Better to know, or better not to know?

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I was in Branson, Missouri with my family last week, and one of the things we saw was some of the damage left from a tornado they had months ago. I think there were three occasions where my dad would ask an employee of wherever we were, where they were when the tornado came through. All three of them said they were asleep. They lived nearby. It's not like they commuted and were not put in any danger. I just found that amazing. But one woman said she had just gone home from work and gone straight to bed. So she never turned on the news. She woke up in the morning, went outside, and half of the stuff in her yard was now in her neighbor's yard. But then a couple of weeks ago I had e-mailed a friend about watching my dog while I was out of town. She said sure, and she closed the e-mail with "be careful in the storms". That sent a sliver of unease through me because I had no idea there were storms coming our way. So of course I turned on the news and saw what was going on. Usually, I can tell from the sky, or I can feel it in the air when tornado weather is afoot. Those of you who live in tornado alley know what I mean. You walk outside and you just "know". How aware are you of the weather? The people who slept through the Branson tornado saved themselves a lot of worry. But they also could have been hurt if the storm had turned their way. I guess I'd like to know when one was coming. Because it's always the one time you don't take precautions that something bad happens. I don't know how many times growing up my sister, me, and my mom would be huddled inthe hallway while my dad slept through the tornado warnings. We'd wake him up, he'd go outside and look at the sky and tell us, "It's not getting us". And then he'd go back to bed. Their bedroom had a huge plate glass window, so if a tornado had gone through it would have cut him up badly. But he was always right.