4/30 Severe weather threat

[Colonoscopy]

Were you trailing that storm? The map on Netflix shows chasers all around the storm.

I think we stayed east southeast most of the time. We were safe. Although it got dicey because traffic was a backed up mess as we neared Oklahoma City. Standstill at times with that thing looming.

If it had stayed together as it plowed east into the OKC metro we probably would have had a mass casualty event.

Everybody was on edge due to the level of threat that day and storm posed, and so you had a lot of people out on the roads ready to flee.

 

[TheCainer]

I think we stayed east southeast most of the time. We were safe. Although it got dicey because traffic was a backed up mess as we neared Oklahoma City. Standstill at times with that thing looming.

If it had stayed together as it plowed east into the OKC metro we probably would have had a mass casualty event.

Everybody was on edge due to the level of threat that day and storm posed, and so you had a lot of people out on the roads ready to flee.

Have you seen that documentary on Netflix? It looked like a traffic jam building with just the storm chasers that were present.

 

[Colonoscopy]

Have you seen that documentary on Netflix? It looked like a traffic jam building with just the storm chasers that were present.

Haven't, but thanks for reminding me.

 

[the24fan]

IIRC the 1999 Moore Oklahoma Tornado was flat out wicked.
If you get a chance Mike Morgan and the live feed that day of the tornado going thru the S Metro was just insane.

 

[TheCainer]

Haven't, but thanks for reminding me.

So how long have you done this? Just curious.
I've never chased storms but I have been a tornado "geek" since my first encounter dating back to the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak in Indiana in 1965. Over 200 people were killed that day as we didn't have the warning systems then that we have now. Had another close brush in the super outbreak of 1974 in the midwest.

 

[Colonoscopy]

So how long have you done this? Just curious.
I've never chased storms but I have been a tornado "geek" since my first encounter dating back to the Palm Sunday tornado outbreak in Indiana in 1965. Over 200 people were killed that day as we didn't have the warning systems then that we have now. Had another close brush in the super outbreak of 1974 in the midwest.

Good question. Started dabbling with it in 2008. Pretty regular since 2010. Probably have seen a tornado every year for at least a decade at this point. I'm not one of those that goes out on all the setups, but at least try to get a few big setups a year.

I was a weather geek growing up. But being in the 2006 Iowa City tornado in a Gilbert St Apartment complex made me want to chase.

Palm Sunday was a crazy outbreak to be a part of. Did you see anything or were hit by anything?

 

[the24fan]

What's even more amazing than the 99 Moore Ok tornado was that it was struck again on nearly the same path in 2013 both were E-F5. That's astronomical odds.

 

[TheCainer]

Good question. Started dabbling with it in 2008. Pretty regular since 2010. Probably have seen a tornado every year for at least a decade at this point. I'm not one of those that goes out on all the setups, but at least try to get a few big setups a year.

I was a weather geek growing up. But being in the 2006 Iowa City tornado in a Gilbert St Apartment complex made me want to chase.

Palm Sunday was a crazy outbreak to be a part of. Did you see anything or were hit by anything?

We didn't get hit by a tornado on Palm Sunday but were hit by a very violent storm that afternoon which knocked our power out till well after midnight that night. We weren't even aware of the outbreak until the following morning when all of the news reports started coming in. We found out that we had one tornado go about 10 miles south of us and another about 10 miles north of us. The storms that day were all pretty much moving in a SW to NE direction and we ended up between 2 of them.

In 1974, we had to cancel our baseball practice in high school that afternoon when one was spotted 10-15 miles west of us. That one hit my uncle's farm in White County and then went on to hit Monticello, IN as an EF4, killing 4 people I think. A neighbor of my uncle was also killed along with his son.

Out of my interest in these storms, I had a 1-week assignment near Dodge City, KS, I think it was 2017, and I remembered another EF5 storm that had hit the small town of Greensburg, KS in 2007 basically wiping it out. Greensburg was only about 40-50 miles SE of Dodge so I drove down there one afternoon after work and the "scars" from that storm were still somewhat evident. Just about every building in town was "brand new" and there were no mature trees to speak of. The grain elevator was about the only older structure still standing. I think they claim that Greensburg has now become one of the "greenest" cities in the US resulting from its rebuild.

 

[bagdropper]

What's even more amazing than the 99 Moore Ok tornado was that it was struck again on nearly the same path in 2013 both were E-F5. That's astronomical odds.

They grow 'em differently in that area.

The videos out on both of those storms are incredible, especially the 2013 storm. How that big a storm can just tear ass through a major metro like that - and then for the most part go right down the exact same path 14 years later.

I remember watching a video of the 2013 storm (basically a recording of a local OKC TV station covering the storm, with a helicopter capturing it all) and the studio guy mentioning over and over "folks, this is going down the May 3rd (1999) path"...like it's assumed by the viewing audience knows exactly what he's talking about.