Listen to our storm coverage OR YOU WILL DIE

[swake]

Really KRMG? Really?

[Ed W]

"...and in our Channel 420 Weather Center, here's the latest news on the line of storms threatening our area.  Meteorologists are concerned about the rotation seen in these rapidly moving storms, but there's another concern, one that seems to be overlooked.  Yes, there's rotation in all those t-storms out there, but listen up people - THE WHOLE DAMN PLANET IS ROTATING UNDER YOUR FEET AS YOU READ THIS!!!  Now, I ask you, do you ever worry about THAT?  Of course not!  It's going waaaay faster than any thunderstorm, but you never give it a second thought.  If it gets rotating fast enough, you'll just fly off into space where there isn't any air, so you won't have to worry about tornadoes anymore, Mr. Smarty Pants!  So there!"

We return you now to our Monday night movie, "Bloodsucking Monkeys from West Mifflin, Pennsylvania."

(Too much coffee today!)

[Red Arrow]

I worry about the earth stopping its rotation.  It would probably stop at 30 minutes before I need to wake up.  Then I'd be stuck at 5:30 AM.

[heironymouspasparagus]

I just got back from storm chasing in east OKC.  I experienced a rain wrapped tornado just east of I-35 in Moore.  Was not down to ground level, but it ate a windshield anyway.

The hail was mostly golf ball to baseball size, with one landing about 20 feet away that was the size of a large cantalope.  If that don't "pucker you up", nothing will.

There were 3 killed in Tecumseh and 2 at Choctaw.  These are east and south of town at I-40.  The Love's at Choctaw road is rubble.

There were about a dozen (maybe a few more) tornadoes in just a couple hours from about 5 to 7 pm.  I took a picture of one that happened just south of I-40 about 5 minutes after the one that hit the Love's.  I only saw two.

I invite everyone to keep the people here affected by this storm in their thoughts and prayers.  It is very sad.

Am going to try to spend the rest of the week in Tulsa where it's safer.
If I can figure out the method, I will attach a picture or two in a message.

[Red Arrow]

When you make a post, in the lower left corner, expand the "Additional Options" box.  You can attach a file from here.

Looking forward to some photos.

[Conan71]

A friend of mine was tarping up softball size holes in his roof in Moore last night.  His house is a re-build from the May 1999 monster.  Normally when I'm working in the OKC area I ride with a cycling group which meets at Lake Draper on Mondays and Weds.  Fortunately, there was plenty of notice and of course the ride was called off (the original forecast of 35 MPH winds out of the south was enough to make me not want to ride ).  Parts of our ride route got hammered (around SE 89th & Anderson) with the tornado which eventually did all the damage at I-40 & Choctaw Road. 

I happen to be working in OKC yesterday and today, so I watched Gary England on Ch. 9 throughout the storms.  They had great reporting without hystrionics.  They had chasers on the ground with great video and their helicopter in the air.  When the pilot spotted the tornado which ripped up the trailer park near Noble, trashed the marina at Lake Thunderbird, etc. he said he was certain another tornado was forming above his helicopter.  That dude earned his pay yesterday.  The only annoying thing was the wall-to-wall post storm coverage which continued well into the night long after the storms had left the viewing area and it was obvious there was not a constant stream of new information which would have been of any use to people in finding out if their loved ones were okay or not.  Just the usual looping of damage, the funnels, and the biggest hill-jacks they can find to put on camera.

"Well, I heard them sireeens goin' off, so I grabbed Linda Claire 'n' my prize Blue Tick, Jake and we hid under a stack of beer cans about the time the winders blowed out."

[Hoss]

A friend of mine was tarping up softball size holes in his roof in Moore last night.  His house is a re-build from the May 1999 monster.  Normally when I'm working in the OKC area I ride with a cycling group which meets at Lake Draper on Mondays and Weds.  Fortunately, there was plenty of notice and of course the ride was called off (the original forecast of 35 MPH winds out of the south was enough to make me not want to ride ).  Parts of our ride route got hammered (around SE 89th & Anderson) with the tornado which eventually did all the damage at I-40 & Choctaw Road. 

I happen to be working in OKC yesterday and today, so I watched Gary England on Ch. 9 throughout the storms.  They had great reporting without hystrionics.  They had chasers on the ground with great video and their helicopter in the air.  When the pilot spotted the tornado which ripped up the trailer park near Noble, trashed the marina at Lake Thunderbird, etc. he said he was certain another tornado was forming above his helicopter.  That dude earned his pay yesterday.  The only annoying thing was the wall-to-wall post storm coverage which continued well into the night long after the storms had left the viewing area and it was obvious there was not a constant stream of new information which would have been of any use to people in finding out if their loved ones were okay or not.  Just the usual looping of damage, the funnels, and the biggest hill-jacks they can find to put on camera.

"Well, I heard them sireeens goin' off, so I grabbed Linda Claire 'n' my prize Blue Tick, Jake and we hid under a stack of beer cans about the time the winders blowed out."

My boss is out this morning.

His dad owns a miniature horse farm in Tecumseh.  Haven't heard from my boss except to say via email 'be in after lunch'... Tecumseh was evidently hit pretty hard.

[Conan71]

My boss is out this morning.

His dad owns a miniature horse farm in Tecumseh.  Haven't heard from my boss except to say via email 'be in after lunch'... Tecumseh was evidently hit pretty hard.

Interesting.  They showed some horses running around adjacent to a heavily damaged property somewhere near Shawnee.  The first horse or two looked like standard size then there were people in the frame and you could put the horses in context, definitely mini's.  Wonder if that was his place...

