Damaging tornadoes are possible in all U.S. regions beyond the traditionally recognized "tornado alleys" in the southern plains and mid-south. Hence, this research examines how study participants respond to rare tornado events. Specifically, how disaster experiences affect risk perceptions and protective actions when facing a rare tornado event. This study used the protective action decision model (PADM) as the theoretical lens to investigate this issue. The PADM shows that personal characteristics, including personal disaster experience, could affect risk perceptions and how protective action decisions are made. This study applies the theory by recruiting 136 human subjects from the state of Washington to participate in a social experiment. The participants take part in a study that includes hypothetical tornado scenarios, ranging from thunderstorm warning to a tornado emergency then answering questions regarding the presented scenarios. Findings suggest that disaster experience and demographics influence how people perceive and respond to tornado disasters. Overall, people with direct and indirect tornado experiences showed significantly lower risk perceptions in the early stages of the threat when compared with those without any tornado experiences. Their tornado risk perceptions later increased when the threats were higher, and they tended to be more complacent regarding protective actions. This …