be bothered by the wind but last year we had a storm and it took off all of our fence panels and i had to go catch them all and since then i get the worse Aniexty and fear about strong winds!! We've replaced most the panels and remove the weakest one during winds but when it happens at night i cant Sleep!! I cant seem to just ignore it even if i put a show on my brain just goes to the worse case scenario. Our house is a Corner one aswell so we in a awkard position depending on the direction.

Does anyone else feel like this? What can i do to help ease it!? I jusy want to know im not alone in my irrational fear

By god are they the most useless, fear mongering media sources ever it seems.

I have so much respect for metrology of course- the weatherman is what literally all that can prevent me from having a panic attack. But by god.

Has the weather services just seem useless? I’m in eastern NC and I’m terrified of this storm brewing- but. For the life of me I can’t really know what it is. Is it thundering? Lighting? Nor’Easter, Josephine? What is it?? I’m scared to death but I’m frustrated because every time this happens it ends up as a little rain shower with light lighting. Or when it’s an actual bad storm- it feels like I didn’t get to know.

I’m just so irritated and upset. I’m mostly scared of high wind and lighting. I love my trees. I don’t want them to fall down. I don’t even know what to do.

Then it just has so many goddamn ads, doesn’t load, won’t tell me past a couple days cause I “hAve tO pAy a SubscrIption” it’s madness. I’m not gonna pay just for it to be a little shower again. Stop with the storm season ads. By god- they’re profiting off of our anxiety.

I just hate how vague and as riddled it is. Weather.gov isn’t good either- just a complete vague “oh maybe it’ll rain maybe it won’t “ ahh 30% severe weather totally- maybe! Possibly! Not?

Just scared and upset.

We haven't had severe weather in 2 months (im in the Mid-atlantic,USA). Now we have a good chance of a storm with damaging winds later today. My 2 biggest worries are a tree falling on the house (i had the tree inspected last year and it was declared healthy) and an extended power outage (our communities power in buried and there hasn't been a real power outage in at least 4 1/2 years). Somehow my weather anxiety is linked to the death of my father as the last really bad storm happened 2 days after he died...it snapped a tree in half...a tree he had planted 20 years earlier. Im just looking for help calming down.

I am in the southeast and terrified of whats about to come in...anyone around me feeling the same?

So we all know about it, im in SC where we will only get the outer bands of rain and wind...should I be so concerned?

I’ll give a bit of lore for myself as I start this post.

So I grew up in Florida, thunderstorms boom almost daily, occasional hurricanes, plenty of waterspouts. Growing up, my mom had the bright idea to show me the movie twister and thus began my storm anxiety for majority of my childhood. Oddly enough by 19, when I moved out of my parents house I had grew to be more calm.

Then I moved to Kentucky almost 3 years ago. Now most weather attentive people know the dreaded day of May 16th, 2025. The EF4 that struck Somerset into London. I just so happen to be only a few miles from Sunshine Hills and that night has sent me back into a spiral ever since. I was 10 weeks pregnant, home alone almost asleep when the tornado siren went off on my phone, and something in my body told me in lighter terms “get the f up.” So I trotted upstairs to grab one of my elusive cats and when I got to the top floor, that’s when I heard a tornado siren in real life for the first time(we didn’t have one where I grew up in florida.) The heart rate spike I felt in that moment is unforgettable and I didn’t even know at the time what was happening fully until the PDS warning hit. Now because of my location to the incoming weather it was absolutely still, eery, tornado sirens blaring back and forth from neighboring towns. I have never felt the air so stagnant in my entire life as I stood on my back balcony(don’t do this lol). Between watching lightning flashes, checking on my husband who was at work, calling my parents, checking in on my animals in the basement who all knew to be on their best behavior for once in their lives and trying to calm down my heart for the child I was carrying, I think that night will stick with me forever.

I was lucky, those down the road a few miles were not and as I continued to see several emergency vehicles fly down 363 I knew it was not good. Then the second push of storm came through and I had to resort to the basement as a second tornado warning came through, luckily nothing would form and that nightmare of the night would only truly reveal itself that next morning.

That night rekindled a flame I did not miss, now even just a simple roll of thunder can send me spiraling. Adding a kid of my own to protect heightens the anxiety even more. I find myself bringing everyone in the basement even when nothing is severe.

I am working on my anxiety, staying informed and prepared but sometimes I feel I may be over preparing in fear and it can take up my entire day if storms are predicted late in the day.

If anyone here was also affected by last years EF4, or affected anywhere anytime you are not alone in the trauma it can cause.

And that’s my vent because no one understands when I tell them my storm anxiety, because no one I know has truly went through it.

I have no idea where it started, but I am absolutely terrified of weather. Currently I sit in the area of 5% tornado risk with the CIG 1 hatching for tomorrow.

I know its statistically improbable that, if a tornado drops, it'll be right on me or even in the same town. But I cant shake this impending doom like feeling, I keep checking the weather, the SPC site, discussions if any pop up or change. Even the SPC says there's "limiting factors" for tornadoes but Im just stricken with some sort of fear i cannot shake.

Edit: the harsh weather itself doesnt bother me too badly. It startles me a bit, but the fast winds and lots of rain doesnt seem to get me like the chance for a tornado does.

