Tornado Hits Moore, OK

[OJsDad]

The reports I have heard is that there was up to 16 minutes of warning due to how slow the tornado was moving.

MSNBC is saying 51 dead now.

The report I heard earlier was that the dead students had drowned when they took shelter in the basement.

[Bison]

I think the sad part is that schools are generally considered tornado safe shelters for the neighborhoods surrounding them.  It was one of the features that the school my child goes to touted when we questioned them about tornado procedures and shelters at the school.

[MetalDog]

That's terrifying, I read one of the teachers was found holding two students..

Any of you guys down south have experience in tornado areas?  How much of a warning can you expect? 

I read somewhere that because the soil is very wet in that area, they do not build many basements.  That's the only protection I can even think of, besides getting out of Dodge in a flash.

April 27, 2011 was the day over three hundred tornados marched through the South.  The thing I have found about tornados is, that they form quickly and usually aren't seen by those it is coming after.  Around here at least, they tend to be rain wrapped and look like a solid wall moving towards you.  Unless you have a radio or tv on, you can miss the hubbub pretty easily.  There are sirens everywhere, but they generally don't sound until one has been spotted in the vicinity.  Many times, that is too late.

[LongBlade]

Any of you guys down south have experience in tornado areas?  How much of a warning can you expect? 

Depends. Most of the time you know a couple of days in advance that you're in an area (which covers several states, typically) that may have the potential for severe weather.

Then the storms arrive. If they're strong enough you get a Severe Thunderstorm Watch. That means you might have severe thunderstorms. If they really are strong enough you get a Severe Thunderstorm Warning. If the storms are worse you get a Tornado Watch, which means a tornado might occur.

Most of the time yo have some notice. Usually upwards of an hour. Right now I'm under a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 1:30 AM. Looking at the future radar I can see we'll be hit with the brunt of the first line ~ 10:30 PM. More is to come. Tough to say how bad it could get, but probably nothing more than a big thunderstorm.

However, the last stage is Tornado Warning. There a tornado has been sighted, either visually or by radar. Then you have maybe seconds to minutes.

I remember hearing what I thought was a big, slow jet going over the house in Baton Rouge. I resisted the urge to go outside and look - I'm naturally paranoid and we'd had no indication of bad weather.

Turns out five minutes later my wife called. A tornado touched down in the town to the east. I had heard the funnel cloud forming over my house. In that circumstance there had been zero warning, though if it had hit me, folks further east would likely have received some notice. Hopefully.

I read somewhere that because the soil is very wet in that area, they do not build many basements.  That's the only protection I can even think of, besides getting out of Dodge in a flash.

Depends. In Louisiana we didn't have a basement because the water table was about a foot under the soil. Most every other place we've lived we insisted on buying a house with a basement. First order of business is that we have too much stuff. Right behind that is the need to get underground to shelter if a storm hits.

The amount of shelter you get depends on the severity of the storm. An F1 or F2 likely won't cause much problem, although we have rugs to toss over ourselves for additional protection. An F3 gets dicey. That's a big storm.

F4 and F5 - you need a real bunker. That is an underground facility with six sides of concrete and a sturdy door that will lock.

Believe it or not, hundreds, if not thousands of people were probably in the path of this storm. Yes, some have been killed. Most survive, though having been in hit by a minor storm I can tell you it's not much fun to go through. And I've been around or near many more. You just deal with them. They should be respected, but almost always they hit somewhere that you're not.

That said, the village where I live now got hit by an F5 15 years ago. Folks around here remember it.

[Gusington]

I have actually been through a tornado myself, out in Albuquerque, NM. It was only an F1 but I was about a block away from it in the downtown area, driving a truck. I actually saw the funnel and almost shit myself. The whole truck shook. Luckily it passed us and kept going away from us.

[Bison]

I've been in the vicinity of several tornados.  They can be quite frightening.

[Steelgrave]

Since my family lives in OKC, I've been following the story streaming from OKC all day. I know Moore well since I lived in OKC for 6 years and almost bought a home in Moore. Don't really know where to begin except to say that my family is safe. I couldn't get in touch with my oldest son for hours so that was scary. One son lives a few miles north of the affected area, in south east OKC, the other lives in Norman ( yesterdays tornado was much closer to him). This tornado cut a path between their homes. My youngest son manages the largest 7-11 in Oklahoma so he lost at least one co-worker when the 7-11 in the storms path was flattened. To be clear, it wasn't his store, but he knew the worker who died today.

Anyway.

