Merged -Tornados Rip Through Midwest

[SHaYap]

I don't recall anybody saying that, but I might have missed something. And I deal with climatology rather than weather, but with the Arctic Ocean rapidly melting off, I'd say we're in for a lot more of this sort of thing. We've had five F5s or high-end F4s in Oklahoma in fifteen years. That's twice the previous average.

Doug

well I guess they weren't experts then ..... I recall some article about it being the worst is over for the decade or something like that ....

~

[Taun]

Yesterday was ... interesting....

On my way home from work I decided to NOT fill up my car - it was at about a quarter tank, and I had no plans to go anywhere for the weekend... Plenty of time... sure...

I don't watch TV nor do I listen to the radio when I am at home... So when the tornado alarms started going off at about 5:30 I turned on the tube... A mile wide tornado was already on the ground about 10 miles due west of me and heading straight for me... There were threatening cells to the north as well... The Weathercasters were having stormgasms and telling everyone in the path to either get below ground or out of the way... So I grabbed my cat and jumped in my car then tried to get south of the storms and wait it out...

Bad move...

EVERYONE in the city was going south - to wait it out... The highways, roads and side streets were bumper to bumper and moving at a very slow pace... Meanwhile as I gradually get south of where I live, the radio weather people are announcing storms spawning to the south - each one seemed to be heading exactly where I was - no matter where I went...

After about an hour I was 6 miles south and a bit East - that was it... The sky was green and the rain was falling heavier than I've seen in a very very long time.. Also the hail was starting... Just as I got to the intersection of SW 44th street and Pennsylvania Ave (two main streets in that part of the city) and got stuck behind a traffic jam - they announced that the leading edge of another storm was at.... you guessed it SW44th and Penn... I quickly pulled into the parking lot of a business... The building was low and made of brick, with no windows or doors on my side - which was facing away from the storm... I parked my car as close to the building as I could, grabbed my cat (who was not happy at all!) and ran for a corner of the building where there was another brick wall - so it formed an "L"... I hunkered down in the torrential downpour and hail and waited for the tornado to take me to Oz or wherever... Because the first rule of surviving a tornado is GET OUT OF YOUR CAR!

My cat and I stayed there for about 4 hours, getting totally soaked, bruised by hail and lashed by the winds (70 to 80 mph straight line winds)...

Now we had a new problem... Flooding... We got 8 inches of rain in an hour and a half, and it looked like all of it was draining right through where I was...

Finally I decided that the wall clouds and tornadoes were no longer a threat where I was so I recaptured my cat (he was REALLY unhappy), got back in my car and tried to make my way back home... The roads were rivers., and traffic was still bumper to bumper.... It took me 2 more hours to go the 6 miles to get home through some of the worst flooding I'd ever seen in this area...(remember - I was almost out of gas as well)...

When I finally got home - with the fuel warning light blazing merrily away at me - I discovered that everything was fine... No damage - in fact the danged power hadn't even flickered... I really - really should have stayed home...

I understand the weather casters telling everyone to "get out of the way"... but it was rush hour and the roads were already packed... Had any one of the tornadoes hit those streets - the death toll would have been very high...

Anyway.. that's my tale of excitement...

Edited June 1, 2013 by Taun

[SHaYap]

great read taun .... you know the saying about the best laid plans ?

happy you came out well in the end ...

if anything .. 'stormgasms' will never be better used anywhere in the english language ...

[libstaK]

Finally I decided that the wall clouds and tornadoes were no longer a threat where I was so I recaptured my cat (he was REALLY unhappy), got back in my car and tried to make my way back home... The roads were rivers., and traffic was still bumper to bumper.... It took me 2 more hours to go the 6 miles to get home through some of the worst flooding I'd ever seen in this area...(remember - I was almost out of gas as well)...

When I finally got home - with the fuel warning light blazing merrily away at me - I discovered that everything was fine... No damage - in fact the danged power hadn't even flickered... I really - really should have stayed home...

