lrunion

jekler
I live in a bedroom community of Fort Smith, called Lavaca. I was born and raised here. Tornados are definately adrenaline producing, however since the tornado that demolished the 500 houses in Van Buren, the local weather people have seen to it to be very vocal, almost to the point of "give it a rest". It seems that any cloud produces a flurry of warnings. That said, it is a beautiful part of the country. Paragould is too far away. Fayetteville is about an hour north on 540. Greenwood is about 10-15 minutes south. Lavaca is about 10 - 15 minutes east. Charleston is about 20 - 25 minutes east. Fort Smith is on the state line with Oklahoma to the west. Sallisaw Oklahoma is about 25 minutes west, Roland is about 10 minutes west. I would advise that you educate yourself about tornado safety, it should not be any different that the area of LA that you live in. A tornado shelter is fine if you really want one and there is credit from the state available. My grandparents had a shelter and more often than not, we stood outside and watched the weather, rarely going inside. I am sure there were spiders and what not in there.
I would be happy to send you any information you need. Please feel free to email me with any further questions.

mireaux7

Tornadoes arent common in NW Arkansas, but they can happen. Most of the tornadic activity actually occurs west of the Fort Smith Area. The Ozark and Boston mountain ranges do a considerable job in preventing most tornadoes from forming. I have lived in Arkansas for 3 years, never saw a single tornado.

japw82

We lived in Muskogee, OK for three years and never experienced a tornado. It is an hour north of Ft. Smith. If you decide to live in Ft. Smith, the areas in the Southside High School zone seem to serve the better neighborhoods. Other nice areas around Ft. Smith include Van Buren and Greenwood.

rkkwan

Tornadoes are not rare, but the area they affect is usually so small (i.e. under a mile across,) that most people will not see a major one in their whole life. But it doesn't mean it cannot happen to you and wipe out your home tomorrow.

You just need to be aware of the possibility of danger and if there's a tornado warning, pay attention of its path on TV/radio, and think about shelter.

JJ5

jekler, I have personally been directly in ground zero during one tornado and extremely close in two others. Two of those caused some fatalities- one very close to me in a roller rink setting. And I can tell you that even in the most tornado prone geographic locations, if you don't live in a trailer park or trailer and use some very common sense rules, you will have huge stats against getting hurt or killed via tornado.

You are far, far more apt to be killed in a car accident if you ever ride or drive.

Buy a house with a basement, have insurance, learn the signs and your local sirens, and forget about it. If you still can not or do find you are getting "worrisome" about some other related danger, after the tornado one subsides- you might need some counseling help with the "protection" issue if that is occurrin. You already know that it is all related.

AustinTraveler

Since this thread is from last year, I wonder if jekler ever moved to Arkansas.

lrunion

I have wondered about that myself. We also saw some tornado's in the Springdale, AR recently and some hail the size of baseballs. Awesome stuff, what God can do!

jakspears

just to let you know that if you move to Arkansas..it is a MUST to have a basement! Tornado weather has been crazy around here lately!!

RandyK

Jekler-
I know your thread is a bit old, and this may have already been offered in an earlier response, but buy a NOAA weather radio. We moved to Tennessee from Michigan almost 6 years ago and worried about the weather. (Only after moving here did we learn that on average Michigan has more tornadoes than TN each year!) When you go to shop for a weather radio, get one with SAME (specific area message encoding) technology. You will be able to plug the specific county code into this radio and it will alert you to the full range (if you so choose) of all alerts that NOAA issues. We rely on our radio even when it wakes us in the middle of the night (like it did at 4:30 this morning). Where you live in tornado alley is probably less important that how you respond when severe weather occurs. Having this radio gives us peace but you still have to respond when warnings are issue. Good luck with this. Let us know what you do!

Spickets

Jekler...please email me at [email protected]. I live in NW arkansas as well and will tell you everything you want to know. I to am a young mom of two kids! I HAVE LIVED HERE ALL MY LIFE so ask away and you will get the honest truth! I know this area better than anyone. Im 25 and my kids are 2 1/2 years old and 8 months old on the 6th! I hope to hear from you

CAPH52

This thread is two and a half years old. Surely if jekler were going to move, she would have done so by now.

japw82

Rogers, Bentonville, and Springdale school districts are ranked highly in Arkansas. Due to the influx of Walmart subsidiaries, these districts are very progressive. Fayetteville also gets good marks. NWA (Northwest Arkansas) is less than an hour from Ft. Smith and has unlimited employment opportunities. Housing is more expensive but right now it is a buyer's market.

ljudge

I am also moving to Arkansas and am afraid of tornadoes. Born and raised in Michigan. We are moving to the Little Rock area. I was reading the posts, and some advise was to buy a house with a basement, but, from what we have seen, the houses do not have basements. What do you do then? Are there neighborhood shelters?

Also looking for areas with good schools... any advice?

jent103

ljudge, you might want to start a new thread since this one is several years old. I lived in central Arkansas during college. Twice during my four years we had to all go to the first floors of the dorms, that sort of thing - just twice. If you can get a house with a basement, that's great. If not, the general advice is to go to a room on the interior of the first floor, preferably a doorway, hallway or bathroom (since the plumbing runs underground). Take pillows and blankets with you. And have candles and working flashlights on hand - it's a bigger possibility that your power will go out for awhile.

There aren't usually shelters during the storms. It's not really a good idea to have people on the road driving to them, especially if you have a sturdy house of your own (just one without a basement).

Tornadoes happen more in Arkansas and other states surrounding it than they do in other places, but they're not an everyday occurrence. Have a safety plan. Keep an eye on the weather and radar when you know there's a possibility of storms. And stay calm. Tornadoes are my absolute worst fear other than something happening to my family, and I made it through four years in Arkansas just fine.

happytourist

Ijudge, you are very unlikely to find a house with a basement. I have lived near Hot Springs for 9 years and we haven't had any tornado scares in the area in that time. I don't remember any in Little Rock, but there have been a few bad ones lately elsewhere along I-40. Just follow the advice above and get a NOAA weather radio, so even if you are asleep you will get a warning. Tornadoes in Arkansas are nothing to obsess over, unless you live in a mobile home. Just be glad you're not moving to Oklahoma!

spirobulldog

OK. Here it is from a person who lives 15 minutes from Fort Smith. Fort Smith and Van Buren had a large tornado abou 8 years ago (F3). The small town in Oklahoma that we live in had a tornado in 1976(F5+). In my 40 years of living here that is the only 2 tornados that caused real damage and death. We have a cellar in our house. Some years we never get in it, other years we get there 5 or 6 times. The weather warning now are pretty accurate and the television stations here and even radio have their own radar or multiple types of radar. You will most likely know it if one is coming. Worrying about a tornado would certainly not keep me from moving here. It would be super rare for a tornado to wipe out an entire town. By the way. Greenwood School System in Arkansas is considered one of the best. I live in Spiro, OK. Van Buren is nice town.

RandyK

This site is going down the drain-------the original post is from 2005!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By now I don't care if they've moved, stayed put or been swept up in a F5!