The "not so recently mentioned" Oklahoma Weather Machine took to grumbling about 4 PM and hasn't let up yet. The heat of SW Oklahoma in the presence of jet stream shear and gulf moisture has boiled up super-cell after super-cell. And they're still growing.
With nerves of steel I have sat through years of 'nader after 'nader dancing about the countryside. My most apparent discomfort is usually the local news breaking in on the telley with some hysterical report of Volkswagen size hail somewhere.
I did blink this evening, however.
From about 4 until 6 I sat and watched a huge tornado grow on tv. The helicopter and ground chasers gave us constant reporting. Every minute that clicked by it was apparent I was in the storms path. Shheeeeuuutttt...
It finally roared across the north end of the airpark here in Norman, I live on the south side of it. 10K feet is a little too close for comfort. Probably an EF1 or EF2, it leveled a lot of trees and tore up a hotel on I-35. And then on it went to the NE...good riddance.
Man, I hate those things.
Our weather guy in the fair city of High Point has fancy new software that he shared with his viewers tonight. We followed your travails electronically and hoped there would be no serious damage or loss of life.
My kin lives to the north in south-central Kansas, so this time of year has meaning to us as well. Best of luck throughout the Midwest and stay safe, please.
This spring looks to be a great free firewood gathering season with all the downed trees from recent storms after the long saturation rains over the last few months.
And me too far behind in field work to even take the tools out of the truck and tune up the saw to gather any.
Rain forecast for the next 8 days.
So far, so good. Know better than to brag.
Looks like the OKC area got major rain a few minutes ago.
The photo in this link is a dandy. http://ksn.com/2015/05/06/strong-storms-spark-tornado-outbreak-in-north-central-kansas/
> It finally roared across the north end of the airpark here in Norman...
That would put Lemke's office right in the path, more or less.
Mark
< Lemke's office...
Dead center. I believe it went just north of the 7-11 at Rock Creek and 36th. Av. NW and the Hospital on Tecumseh and 35 got some damage...so Lemke's office is right there in the middle.
So is a storage rental I've had for years...full of useless junk. I can only hope it blew all that junk away so I won't have to deal with it.
edit: I take that back, I've got a collection of "chains" in a box there. Probably a dozen and a half..with two Gunter's-style. One 'half' chain (2 rod) and one 66'. I hope the 'nader didn't hurt them!
From Yahoo....
🙁
So far no deaths in the OKC area, just some critical injuries.
Here are some heli photos from this morning from KFOR TV:
http://kfor.com/2015/05/07/first-aerial-daylight-images-of-the-may-6-tornado-damage/
Mark
> < Lemke's office...
>
> Dead center....
Word this morning is that their office has been spared. No damage.
Al Roker says it won't let up until after Saturday.....:excruciating:
Over 7 inches of rain fell; that's more than 0.6 feet!
Stay safe my friends....
I used to peddle Leica in OK for a period in the late 90's and was in OK City not long after that big one tore it up, I'd never want to be in the path of one of those things. After that one left OK City it crossed I-44 to the northeast and pretty much leveled an outlet mall that was up there.
What was crazy was that there were buildings where one side looked undamaged and the other side was just gone... almost surgical.
