Enid, Oklahoma - 1966
Lilapsophibia [ li-lap-suh-foh-bee-uh ] Phonetic (Standard) noun, Psychiatry. An irrational or disproportionate fear of tornadoes or hurricanes, or of the possibility that a less severe storm will develop into such catastrophic weather: generally considered a form of astraphobia. Compare astraphobia.
Imagine suffering from both of these so severely, it becomes crippling. Anytime hints of clouds come by you revert to panic. Because you are so afraid of a tornado, that any storm might potentially be one.
"Oh fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!"
This is the reality I lived with as a child. Her's the odd part - there is no one particular event I can recall where I was traumatized by weather. I can recall going to our basement a few times and being upset with sirens blaring (we lived down the street from one) and I did develop a minor fascination with sirens but maybe more for the fear they caused. The noise they generated still bothers me to this day.
The face of fear in my childhood.
In context, I am thankful that I wasn't afraid I wasn't going to have enough to eat or if I was going to be beaten when I came home.
Despite never being hit by a tornado, there were a couple of events I can recall clearly.
The first happened in 1982. My Dad and I used to make silly recordings on a tape recorder and then talk about them. Sometimes my father would tell stories or together, we'd make our own radio show. During the recording of one show, he talked about waking up one morning to a massive windstorm going on. He thought a tornado was hitting the house and was extremely freaked out by it. My Dad had a way with words and it was certainly a terrifying event to him. As it turns out, my mother and I were in Utah that day for a church trip.
Some years later, I wondered if there was some significant event that happened that day. I can remember the cassette had June 1982 on it so I googled "weather kansas city june 1982". Imagine my surprise when I got a hit.
So, as it turns out, my father survived and described a fairly famous event that occurred.
Next, a group of various events surrounding the unfortunate event of the death of my cousin Matthew in 1984. While there was no specific event that occurred, the month of February 1984 was quite active regarding the weather. I can recall the week before my cousin died, almost every day we were under a tornado watch.
Doesn't help that these looked creepy as hell on TV including the EAS signal they played.
The funeral for my cousin got moved around slightly because of the weather but I also remember that while we were outside for the graveside service, the sky was cloudy and as they finished the service, the sun came out. That was pretty cool. Following this very active February, the weather turned and on March 18, 1984, one of the worst ice storms occurred in our area (until January 2002). Even more fun is my mother went into labor the next morning, so we had to drive through it to the hospital. Because there was no power, my parents borrowed 7 bucks from me for vending machine food. Not sure I ever got paid back (hahaha).
And finally, interestingly enough, on Halloween, 1984. I don't really recall the what the weather was like during the day but in the evening, I can recall the weather forecast during the 6pm News talking about storms in Kansas dropping tornadoes and that our area may be included in a tornado watch which did upset me at the time. Still, it was Halloween, and I must go get candy. The atmosphere outside that night was insane. You could see the storms headed our way and there was lighting almost constantly.
Map of Tornadoes, Halloween, 1984
Interestingly, it's the only date I am aware of where a tornado outbreak occurred on Halloween. This particular event left me with ideas and I have been writing a longer story about it but it has since exploded into a crazy fanfiction including Thor, The Avengers and other stuff that probably will never see the light of day.
Anyway, despite my fear, I had favorite meteorologists at the time, including Dan Henry on Channel 4 and Mike Thompson on Channel 5. Truly there isn't anything a parent won't do to help their child as unbeknownst to me, my parents called Channel 5 to see if I could meet Mike Thompson. At first, my Dad was denied as they didn't have anything like that (remember, this is 1985 at the time). I don't know the full story but somehow my Dad talked them into it and sure enough, a few weeks later, my Dad drove me to KCTV 5 and I was able to meet and talk to Mike Thompson as well as get a tour of the facilities.
Fun fact: Mike Thompson replaced Dan Henry on Channel 4 when Dan retired.
With thanks to these guys for helping me get through my childhood.
Ultimately, something had to change. I was getting older now and through the 1980s, it was hard to get information on storms - it wasn't as ubiquitous as it is today. I read books, sure, but they just freaked me out (I remember the picture at the top of this blog freaking me out particularly). But as the 1990s began, A couple of things happened and suddenly, fear became fascination.
This post sponsored by Twisted Skies Chase Team.
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