Tornado Warning OKC

[Karried]

Hey all, get off the computer if you live in OKC 1-40 ... possible tornado near the Fairgrounds... I hate these sirens! boohoooooooooo - I'm scared

[Karried]

Get away from the windows guys.. high winds near downtown... East of the fairgrounds.... good luck to everyone!

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

I hate these sirens! boohoooooooooo - I'm scared

Okie n00b.

[bandnerd]

We took the kitties and the violins downstairs to the empty apartment. Our neighbors and their cats came, too.

I don't get too jumpy until those sirens blow and they say "downtown OKC." But dang, that caught me off guard.

[Karried]

Okay, I'm back ... ha.ha.. I always unplug the computer during lightening and ready myself for a trip to the shelter, just in case.

I always worry about peeps here.. I heard downtown and instantly thought of my buddies and hoped they would be okay.. and then I ran to my shelter... in sympathy. lol

I'm so not ready for Spring!

[MadMonk]

Somehow I knew we'd be hearing from you tonight Karrie, either via the Internet or the sound of your scream. Your sympathy shelter run is too funny!

[Dave Cook]

Typical news weather 4 warnings. Lots of sirens and nothing more than three minutes of rain. Yippee.

[metro]

Yeah, I was surprised to hear the tornado sirens from our downtown OKC condo. First time ever with a tornado warning down there. Good thing we were surrounded by 12 inch concrete and steel walls though!

[kevinpate]

I ignore sirens. If Gary isn't shouting Val's name 3 times in 2.3 seconds, it ain't a real storm in my book.

[Karried]

Ha,ha.... You guys are hardcore .... it's okay, you're probably used to tornadoes.

I'll bet in an earthquake, you'd jump out of a second story window ... lol

[kmf563]

Karrie I have to admit I was a little nervous last night. But that was because I was inside the Ford center ( Rockin my butt off btw ) and had no clue what was going on. I got a text message that it was headed downtown and then realized my baby was home alone and I had no idea what was happening! I should have called you. I should have known you would be glued to the tv and would know exactly where it was! Note to self for next time. haha. You will be my weather girl if I'm ever stuck inside somewhere like that during bad weather.

[Oh GAWD the Smell!]

Ha,ha.... You guys are hardcore .... it's okay, you're probably used to tornadoes.

I'll bet in an earthquake, you'd jump out of a second story window ... lol

I was sitting 20 feet away from over 1,000 lbs of high explosives during a 7.4 in Joshua Tree/Yucca Valley in (I think) '92.

Jesse Owens has NOTHING on my 100 yd. dash time that day...And I ran it on epileptic sand!

[Karried]

I should have called you.

oh no! Of course ... call me anytime and next time leave your 'baby' with us!

I was sitting 20 feet away from over 1,000 lbs of high explosives during a 7.4

Oh Lord, yes, anything over a 7, I'm running, jumping and pushing you out of the way... lol

I like that at least you know a tornado might be coming.... an earthquake (surprise!!) is a pure shot of adrenaline.. especially in the middle of the night!

[OUman]

I went storm chasing yesterday with my freinds. We didn't see much but the cloud-to-ground lightning was spectacular at times, and yes we got caught in some really heavy rain and small hail.

On the way back we heard the tornado warnings for downtown and the east part of the city. I thought Channel 9 did a really good job of it, deciding to cut off to regular programming when they did.

Funny thing is when we were having dinner in Anadarko we got news of the tornado warning for Anadarko itself lol. We headed outside looking to see if we could spot anything, but we only saw some small lowerings and lots of rain. Eventually we found out that it was likely just a small spin-up along the leading edge of the squall line much like what happened over Oklahoma City. We kept close to the restaurant though because they had a walk-in freezer, which is actually a safe place.

There's a reason the forecasters interrupt your regular programming for these things, especially at night when you have blinding rain. Such breif touchdowns have caused damage before, in some cases pretty bad damage, and they can form and touchdown much faster than you think.

[venture]

I figured yesterday everyone and their brother would be out chasing, and with the likelihood that they would just be the quick spinups - eh, i got better things to waste gas on.

The Oklahoma County warning yesterday was an unusual one with the configuration of the storm. KWTV's MOAR system definitely did a good job showing the little curl on the front side of the storm. The guys in Norman made the right call issuing the warning, even though nothing came to the surface. Night time, rain wrapped,...all around not a good situation.

The event yesterday was fun to watch from home...though I'm sure I'll get dragged out before too much longer. Though March last year was good for me and the guys I chase with.

[chekkie]

what a shock...another pointless scarefest from the local thunder ****. they seriously told us what they WEREN'T seeing, and that there "may not be a tornado, but it's highly possible..." it didn't stop the damn air raid sirens in MWC from sounding for 35mins...grrr!

