Weather Radio -- Friend or Foe?

My mother used to live in Hampstead, NC, right outside of Wilmington, NC, and there was lots of weather there; hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.  I used to visit her and inevitably at least one night during my visit her weather radio would go off warning us of some impending disaster.  Although it usually wasn't for her area, it still scared the crap out of me whenever it would go off in the middle of the night!

Fast forward about 10 years... I move to Murfreesboro, TN.  Apparently tornado alley!!!  Who knew!!!???  And, what do you think is one of the first things I do?  Yep, I buy one of those stupid weather radios!  Now, I know they are good, and one day it is going to save my life, but nights like last night really make me question whether it is my friend or my foe!

So this morning I'm sound asleep and what do you think happened?  That's right... at about 3:00 a.m. the radio starts blaring that awful warning and when I jump out of bed with my heart pounding out of my chest to find out what terrible thing is headed my way, it is a thunderstorm warning, and not even for my county!  Now, I know that severe thunderstorms can bring hail and strong winds, but I don't think my house is going to blow apart or away because of a severe thunderstorm.  So therefore, I don't really want to be awakened at 3 o'clock in the morning to find out there is a warning in the next county!  Or 10 minutes later when it gets closer.  Or 15 minutes later when it has reached my county but not my part of the county!  The fourth time was a generic thunderstorm watch which did include Murfreesboro and finally, the fifth time... yes, I said the fifth time, the thunderstorm warning was in my area.

So, yes, my weather radio does warn me of impending tornadoes in the area which makes it my friend, but please, please, please let me sleep if it's just going to be a thunderstorm! By the way, this is where I was going to say something funny and witty, but I've got nothing.  I just want to sleep through one of my favorite things... a thunderstorm!