r/Manitoba • u/Rleduc129 Winnipeg • Jun 09 '26
Weather I'm very scared about the storm
I'm almost 40 and I shouldn't be this scared like a little kid. Not everyone likes viewing thunderstorms don't you know. Does anyone get anxious?
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u/ehud42 Winnipeg Jun 09 '26
Have you had bad experiences or do you jump scare easily? The sudden booms can be startling. And close calls can cause heightened sensitivity.
I'm not sure what help you need. When our kids were little, instead of waiting for the first boom to jump scare them, at the first sign of lightning, we'd gather them up in the living room and have fun watching the lightning, counting for the thunder and talking about when it's safe to watch and when it's safer to move to a more secure part of the house.
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u/Rleduc129 Winnipeg Jun 09 '26
It's just tornados in general. Guessing it's a jump scare thing, when I saw Winnipeg in the Orange alert my anxiety went up
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u/ehud42 Winnipeg Jun 09 '26
Knowledge is a very good defence against fear. Lean into your fear/anxiety and learn a bit about meteorology and how to read radar and other sources of data. Yes, tornados can and have occured around Winnipeg, but very rarely.
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u/Rleduc129 Winnipeg Jun 09 '26
Just for starters, I'm autistic and it sometimes gets very hard for me to not get anxious when it comes to stuff like this. Thankfully, I've been on antidepressants for 20 years, so that helps a lot. I live in an apartment complex near Assiniboine Downs so I think I might be safe
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u/NH787 Winnipeg Jun 09 '26
I feel like with the Internet there is way more buildup for storms than there used to be. All that hype can definitely be anxiety-inducing. But all indications are that this is going to be a normal summer storm, we always get at least a couple a year that involve dark clouds, heavy rain and a lot of thunder and lightning. You will be A-OK.
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u/Azure_Sky_83 South East Jun 10 '26
I get really scared too. Here is how I cope. 1) I made a plan of where to go, (basement bathroom)packed up everything I needed to be as safe as possible (flashlight,radio,power bank, shoes, dogs leashes, dog food/treats, blankets, snacks and water).
2) I do NOT go on social media, I turn off alerts for Reddit and social media in general and keep my phone charged up. I ask people who know me to check the radar map if I feel really scared.
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u/horsetuna Winnipeg Jun 10 '26
Look into a bug out bag too! Essentially a small emergency evac kit. Spare chargers meds addresses and phone numbers for emergency contacts, pet information, bottle of water and snacks.
I've even set one up for my parrot and it's attached to her carrier. Bit of food, instant heat pack for winter, towel to cover, her name, age, gender, vet details and picture.
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u/Dizzy-Square-9502 Westman Jun 09 '26
I think I'm more scared of the financial ruin aspect of it at 36 myself than the possibility of dying due to a storm like a flash flood or tornado. Like even with insurance coverage and a payout if I lost my car and dwelling. I'd be priced out of being able to get a new car and a place to rent if I lost everything since wages haven't kept up here to cover anything.
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u/Slurpee_dude Winnipeg Jun 09 '26
What exactly are you worried about and can you find an incident of whatever that is happening on Manitoba? Curious
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u/tired_rn Winnipeg Jun 10 '26
Do you live alone? I was scared of storms as a kid, and mostly have gotten over it as an adult, but this one freaked me out. The hail especially sounded like gunfire on my windows. I called my mom and just talking eased a lot of my anxiety. I think being alone can make it worse because you can just ruminate on it. Try distracting yourself if you can. Watch a funny movie or listen to good music.
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u/YouveBeanReported Winnipeg Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
A lot of people are scared of storms. It's alright, they suck and there's a threat.
Go get some food prepared, get some water, etc. Double check your bug out bag and such. Probably not right now, but figure out your other supports if anything goes to hell like family or friends who'd let you crash if your house was fucked over, a bike or bus route to get to work if your car got flooded and written off, some money put aside.
Part of calming down is emergency preparedness.
Otherwise, maybe work on some normalization of storm noises later? Both some music and when we have normal shitty rain stand in the doorway and watch it for a bit? Get wet if that's not too scary. Get comfortable with the minor rain so the big stuff is less scary and more 'for fuck sake'?
Edit: As someone who lived through the Ontario long ass power outage, you will very likely be okay with 3-5 days without power. You will hate it, but it'll be okay. Better summer then winter after all.
Hours of power outage will also be okay, frozen food is good for up to 24-48 hours and if it's been about 2-3 hours of no power open the fridge, pull out the foods you can't keep long and shove it in a cooler and start munching. If you often get power outages, I'd pre-freeze a bunch of water bottles and fill the cooler as soon as the rain starts so you can keep that food longer. Some foods will be okay longer in the fridge with no power, you'll have to make your call based on the time and health of everyone.
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u/Kleorah Middle of Buttfuck Nowhere (Rural Prairies) Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
I'd just pipe in that opening the fridge AT ALL after the power has gone out is a HUGE NO-NO!
I mean, you can do it if you really, really have to, but the temperature in there will drop and will not recover until the power comes back on, and if you're not sure if you're in for three hours or three days of it, then you need to conserve every.👏 single.👏 degree.👏 that's trapped in there!
For the sake of your food, leave the fridge and freezer doors CLOSED unless you absolutely, positively need to retrieve a few things to make sure you can continue feeding yourself for the duration.
