A classic Hook Echo- Tornado!
 

Its getting ugly in north OKC, hope all the Pelicans up there are taking precautions, Okies know what to do.

This is the radar signature that indicates a Tornado, one of the best I have seen.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1306273549.jpg
The twister is in that hook right above the purple ball. The purple ball is the debris ball.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1306273613.jpg
The back side of the storm as it formed over my hometown.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1306273698.jpg

Tornado in Calumet. I'm in Texas, but the family is up in Oologah :-(

It crossed I40 at Calumet, hooked at Piedmont, and is heading straight towards North OKC/Edmond....

Chickasha, too.

News9.com - Oklahoma City, OK - News, Weather, Video and Sports | - Breaking News, Local News, Weather, Sports and Video has a stream you guys can watch... Its wall to wall twister coverage. Looks like houses are being wiped out near chickasha. Scary storms.

Sid, the Mrs. reminded of '98 and the long-line that started down by Chickasha and moved up through Moore. Remember?

Yup, May 3, 1999.

Started near Chikasha, ran north and took a wide swath of Moore/south OKC

Then Stroud. Wiped out the outlet mall. Never rebuilt.

May those who perished today enjoy the Peace of the Lord. RIP

Tornado passed about 4-5 miles from us. We were paying close attention and had our spot in the laundry room ready.

Good to hear you are OK Chad... Still waiting to hear from some friends of mine in Chickasha... Looks like there is serious damage down there.

I've seen it a few times on airborne radar. Scares the crap out of me!

"How much fuel do we have?"

N

tornado's all around me.... into the safe room, out, back in, back out.... Jesus, got lucky nothing's hit ...yet

A friend of mine in Chickasha took a hit, as well as a friend up by cashion. Luckily neither of them were direct hits...

I have a friend who grew up in Tyler, TX...he a young survior of a tornado. Moved to the west coast to get away from them...literally. You can see the fear in his eyes as he describes his experience.

My total sympathy to all in Tornado alley. Yep, you too, Sidney.

Thanks, Paul...

I have been fortunate to never take a hit. I have seen a twister from a few miles away, and that is close enough. We have pictures of my parents house getting hit back in the early '80s. It just took the carport off that time, luckily.

The death toll is under 20 right now. Luckily we have great weather teams in OK and get lots of warning. Most okies are aware of the best place to hide, which minimizes the loss of life.

Bad night tonight. Watched 2 small spots of rotation start over my neighbors house then just as I was calling the wife to get the kids into the safe room they quickly dissipated.

This was taken near our HS about 3 miles away.

Nothing compared to what everyone else is going thru.

Hope everyone stays safe tonight.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1306293493.jpg

Neat pics. I really like watching weather, cloud formations ect. With all the devestation and lost life recently, I am starting to dread watching the storms come through. Even starting to heed the warnings and take cover when the sirens go off.

We just had a tornado blow through north Minneapolis on Sunday. Nothing compared to MO, but devestating none the less to those in it's path.

Sure glad we have basements here. I can't imagine a "safe room" is anywhere near as good as getting below grade, up against a corner or under the stairway.

The safe rooms do pretty well, usually when you see a house hit with one of them the house will be stacked on top of it.... We have a cellar here. After the 1999 storms there was FEMA money available in OK. We were in one if the outlying areas and were pretty far down the list, but enough people didn't do things within the time frame required, that we got some money. Paid for a large portion of our hidey hole

Yer welcome.

'Yer welcome' for all the times 'we've' bailed out idiots that keep rebuilding where earthquakes, mudslides, and wildfires keep destroying their homes.

What a douchenozzle comment

Cali has build codes with earthquakes in mind. (forcing owners to pay for the extra structure) Why would there NOT be build codes in an area where disasters are seasonal? That is, why do we have to fund other people's extra structure? (in seasonal disaster areas). Doesn't seem so douchenozzle a comment to say 'you're welcome"

It still costs MY money (*ahem*) to deploy the National Guard, or FEMA, or.....

Just a stupid, egocentric comment

For unforeseen event, I get. But if one builds, say, on a river, should FEMA give money to that owners for extra foundation and building stilts?

There is no "tornado code". They pretty well destroy everything in their path with very little advance notice. All you have time to do is take shelter.


After may 3 there was money available for all OK residents to apply for. It we t to those in affected areas first, and then to the outlying areas. They had stipulations about what you built etc, if you didn't meet that you didn't get the money. It trickled down and my folks got a shelter out of the deal.

outside a friends house yesterday.... http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1306352157.jpg

Radio news here just said the ohio river valley is about to catch hell. Damn, this has to be a record tornado season. :(

The news here a few weeks ago said there was already a record number of tornados and we were just starting into May the peak month.

that is crazy weather over there!!

good luck. when does tornado season end?
i would live in a reinforced bunker...crazy.

Tornado season doesn't really ever "end" The conditions become more unfavorable as the summer gets warmer and dryer... Usually April, May, and June are the biggees, but I have seen them in October as well. Just requires warm air and cold air meeting under the wrong set of conditions...

Saw rotations right above our home! Never developed but sure did scare our lil one! She took our Rat Terrier and went into the closet under the stairs while da Boy and I watched the show.

I heard one statistic from a retired meteorologist that every county of every state in the lower 48 has had at least one tornado. Obviously Oklahoma has way more tornadoes than Maine, but it CAN happen anywhere. Being prepared and weather aware is the best way to stay alive.

It all comes down to odds. I have lived in Oklahoma for many years. In those years I have only seen one tornado with my own eyes.

Most of the weather guys said that the conditions where almost perfect for a 5 to develop in the DFW. That would have been very bad.

Here is a pic of a hail "stone' that smashed through a skylight at work. The security guard had to change his underwear! It was the size of a softball!!!http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1306360723.jpg

Mike,

You don't have sirens over by you do you?

Think the closest ones are in FM.

I subscribe to Code Red Alert, if your municipality participates it's no charge to you, ECN - EMERGENCY COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

You can register your house/cell numbers and they call you with weather alerts 24/7.

My phones were ringing off the hook yesterday.

I like it because I still get notified of weather conditions at the house no matter where I am.

We were in Dallas a few weeks ago when some bad stuff came thru so we were able to call home to the baby sitter and give her a heads up.

Sorry to hear guys. That is some scary schit. To Sammy's defense in CA at least we don't have an earthquake season. If you don't have earthquake insurance you're SOL. Question? Does regular homeowner insurance cover tornado damage?

Sure does....

Wind

OK, so you don't have to pay $4,000 per year for devastating earthquake insurance with a $200,000 deductible that doesn't include pool or any other damage? Sweet.

Nope, just mudslide season and fire season.

Yes, as other's have said. FEMA is trying to prevent loss of life, not home damage/loss, when they finanically support shelters or other protective measures.

Want sticker shock, try Hurricane insurance in FL.

They showed a picture of one hail stone that fell in Norman. It was the size of a football!

Regular insurance coverage covers tornado or hail damage. It probably covers that in any location, except maybe where Hurricanes are common. Oklahoma has had a few small wildfires, but nothing at all like California. We have as many mudslides, tsunamis, and damaging earthquakes as volcanoes and asteroid hits.