I understand the weather casters telling everyone to "get out of the way"... but it was rush hour and the roads were already packed... Had any one of the tornadoes hit those streets - the death toll would have been very high...

Anyway.. that's my tale of excitement...

Lol at the poor cat - I'm betting you'll be getting stink eye for some time to come. Glad it all turned out ok in the end, after all that soaking and flooding it really would have been awful to be homeless as well, so there was a silver lining of sorts for you I suppose. Don't blame you for not seeing it that way though, that's a memorable adventure.

[docyabut2]

I remember twins tornados that hit my town, the next day this ranch house I was normally at that night got wiped away clean nothing but a slab and traveling down the street seen 13 bodies in body bags at the fire station. Boats were in yards and cars were in the river, this one house was just picked up and turn around while the houses next to it were still standing ,they should start building those old storm cellars that the old houses used to have.

Edited June 2, 2013 by docyabut2

[+susieice]

Good to hear you and kitty are alright Taun. I watched the Weather Channel most of last night and it was a constant stream of tornado warnings going all the way through the midwest. They talked about the traffic jams in OKC and then showed the flooding in the intersections downtown. You never know whether it's safer to stay put, but it's not good to ignore the warnings either. I'm sure kitty will forgive you eventually.

[SHaYap]

Lol at the poor cat -

~snip

~snip

I'm sure kitty will forgive you eventually.

kitty knew something ....

[Taun]

As more and more tornadoes were reported - each one seemingly generating right on a path to hit where I was at the time - I felt a little like this...

[little_dreamer]

Sorry you had to put up with it. Sounds like not much fun at all.

I wonder if these events will make people want to leave the area. I'm sure it's a nice wholesome area to raise a family though. Some people may not have a choice; they will have lost their home or job.

[Taun]

Sorry you had to put up with it. Sounds like not much fun at all.

I wonder if these events will make people want to leave the area. I'm sure it's a nice wholesome area to raise a family though. Some people may not have a choice; they will have lost their home or job.

By and large - "Okies" don't leave... Even during the Great dust bowl of the 1930's, the vast majority of Okies stayed put... We are a stubborn lot... The damage from this last spate of tornadoes and straight line winds (up to 100 mph - 160 kph) was mainly to trees and power lines... Several houses from the May 20th killer that hit Moore are already being reconstructed.... And the majority of the businesses are already reopened (to some extent anyway)... We don't quit usually...

[SHaYap]

By and large - "Okies" don't leave... Even during the Great dust bowl of the 1930's, the vast majority of Okies stayed put... We are a stubborn lot... The damage from this last spate of tornadoes and straight line winds (up to 100 mph - 160 kph) was mainly to trees and power lines... Several houses from the May 20th killer that hit Moore are already being reconstructed.... And the majority of the businesses are already reopened (to some extent anyway)... We don't quit usually...

I remember reading about the dust bowls storms in 'Centennial' and of course saw on the TV series ... best chapter in the book me thinks ....

~

[Doug1029]

By and large - "Okies" don't leave... Even during the Great dust bowl of the 1930's, the vast majority of Okies stayed put... We are a stubborn lot... The damage from this last spate of tornadoes and straight line winds (up to 100 mph - 160 kph) was mainly to trees and power lines... Several houses from the May 20th killer that hit Moore are already being reconstructed.... And the majority of the businesses are already reopened (to some extent anyway)... We don't quit usually...

You're making me feel positively privileged. My office doubles as the local tornado shelter. I took my wife, daughter and dogs. A friend in Albuquerque was watching the storms and radar and called us with updates every few minutes. We hid out for about two hours, then went home.

Think there might be a way to use tree damage to estimate wind speeds. And that means there might be a link between wind speeds and ring thickness in some hardwood species. Hmmm! I think I have another research project. I'll talk to the guys down in Norman, but I think I'm going to avoid living down there.

Doug

[Kowalski]

Yesterday was ... interesting....