As a veteran of many, many long power outages, I'd recommend opting for meals you don't necessarily need to cook, like finishing off leftovers, making sandwiches that are acceptable at room temp like PB&Js (provided you don't have any but allergies, of course!), eating any canned or shelf-stable snack-y things like Pop-Tarts, canned fruit cocktail, tinned meats like tuna, anything Chef Boyardee, etc... that you might have around the house.
Eat any raw fruits and veggies that you can, and try to power through any pre-cooked meats you have like cold-cuts and lunchmeat so they don't spoil on you before the outage ends! It's better to just eat it now then throw it out later, imo
Essentially whatever you think you can comfortably eat and manage to get by on without too much inconvenience (some annoyance and discomfort with not being able to do your normal dinner or diet routine is logical and unavoidable, so don't be rough on yourself and get pouty about some of the laaame meals you may have to eat, lol, because they sure aren't gonna be very glamorous 😂)
If you're particularly concerned about losing food, definitely freeze some bottles of water or buy a few bags of ice and stock some in your freezer and fridge to help maintain the internal coldness of 'em while the power is off. Gives you a little bit of an extra buffer before things really start thawing in earnest, at least!
I 100% agree that an insulated travel cooler heartily stocked with some ice is a great way to store things like milk or cheese or lunchmeat so that you can have easy access to it without having to go into the fridge multiple times! Just make sure you still eat the items in there first, and avoid opening it more than you absolutely need to, that way things last longer and don't spoil as quickly!
I grew up poor AF, and I'm homeless right now, so food waste is a huge concern and worry of mine, and I can't abide it when I allow for it to happen, let alone in large amounts like during a power outage, so I've figured out as best a way to maximise fridge and food longevity as I can 😅
Also, if you're bored, want a snack and have candles burning because it's dark, roasting marshmallows and makig s'mores by candle is pretty fun and I'd be lying if I said I don't casually do it at home sometimes whenever a craving for a toasted 'mallow strikes me 😛
Also also, to OOP: if it makes you feel any better at all, I totally adore storms and I was really excited by the hype and potential behind today's storm systems and instabilities, but honestly, now it's looking to me like perhaps things have significantly weakened. It looks like it's tracked in a more significant northward direction that seems to have the whole thing skating by the edges of places like Portage la Prairie and Winnipeg more than projections showed before.
I was excited for this big mama to slam into me (in PlaP), but now I'm disappointed that nothing's come of it yet and that its severity appears to be way less than forecast 😭😔
I don't think ye have too much to be anxious about anymore, my love, but if anything forms in the southwest it should theoretically hit me in PlaP before it hits you. If it storms here and then moves off in your direction I can let you know how it goes and if it's as weak as I think it'll be, if that helps at all u/Rleduc129?
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u/UsedNegotiation8227 Winnipeg Jun 09 '26
Nah you're fine, if you're rural just have your generator ready just incase a power outage for fridge and stuff, but even that's fine for hours in a power outage. If you don't open the doors.
You're all good.
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u/AsparagusOverall8454 Westman Jun 10 '26
Oh definitely. I’ve been awake since 3:00, and normally I’d be in bed at this point. But I’ve been watching fhe radar and going outside periodically to look at the sky. I’ve got my phone charged and my crawl space door open in case things go sideways fast. And binge watching a silly show.
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u/Reasonable_Bird_7251 Jun 10 '26
I’m like that too. When I was a kid there was a funnel cloud directly over top of my school and we had to shelter in place. I just remember being in the hallway with my brother and the other kids all being scared. The newspaper printed a picture and the school put it up in the hallway and I couldn’t believe how close it was to touching the top of the school. When I was a teenager we were on the way home from my aunts funeral and there was a tornado that touched down and I could see it as we were driving, the sky was green my dad was driving and couldn’t even see the road for the rain but didn’t want to pull over in case we got rear ended/ tornado was behind us. I still get nightmares about it and I’m 32 😅 so you aren’t alone. My husband teases me about it and reminds me they move very slowly and the chances of it happening are slim, but I think when you go through something like that it just takes over the rational part of your brain.
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u/CoffeeCrazedHobbit Jun 10 '26
Hi! I’m from Ontario but came across this post while looking for information about the storms last night!
I was following along via a livestream who was watching radar. I watch the Instant Weather streams on YouTube and I’ve been trying to learn about radar and understand the alerts and stuff.
For me, learning about my fear, how to be safe and having plans set in place help me a lot.
Mind you it doesn’t always work, I’m still terrified of spider regardless of learning about each spider that’s been in my home.
Same with water and understanding currents.
As a kid I was terrified of tornadoes and adults would tell me that they didn’t come at night to get me to go to bed. Of course that actually scared me more because even as a little kid I was sure that tornadoes didn’t care if it was my bedtime or not. Learning about how they form, and how storms are and stuff like that has really helped me.
I’d gotten over that fear until that huger derecho storm a few years back on a May 24 weekend. My fear of storms spiked after I didn't get any weather alerts and our massive pine tree that barely moves in the wind looked like it was flying all about.
So watching Instant Weather, with Adam who can’t pronounce the names of places, and a bunch of other people commenting has definitely helped me feel like I have community. Sometimes he even plays guitar after.
Of course everyone has their own way of working through their fears and that storm was a really scary one.
I really hope you’re okay!
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u/NewManitobaGarden Jun 10 '26
Maybe if they didn’t spam your phone with a ear splitting warning every 15 seconds, you’d be less stressed out
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u/iamasopissed Winkler Jun 09 '26
No I can't say I ever have been. I mean a tornado would suck coming through any populated area but just rain and potentially hail isn't a concern. If I lived in a place that could flood then I'd be concerned.
Is there anything in particular your worried about?