My GF's parents live in Bethel Acres and got skirted north and south by about 2 miles either way.  Their neighbor had insulation in their yard this morning from the Country Boy? IGA that got blown away.  They still had no power this morning and no idea when they would.  Fortunately, her dad is a retired electrician and put in switch gear to go along with his 8000W generator last year.  No real damage there, just some small limbs down in the yard.

I don't know if they showed the video in Tulsa or not, but there's large transmission towers blown over, not just wooden poles.  I'm guessing, to my untrained eye, that the Noble/T-Bird/Tecumseh tornado was an EF-4 and the Choctaw Road tornado was a high EF-3.

[patric]

Listen to our storm coverage OR YOU WILL DIE

But when you consider people actually died...

[Hoss]

Interesting.  They showed some horses running around adjacent to a heavily damaged property somewhere near Shawnee.  The first horse or two looked like standard size then there were people in the frame and you could put the horses in context, definitely mini's.  Wonder if that was his place...

My GF's parents live in Bethel Acres and got skirted north and south by about 2 miles either way.  Their neighbor had insulation in their yard this morning from the Country Boy? IGA that got blown away.  They still had no power this morning and no idea when they would.  Fortunately, her dad is a retired electrician and put in switch gear to go along with his 8000W generator last year.  No real damage there, just some small limbs down in the yard.

I don't know if they showed the video in Tulsa or not, but there's large transmission towers blown over, not just wooden poles.  I'm guessing, to my untrained eye, that the Noble/T-Bird/Tecumseh tornado was an EF-4 and the Choctaw Road tornado was a high EF-3.

Possible.  He sent me a text message today saying he wouldn't be able to make it back in today; he was helping his dad get a generator set up.  Didn't elaborate on any damage.  I'm sure I'll find out tonight or tomorrow...

[patric]

A visiting weatherman from "Good Morning America" gets ugly on air with an Oklahoma City crew while covering the tornado outbreak.  Cue Connie Chung...

http://tinyurl.com/24rvq3j 

[Hoss]

A visiting weatherman from "Good Morning America" gets ugly on air with an Oklahoma City crew while covering the tornado outbreak.  Cue Connie Chung...

http://tinyurl.com/24rvq3j 

Ugly?  Really?  Didn't look too ugly to me.  Especially tame for TMZ.

This, on the other hand, got a little heated (during CNN's coverage of Katrina).

http://www.spike.com/video/cnn-weatherman/2678471

[Conan71]

Ugly?  Really?  Didn't look too ugly to me.  Especially tame for TMZ.

This, on the other hand, got a little heated (during CNN's coverage of Katrina).

http://www.spike.com/video/cnn-weatherman/2678471

Champion was being a dick.  They called him a "tool" this morning on KRMG.

[azbadpuppy]

Interesting.  They showed some horses running around adjacent to a heavily damaged property somewhere near Shawnee.  The first horse or two looked like standard size then there were people in the frame and you could put the horses in context, definitely mini's.  Wonder if that was his place...

My GF's parents live in Bethel Acres and got skirted north and south by about 2 miles either way.  Their neighbor had insulation in their yard this morning from the Country Boy? IGA that got blown away.  They still had no power this morning and no idea when they would.  Fortunately, her dad is a retired electrician and put in switch gear to go along with his 8000W generator last year.  No real damage there, just some small limbs down in the yard.

I don't know if they showed the video in Tulsa or not, but there's large transmission towers blown over, not just wooden poles.  I'm guessing, to my untrained eye, that the Noble/T-Bird/Tecumseh tornado was an EF-4 and the Choctaw Road tornado was a high EF-3.

I have family in Pink, just east of Lake Thunderbird, and they saw the funnel, and lost power, but no significant damage in that immediate area. The three people who died west of Tecumseh were all in a car apparently. Most of the serious damage was in the Little Axe area along hwy 9, and just north of there where the Love's was taken out.

My cousin was in Moore for a karate class when softball size hail started crashing through the roof of the metal building they were in. When they went outside afterwards, some cars were so damaged by the hail they were undriveable. Parts of Norman were badly damaged as well.

I heard that the Norman/Noble/Tecumseh/Choctaw tornadoes were all EF-3's.

Conan, did your GF go to Bethel Schools? Many of my cousins went there.

[Conan71]

I have family in Pink, just east of Lake Thunderbird, and they saw the funnel, and lost power, but no significant damage in that immediate area. The three people who died west of Tecumseh were all in a car apparently. Most of the serious damage was in the Little Axe area along hwy 9, and just north of there where the Love's was taken out.

My cousin was in Moore for a karate class when softball size hail started crashing through the roof of the metal building they were in. When they went outside afterwards, some cars were so damaged by the hail they were undriveable. Parts of Norman were badly damaged as well.

I heard that the Norman/Noble/Tecumseh/Choctaw tornadoes were all EF-3's.

Conan, did your GF go to Bethel Schools? Many of my cousins went there.

There's some good news as the death toll was downgraded to two.  The three children reported as killed are actually in critical condition in the hospital.  The confusion came from the children apparently not arriving at the hospital they were supposed to be going to so the hospital reported them as dead rather than realizing they had been diverted elsewhere.  Their mother, though, was killed.  We drove our Monday night ride route last night, the eastern part of it was hammered pretty bad along Hiawassee Road.  You could see the path of destruction coming from the SW across the Draper Lake area.  It was quite fortunate this particular tornado and the one which hit T-Bird didn't hit more populated areas.

I just sent you a PM.