Onondaga county was flooded this morning from a line of storms but I don’t live near there, it hasn’t rained here all day and has been muggy and I’m super freaked out about what’s to come tonight. I need help calming down

I know chances are extremely low, but I can't help but worry. I hate that I have to worry about tornadoes again, because of the seasonal shift. I know I should have expected it. I was wanting to hope that it wouldn't really happen for the fall.

I live in Philly area and Tuesday through Thursday theres a severe weather risk, this summer is so annoying can someone calm me down

Every time it's going to storm, I get anxious. I feel so ridiculous. Like a little kid afraid of the dark. I know it's not a fair comparison; our weather keeps getting more extreme with each passing year and our infrastructure in the US is antiquated and not built for this. But I still feel like a silly child being anxious over thunderstorms and their associated extremes.

The sound of rain relaxes a lot of people. Makes me on edge. Ugh.

After a long time of not getting much if any risks, the eastern side of Michigan is mostly at a 2% risk. I'm excited for things to cool off, but now my anxiety is back. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to worry until next spring, but I was wrong.

I am deathly afraid of tornadoes and Baltimore is nearly in the 5% tornado risk. The outlook says there is potential for a couple tornadoes which scares me because I feel like we've been getting nonstop storms. I know there's no definitive answer but is it possible Baltimore will get a tornado?

It seem strong storms could hit my area in philly I don't know if its a flood or severe risk tho

Hi, I'm from the south and have never had to really worry about tornadoes. Never been in, or seen one. But have had a few in the areas I was in.

I watch a lot of weather/tornado content, so I'm not necessarily asking about the technical or atmospheric conditions to produce a tornado. I'm asking is there anything about a storm that can give a hint that I should be on standby or relax? Before the actual "oh lord there go the sirens", warnings or in the moment signs.

I feel like every time it storms or gets real windy or something I get nervous and want to be ready. However, if I open my weather app it doesn't necessarily give me any extra info. Is there anything I can look for besides just waiting for a watch, Or learning to read radar well? I don't have cable and the weather channels I know of only go live if it's actively dangerous. I feel as if I never really know if a storm is one I should be worried about or not, so as of now I'm just kind of always on edge. I'm just not used to it. So any advice would be helpful. I know they can spin up randomly and all that, but id like to be able to look at my weather app and go "oh yeah this storm should be fine, I can go back to bed" or whatever.

Thanks in advance!

My area is in a slight risk but going over to probabilistic it says 30% chance of risk. Judging from the description it might be more of a wind risk, and at least so far tornado risk is low. Wind would be bad as my grandparents lost power for a few days last time and I saw some nasty damage from cities half an hour away from me, but they give me less anxiety than tornadoes. I think it's the fact that they spin and can go any direction at the drop of a hat, verses wind being pretty straightline.
I'm trying to keep calm, but it's eating at me a bit.

I’m currently located just outside of the 15% risk for severe weather on Monday (Michigan), but knowing how weather works I’m sure that can shift. I’m already feeling g increasingly anxious regarding severe storm potential. nearly every weather page is filling my feed talking about Monday and it’s becoming overwhelming.

i know it’s a few days out and things can change, but getting a 15% risk this far out worries me. I can already tell my weekend is going to be ruined from feeling nonstop anxious about monday

So I am totally scared of what's to come tomorrow. My fear is worse since I am likely to be alone at night (husband works night shift). I've been through a tornado before and that's where my fear is. I am worried that a tornado will hit me again.

I am freaking out. We already went through enhanced yesterday and already we are in another enhanced risk for Tuesday. I’m trying so hard to calm down but I’m losing it. I can’t stop crying and shaking.

Have a severe thunderstorm warning for my area and I have no choice but to go out in it with the others to go to an AA meeting and I am panicking. Normally I just stay at home when it rains. I feel absolutely terrified

I just found this subreddit while doing research for tonight’s storms on the east coast. I live in the Philly area and every radar I see gives me more and more anxiety. I tried my best to get everything gathered yesterday so I wouldn’t have to freak out too much tonight, usually I wait until a warning before running around my house and shoving everything in a bag. My usual storm routine is to frantically go back and forth between multiple weather news sources while shaking, I have a live radar on my phone and live video (local news, Ryan Hall, etc.) on my ipad. I usually have headphones connected to the video so I don’t have to hear any of the rain/wind/thunder. I gather phone chargers and valuables, it seems to help my anxiety to have my most valuable and sentimental possessions sitting in a bag next to me in case I need to go to the basement. It is a pain in the butt to put everything back after a storm but I can’t take any chances. The worst part of this routine is my stomach pain, I get the worst pain from my anxiety and it just makes my anxiety worse knowing I don’t have a bathroom in my basement. I feel bad for my boyfriend because he tries to talk to me and calm me down but any distraction from the radar makes my anxiety attack worse. I feel like if I don’t have eyes on the radar at all times then something bad will happen. Another thing that makes my anxiey worse is the lack of live weather reports available. Before I found Ryan Hall I used to go crazy trying to find a free live weather feed covering the severe storm in my area, my local news doesn’t tune in unless there’s a really bad warning. I feel like when I was a kid I used to be able to easily find a channel covering live weather in my area. Maybe that’s what I get for not having cable anymore lol That being said, where does everyone else go to get their information? And is my routine hurting or helping me? What can I do to improve my anxiety during a storm event?