On my way home from work I decided to NOT fill up my car - it was at about a quarter tank, and I had no plans to go anywhere for the weekend... Plenty of time... sure...

I don't watch TV nor do I listen to the radio when I am at home... So when the tornado alarms started going off at about 5:30 I turned on the tube... A mile wide tornado was already on the ground about 10 miles due west of me and heading straight for me... There were threatening cells to the north as well... The Weathercasters were having stormgasms and telling everyone in the path to either get below ground or out of the way... So I grabbed my cat and jumped in my car then tried to get south of the storms and wait it out...

Bad move...

EVERYONE in the city was going south - to wait it out... The highways, roads and side streets were bumper to bumper and moving at a very slow pace... Meanwhile as I gradually get south of where I live, the radio weather people are announcing storms spawning to the south - each one seemed to be heading exactly where I was - no matter where I went...

After about an hour I was 6 miles south and a bit East - that was it... The sky was green and the rain was falling heavier than I've seen in a very very long time.. Also the hail was starting... Just as I got to the intersection of SW 44th street and Pennsylvania Ave (two main streets in that part of the city) and got stuck behind a traffic jam - they announced that the leading edge of another storm was at.... you guessed it SW44th and Penn... I quickly pulled into the parking lot of a business... The building was low and made of brick, with no windows or doors on my side - which was facing away from the storm... I parked my car as close to the building as I could, grabbed my cat (who was not happy at all!) and ran for a corner of the building where there was another brick wall - so it formed an "L"... I hunkered down in the torrential downpour and hail and waited for the tornado to take me to Oz or wherever... Because the first rule of surviving a tornado is GET OUT OF YOUR CAR!

My cat and I stayed there for about 4 hours, getting totally soaked, bruised by hail and lashed by the winds (70 to 80 mph straight line winds)...

Now we had a new problem... Flooding... We got 8 inches of rain in an hour and a half, and it looked like all of it was draining right through where I was...

Finally I decided that the wall clouds and tornadoes were no longer a threat where I was so I recaptured my cat (he was REALLY unhappy), got back in my car and tried to make my way back home... The roads were rivers., and traffic was still bumper to bumper.... It took me 2 more hours to go the 6 miles to get home through some of the worst flooding I'd ever seen in this area...(remember - I was almost out of gas as well)...

When I finally got home - with the fuel warning light blazing merrily away at me - I discovered that everything was fine... No damage - in fact the danged power hadn't even flickered... I really - really should have stayed home...

I understand the weather casters telling everyone to "get out of the way"... but it was rush hour and the roads were already packed... Had any one of the tornadoes hit those streets - the death toll would have been very high...

Anyway.. that's my tale of excitement...

Wow! What a tale! Glad your okay and your place is still there.

Was watching the weather channel and praying for you!

Edited June 2, 2013 by Kowalski

[Taun]

You're making me feel positively privileged.

You'll notice I didn't claim that we Okies were extremely intelligent... just stubborn....

(glad you made it through Doug)

Edited June 2, 2013 by Taun

[lightly]

Wow Taun! and kittykat ! Glad your both ok. ( great news .. and sort of funny that everything was fine at home when ya got back )

[Doug1029]

(glad you made it through Doug)

Had a garden-variety thunderstorm up here last night. TORCON4 warning for this afternoon and tomorrow.

Doug

[Taun]

Wow Taun! and kittykat ! Glad your both ok. ( great news .. and sort of funny that everything was fine at home when ya got back )

It wasn't quite as funny at the time...

@Doug... Yeah some nice thunder-boomers early this morning, and some heavy rain - like we need more of it right? I think they said we are about 10" (25 cm) over our normal yearly amount of rainfall so far...

Edited June 4, 2013 by Taun

[rashore]

It wasn't quite as funny at the time...

@Doug... Yeah some nice thunder-boomers early this morning, and some heavy rain - like we need more of it right? I think they said we are about 10" (25 cm) over our normal yearly amount of rainfall so far...

