There's one aspect of living in the midwest that I've never gotten used to: tornadoes. With several tornado touchdowns in the past week, I have to admit, maybe I am willing to relocate one day.

Being one of only three non-native Hoosiers in the office (others being Meg Charlebois and Meghan Howard) I can honestly say that I only experience a natural disaster once in my life before moving to north for college. When I was about five years old a tornado ripped through my town outside of Nashville, TN on a Saturday morning. Luckily, the twister never got close to our neighborhood but some people unfortunately lost their lives.

Not once while I lived in South Carolina did I experience a hurricane -- in fact, the closest I came to one was on vacation in San Destin, FL.  We ended up leaving our beachside condo a little early and missed Hurricane Danny by several hours.

There's just something undeniably frightening about a tornado, though.  Even the weather teams at the local stations here in Indy sometimes can't hide their fear when they announce a tornado warning.  However, somehow they remain calm so their viewers can calmly seek shelter in basements and under stairwells.  Lives depend on their every word... I can't imagine how they get through that kind of announcement.

Map of Tornado Activity in the U.S.

Anyways, now that I'm officially a resident in "tornado alley" I guess it's time to get used to it.  Click here to read find some of the most destructive tornadoes in Indiana history, and in other states as well.