After growing up with a father who had a fear of severe weather, one Ball State professor decided to study the phobia with her mother.
Geography professor Jill Coleman and her mother Karen Multon, professor of counseling psychology at Kansas University, published a study on phobias to adverse weather, such as tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, thunderstorms and blizzards.
“[My] dad has been a little bit of an inspiration for this research, beginning several years ago. My father is a self-described severe weather phobic,” Coleman said. “He lives in Kansas so every time he sees thunderstorm watches and warnings in the area he is glued to the TV."
Coleman said that her father, who lives in Kansas, often cancels plans at the possibility of rain or lightning. Growing up, Coleman remembered her dad sleeping on the couch in front of the TV when there was a chance of a storm.
“This is an irrational fear that inhibits any or some parts of their daily lives,” Coleman said.
The research began as a collaboration between mother and daughter, sparked by two of Multon’s doctoral students who wanted to study phobias. Multon suggested they narrow the field down to phobia of weather.
“It was a way for my mother and I to really work on something together; we are really in two different fields. We really got to come together on this," Coleman said.
The research involved a self-assessed survey of 300 Americans. Coleman said those surveyed represented the U.S. population as far as proportion, age and race. The research began in summer of 2013 and was published in the Bulletin of American Meteorology.
The criteria for a severe weather phobia were characterized by obsessively checking the weather, canceling or moving plans based on chance of a storm, and preferring to stay inside if adverse weather may occur. Some may exhibit physical symptoms, such as dizziness, nausea and sweaty palms.
“Our research showed it to be around one in 10 were affected by this phobia,” Coleman said. “The phobia is prevalent. It will be really interesting to see this researched further.”
Kelsi Hall, a senior dietetics major, said she understands fear associated with weather.
“I’ve lived in Indiana, but I’ve also lived in Miami, Florida, and that definitely affected me,” said Hall, who said prior to living in Miami, she had only encountered snow, ice and thunderstorms. “We’ve had to go to our basement here but it was really nothing. I swam [at the University of Miami] and our afternoon practices in the summer were always canceled. It was the same time every day that it would storm,” Hall said.
Even though Hall never encountered an actual hurricane, she experienced thunderstorms, flooding and damage brought on by storms.
“I lived on the third floor of an apartment building by myself. The winds were so bad that day it was rattling the windows. This huge branch blew onto my balcony. I packed up [my dog], some food and clothes and we went to my friend’s house," Hall said. “I really hate driving in rain now. I’ll go to any length to avoid it.”
June Payne, director of counseling and health services, said a person may not have to experience severe weather first-hand to feel the effects of its trauma.
“The weather is covered three times an hour, and we’re told this is what we need to worry about. In addition, we see a wildfire, or a tornado, and the aftermath, and we may experience something we call vicarious trauma. This may not have happened to us but we become fearful that it will, and this intensifies and certainly exacerbates a phobia,” Payne said.
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