We lived through the 2003 F-4 that took out the GM plant. It literally came within a mile of my home and chased my oldest son up I-35, where he was barely three minutes ahead of it the entire time. This tornado hit much the same area but with a more devastating effect. I'm still listening to live streaming news from OKC and the anchor just broke down crying, talking about the possible death toll at the elementary school that was in the direct path of the tornado. I know people in Moore, some who have elementary school children, and I'm hoping for the best for them.

I'm not even sure how many tornados I've been through at this point, or the number of times I've watched the sky, waiting for the tell-tale hail and black clouds. If you live in Oklahoma, you learn to do that pretty damn quick. I'm probably moving back there as soon as my wife completes her Doctorate, because we want to be with our kids and grandkids....but I would do anything if they would move to Phoenix instead. Yesterday, after what turned out to be Round One of the tornados, I posted a joke cartoon I made up on our family Facebook page, that showed a tornado I captioned "Let's head for the storm shelter, said no Arizonan ever". It was funnier yesterday.

[TheCommandTent]

Since my family lives in OKC, I've been following the story streaming from OKC all day. I know Moore well since I lived in OKC for 6 years and almost bought a home in Moore. Don't really know where to begin except to say that my family is safe. I couldn't get in touch with my oldest son for hours so that was scary. One son lives a few miles north of the affected area, in south east OKC, the other lives in Norman ( yesterdays tornado was much closer to him). This tornado cut a path between their homes. My youngest son manages the largest 7-11 in Oklahoma so he lost at least one co-worker when the 7-11 in the storms path was flattened. To be clear, it wasn't his store, but he knew the worker who died today.

Anyway.

We lived through the 2003 F-4 that took out the GM plant. It literally came within a mile of my home and chased my oldest son up I-35, where he was barely three minutes ahead of it the entire time. This tornado hit much the same area but with a more devastating effect. I'm still listening to live streaming news from OKC and the anchor just broke down crying, talking about the possible death toll at the elementary school that was in the direct path of the tornado. I know people in Moore, some who have elementary school children, and I'm hoping for the best for them.

I'm not even sure how many tornados I've been through at this point, or the number of times I've watched the sky, waiting for the tell-tale hail and black clouds. If you live in Oklahoma, you learn to do that pretty damn quick. I'm probably moving back there as soon as my wife completes her Doctorate, because we want to be with our kids and grandkids....but I would do anything if they would move to Phoenix instead. Yesterday, after what turned out to be Round One of the tornados, I posted a joke cartoon I made up on our family Facebook page, that showed a tornado I captioned "Let's head for the storm shelter, said no Arizonan ever". It was funnier yesterday.

Glad your family is ok.

[MetalDog]

God bless you, Steelie.  Very glad to hear your family is safe.  I pray all your friends are safe, too.  But mostly I pray for it to be over.  With no more death and destruction.

[Steelgrave]

Thanks, guys. Of all the places I've lived, Oklahoma may not be my favorite, but it feels like home. I'm praying for the kids who were in that school, their parents and the people who were in the path of the storm. It's a terrible thing.

[bayonetbrant]

I don't have any family there, but I'm pretty sure I know folks from back in high school that live in/around OKC, and I played all those schools back when I was I in high school, so I know my way around OKC reasonably well.  Oklahomans know what to look for, and they know it's part of living on the plains, but the kids there had no say in where they live and they're bearing the brunt of this.

Oddly, NewsOK.com is saying that this twister followed pretty close to the track of the '99 storm, too.

[Steelgrave]

Just got an update from my son about the 7-11 that was hit. The three people who died (including a baby) were customers. 7-11 management was calling all the stores in Moore telling them to lock up and get the hell out, but the store that got hit didn't get the message in time. Besides the fatalities, the manager (my sons friend) is in surgery and a checker may be paralyzed. A third walked away unharmed.

[Steelgrave]

I don't have any family there, but I'm pretty sure I know folks from back in high school that live in/around OKC, and I played all those schools back when I was I in high school, so I know my way around OKC reasonably well.  Oklahomans know what to look for, and they know it's part of living on the plains, but the kids there had no say in where they live and they're bearing the brunt of this.

Oddly, NewsOK.com is saying that this twister followed pretty close to the track of the '99 storm, too.

Something I've heard mentioned by meteorologists in OKC today was that once all this is said and done, we need to look at the tracks of the 99, 2003 and 2013 tornados and try to determine why they all took such similar paths. Norman has probably the most advanced storm tracking facility in the nation (go figure) and OU is also very involved. Seems like it would be worth understanding a little better.

[bayonetbrant]

this is the school that got hit

http://goo.gl/maps/3aPxd

[Steelgrave]

^Just heard from my son that his asst. manager has two kids who go to that school. They were playing with my grandson on Saturday. Thankfully they are ok and survived the tornado with only bruises and a very frantic, frightened mom. That's way too close to home.