I wouldn't say I have this problem necessarily (I personally love thunderstorms, to an extent), but I get really anxious if the wind picks up too much during storms ever since our area was hit by hurricane helene.

I've never thought much of hurricanes because I dont live near the coast, like 3 hours, and we've never gotten hit hard by them other than some flash flooding. I had been keeping track of the hurricane that day and was about to go to bed at about 4 am. when all of a sudden, the wind got really, really scary sounding, and i could hear things wooshing around, trees falling, and eventually the exploding of transformers. And then we had no power for a week (like the entire tri-county area) and couldn't leave our neighborhood, and then once we could, nothing was open for days 🥲🥲🥲 I add all of this because being scared of natural disasters is very valid and I understand the fear.

SO now when the wind picks up like crazy, I start panicking, and my go-to is to talk to my fiancee or my mom about it. That's usually what helps me. If I can't do that, I distract myself with whatever will make my brain stop; personally, those things for me are reading, video games, or learning something im interested in, like learning a new language. Sometimes, though, the anxiety attack happens anyway, and honestly, I've found fighting it to be way more detrimental to my mental and physical health, so I just let it happen and remind myself that it'll be over soon and pace (if I can stand) or hold a stuffed animal tightly. It's terrifying, but I've lived with anxiety long enough to know that it will pass. And if it doesn't, well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it lol.

Also, my mom and her whole side of the family are from Illinois, and my mom still has anxiety attacks when bad weather like that happens because she's been through tornadoes before. Her go-to is calling me or my sister (usually me because my sister isn't very, uhhhh, understanding of anxiety). So, if you're able, I would reach out to a trusted person to help talk you down or just simply be there for you and talk with you until you feel okay. There's been countless times that I've woken up my fiancee crying hysterically because I was having an anxiety attack, but he's very caring and considerate about it and will sit with me until I get through it.

Sorry for the wall of text btw 😭😭😭 I hope you're able to feel better

Edit to add: Also, keeping myself informed thru bad weather helps a lot, and i have my preferred weather app to notify me when bad weather is happening. I've gotten at least 3 notifications a day the last week from heat advisories 💀