Student Life

Was “Twisters” (2024) a decent movie? Maybe. Out of the three movies about tornadoes that I can think of, it’s not nearly as good as the original “Twister” (1996), and nobody can beat out the truly incredible cinematic feat that was “Sharknado” (2013). I don’t think the “Twisters” target audience includes tornado know-it-all Oklahomans like my family and I who spent most of the runtime pointing at the screen and whispering, “Actually, that would never happen,” though, so I’m not sure I get to have an opinion.

Clearly I don’t know much about what makes a good disaster film, but I have spent my entire life living in Tornado Alley (a zone in the Central United States where tornadoes occur most frequently), so I do know quite a bit about real tornadoes. Coming to WashU, I wasn’t too concerned about the tornado threat here in St. Louis — they were scary, sure, but they were also nothing new. It never occurred to me that many people had not experienced tornadoes until a tornado warning was issued during my first semester here back in late 2024, and all I heard about over the next few days were complaints about “fake” tornado warnings and how annoying the WashU alerts were.

Not everyone is from Tornado Alley, though, and I’d be just as oblivious as everyone else if I was experiencing my first tornado in college of all places. As we go into this spring’s storm season, it’s important to be prepared. So, for all of you non-Tornado Alley dwelling students out there, I present to you: a beginner’s guide to tornado safety.

Read more at link in bio.

✍ Audrey Tebow
📸 Courtesy of WashU Emergency Management