[metro]

yeah, and if one of the circulations that they were watching did touch down for just a second, and happened to hit your house or someone you knew, you'd be complaining why didn't they sound the alarms in advance, even though there wasn't anything that hit the ground yet. I'd rather be safe than sorry. Even though the alarms went off, I clearly heard them say numerous times, we haven't seen a tornado yet, but we've seen some rotations lowering.

[OUman]

what a shock...another pointless scarefest from the local thunder ****. they seriously told us what they WEREN'T seeing, and that there "may not be a tornado, but it's highly possible..." it didn't stop the damn air raid sirens in MWC from sounding for 35mins...grrr!

It's obvious you know nothing about weather here or you wouldn't be posting such statements...

Have some gratitude for the people who try to warn you about such things.

I figured yesterday everyone and their brother would be out chasing, and with the likelihood that they would just be the quick spinups - eh, i got better things to waste gas on.

We did have some discrete cells out in western OK yesterday and there were actual tornadoes, so it wasn't just all brief spin-ups. We actually saw part of the lowering on the storm near Gotebo. The main activity of course was way north of I-40. It was a typical March chase.

[chekkie]

oh, please. i've lived in Oklahoma for 32 years, and have survived many a tornado, twister, hook echo, hidden rotation, and mesocyclone. i understand that our weather can take a turn for the worst at any given moment this time of year, but when they have people in the metro area terrified because of some rotation in Davis County, yes i have a problem with that. they said "a tornado" was 2/3 of a mile from my house, heading straight for me, but you know what happened? it rained, and it got windy, and THAT'S ALL. they've been cultivating the fear of weather since May 3, 1999. you think the local meteorologists don't know that they're the rock stars of local television!? wake up, people. a fearful populous is the most easily controlled--

[OUman]

^Well first off, I'm not easily controlled, and second, no, I don't think the local meteorologists think they're rock stars. They give warnings to alert people, that's all. That's their job, and that's why they're there. If you don't like watching them or hearing them, that's fine with me, but don't belittle them by saying all they do is scare people.

If they hadn't warned people on May 3rd, there would have been many more people dead. It's because of their work and the storm chasers who help them that even though the number of tornadoes has increased, the number of deaths is significantly down from years past.

And they have no agenda, so no, they're not trying to control anyone. If you don't want to watch their coverage, switch the channel anytime. A viewing area is a viewing area, and if there is a tornadic storm 20 miles west of Oklahoma City which falls in their viewing area, they have an obligation to cover it, especially if it's targeting a populated area.

If this were politicians or some Hollywood fanatics you were talking about, I could believe it, but we're talking about local meteorologists. Sure, some local TV stations cash in on the ratings game covering such events, but there are a few stations that actually switch to regular programming once they have informed the public enough.

[flintysooner]

I am old enough to remember when there were no tv warnings at all. We'd just head for the neighbor's old cellar if we thought there might be danger. TV reports are much better than that.

And, yes, I have been in actual tornadoes and survived but I don't want to do it again.

Harry Volkman at WKY gave the first tornado warning in the early 50's. Some of us think that isn't so long ago.

[chekkie]

Sure, some local TV stations cash in on the ratings game covering such events

That's not quite true...they ALL do. spring time in OK is like May Sweeps for the locals. i'm not belittling what they do...in a place like this, with the most unpredictably severe weather possibly anywhere on Earth, they serve a very valuable purpose. but that doesn't mean they don't go a little overboard sometimes. telling us to take cover when we really don't need to; telling us to just "stay inside" when they predict snow/ice. it's a bit much sometimes, is it not? i've been through enough weather here to know that when it's bad, take cover and DON'T GO CHASING IT, and when it doesn't seem too bad, it usually isn't. that's all i've got.

[OUman]

^I have in the past and will fully agree now as well that sometimes the weather coverage does get a bit too much and they shouldn't beat a dead horse. But in conditions like we had on Sunday night, it can get bad in a hurry, that's all I was trying to say.

And about chasing, well, I'm a meteorology graduate and I go with freinds who know what they're doing. We all observe road rules and don't chase alone. There are people out there that I've seen who shouldn't be chasing in the first place though, but that's another story.

Harry Volkman at WKY gave the first tornado warning in the early 50's. Some of us think that isn't so long ago.

I remember reading about that. Back before the first Doppler weather radars were put into use.

[bretthexum]

Typical news weather 4 warnings. Lots of sirens and nothing more than three minutes of rain. Yippee.

Too bad the warnings come from the NWS. NOT the TV stations. The media pass along the info.

[CCOKC]

When I lived in Waco 15 years ago I was watching TV in the middle of the day and the meteorologist cut into programming to inform me a tornado had just touched down, 1 mile from my house. I think I prefer it the OKC way.