Isn't that kind of a good thing though? I mean, after last years drought, and some areas are still considered in drought.. Isn't the extra rain a good thing? Or is it more like the crops are already getting set in and heavy rain now is a bad thing?

[Doug1029]

Isn't that kind of a good thing though? I mean, after last years drought, and some areas are still considered in drought.. Isn't the extra rain a good thing? Or is it more like the crops are already getting set in and heavy rain now is a bad thing?

Western Oklahoma is still a little below average. Here and east are above. Some smaller reservoirs are full up, but most are still well below capacity.

Doug

[Taun]

Isn't that kind of a good thing though? I mean, after last years drought, and some areas are still considered in drought.. Isn't the extra rain a good thing? Or is it more like the crops are already getting set in and heavy rain now is a bad thing?

One thing I noticed about farmers, they are never happy with the weather... I think right now the rain is interfering with the harvest of some crops, and wheat is highly susceptable to being "beaten down" by heavy rain... Not to mention mold on the grain if it is harvested and not dried properly...

[rashore]

Thank you Doug and Taun... That's what I was wondering.

[little_dreamer]

I saw this when I was checking my local weather.

El Reno Tornado Rated EF5, Widest on Record

http://www.weather.com/news/tornado-central/el-reno-oklahoma-city-tornadoes-recap-20130601?pageno=1

"The National Weather Service in Norman, Okla. has upgraded the May 31 tornado near El Reno, Okla. to an EF5. In addition, the width of the tornado has been given a "conservative" estimate of 2.6 miles. This is a new record for the widest tornado in history, beating the previous record of 2.5 miles near Hallam, Neb. on May 22, 2004.

The El Reno tornado is the same one that killed three storm chasers on Friday and injured the crew of our own Tornado Hunt team.

This is the second EF5 rated tornado in Oklahoma in a matter of weeks. An EF5 tornado devastated nearby Moore, Okla. on May 20, 2013."

[Taun]

I saw this when I was checking my local weather.

El Reno Tornado Rated EF5, Widest on Record

http://www.weather.c...130601?pageno=1

"The National Weather Service in Norman, Okla. has upgraded the May 31 tornado near El Reno, Okla. to an EF5. In addition, the width of the tornado has been given a "conservative" estimate of 2.6 miles. This is a new record for the widest tornado in history, beating the previous record of 2.5 miles near Hallam, Neb. on May 22, 2004.

The El Reno tornado is the same one that killed three storm chasers on Friday and injured the crew of our own Tornado Hunt team.

This is the second EF5 rated tornado in Oklahoma in a matter of weeks. An EF5 tornado devastated nearby Moore, Okla. on May 20, 2013."

That's the one that was headed straight for my place, when I "bugged out" in my story earlier... My main gripe is that the weathercasters never announced that it had lowered in intensity, and actually went back up into the clouds - so tens of thousands of people were still jamming the city streets (myself included)... Had I known that it had gone back up I would have stayed put (and not gotten so wet, cold and battered by hail)....

[SHaYap]

That's the one that was headed straight for my place, when I "bugged out" in my story earlier... My main gripe is that the weathercasters never announced that it had lowered in intensity, and actually went back up into the clouds - so tens of thousands of people were still jamming the city streets (myself included)... Had I known that it had gone back up I would have stayed put (and not gotten so wet, cold and battered by hail)....

they thought there could've been a slight chance it might come back down again maybe >?

and smelling of roses ....

~

[Taun]

they thought there could've been a slight chance it might come back down again maybe >?

and smelling of roses ....

~

Thinking back on it, I think they just got so swamped with the other storms that kept cropping up (several at the same time) that they didn't want to spend time on one that was no longer a major threat... But there could be something to what you wrote as well...

(like your diamond pic - though my favorite "Stress" quote is the OTHER Law of Thermodynamics: "Things get worse under pressure.")