The worst part of this topic is how the apathy to severe weather warnings has not changed over the years. It makes me both angry & sad.
Numerous times over the years I've called to warn family and friends about tornadic supercells heading for their house. They almost never take me seriously (with one exception) and just shrug it off because they don't want to disrupt their daily lives, or their primetime TV show, or whatever it is they are doing. They basically think that they are immune to tornadoes for whatever ridiculous reason.
Event 1)
A major outbreak of significant tornadoes was literally unfolding just after dark. One of the supercells was heading straight for a couple who are dear to me, with a history of producing tornadoes and confirmed damage & injuries mind you! They shrugged this off saying, "Oh, they never hit us, we're in-between two hills, ect..". I couldn't believe it. I told them to get in the basement, hang out for a few minutes, and I'll call in 15 min. I wasn't asking for 3 hours, just half a TV show. Seriously, 30 years ago people would have begged for such a valuable, personal tornado warning. Nope, not them. But I guess I forgot most people are weather experts and immune to tornadoes...
Lucky for them that night the supercell cycled and the new meso was developing as it raced over their county...practically right over them. It produced a tornado in the county to their east. Talk about freakin luck. And what do I get in return, "I told you we'd be fine, you worry too much". Give me a break! They never realize how close they come to a disaster until it actually happens. (This is the same night some town east of Memphis got destroyed)
Example 2)
This is the most recent incident that upset me to the point of insanity. It was the day of the Enterprise, Alabama tornado. One of the tornadic supercells crossed into Georgia and was literally making a b-line towards my girlfriend's grandmother's house. We had to call her mother to get a hold her grandmother, to simply tell her "turn on your TV", because she's not into technology.
We told her mom there was a storm with strong rotation and tornado warning, likely with a tornado on the ground, heading straight for grandma. She acted like it was nothing and didn't even call grandma! This storm showed strong rotation until it entered her county, and then cycled - only depicting weak rotation - and then strong rotation returned 2 radar scans later. A tornado warning was literally cancelled and then re-issued in less than 15 minutes as this storm raced northeast at 45mph! Another close call, but my girlfriend's mom thinks my girlfriend and I are nuts, having no idea the severity of the situation. Unbelievable!
If you're read this far you now know that even some people that know me(meteorologist/storm chaser) don't head my warning when I feel the situation is serious! Some people just don't care...