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Old 02-23-2014, 11:20 AM
 
Location: Oklahoma City
374 posts, read 802,928 times
Reputation: 248

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All the questions about tornadoes from outsiders takes me back to a funny incident that happened a few years back.

It was about 96 and I was living on the NW side of OKC. This was the year of the Lake Hefner tornadoes that leveled those TV antennas over by the Broadway Extension. A younger middle aged couple moved in across the street from me. They had moved from San Francisco. Being neighborly, I introduced myself. One of the first questions they asked me about were tornadoes. I tried to give them good advice, but each time I started in with precautions and shelter locations, the guy would cut me off and talk about how California earthquakes were way worse and our weather didn't seem like anything he should be concerned with. So I said OK and went on about my business. This was in late February.

That May we had our usual outbreak. One afternoon a funnel was forming about a mile west of our addition. It was coming straight for our neighborhood. The sirens were blaring and people were coming outside to look. I saw the rotating vortex forming in the wall cloud that was fast approaching. Being a native, I knew that it wasn't organized enough to drop a funnel on our location and that the vortex would pass us before it became fully organized. It was clear however that it was going to drop a funnel. Needless to say, the native Okies did the usual: Grab some beer, grab the lawn chairs and get ready for the show.

As we were watching it approach, the California couple came barreling out of their house. The woman was screaming something and the man was yelling at her to find the keys to the mini van. They were frantic and very chaotic. By this time the wind was blowing in all directions. Both of them were running in and out of the house loading valuables. The mini van was packed to the brim. We just stood their, under the front patio cover, watching them, drinking our beer. The woman became increasingly eratic and upset. Suddenly she fainted in the front yard. We ran across the street and helped the man lean her up against the garage door. I offered her a bottle of water. We tried to tell him that the vortex would pass but he kept insisting that we get her in the van so he could escape. Needless to say the wall cloud passed over our addition and dropped a funnel over Lake Hefner about two miles from us. That was the first time I ever saw a waterspout. It did leave a swirl formation in the grass of my front yard.

About two months later I saw a Uhaul in front of their house. I walked over and asked them where they were headed.

The man told me that his wife couldn't handle another storm season in Oklahoma and they decided to move back to California.

Last edited by johnspecial; 02-23-2014 at 11:32 AM..
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Old 02-23-2014, 10:26 PM
 
Location: OKIE-Ville
5,542 posts, read 9,444,344 times
Reputation: 3296
Quote:
Originally Posted by johnspecial View Post
All the questions about tornadoes from outsiders takes me back to a funny incident that happened a few years back.

It was about 96 and I was living on the NW side of OKC. This was the year of the Lake Hefner tornadoes that leveled those TV antennas over by the Broadway Extension. A younger middle aged couple moved in across the street from me. They had moved from San Francisco. Being neighborly, I introduced myself. One of the first questions they asked me about were tornadoes. I tried to give them good advice, but each time I started in with precautions and shelter locations, the guy would cut me off and talk about how California earthquakes were way worse and our weather didn't seem like anything he should be concerned with. So I said OK and went on about my business. This was in late February.

That May we had our usual outbreak. One afternoon a funnel was forming about a mile west of our addition. It was coming straight for our neighborhood. The sirens were blaring and people were coming outside to look. I saw the rotating vortex forming in the wall cloud that was fast approaching. Being a native, I knew that it wasn't organized enough to drop a funnel on our location and that the vortex would pass us before it became fully organized. It was clear however that it was going to drop a funnel. Needless to say, the native Okies did the usual: Grab some beer, grab the lawn chairs and get ready for the show.

As we were watching it approach, the California couple came barreling out of their house. The woman was screaming something and the man was yelling at her to find the keys to the mini van. They were frantic and very chaotic. By this time the wind was blowing in all directions. Both of them were running in and out of the house loading valuables. The mini van was packed to the brim. We just stood their, under the front patio cover, watching them, drinking our beer. The woman became increasingly eratic and upset. Suddenly she fainted in the front yard. We ran across the street and helped the man lean her up against the garage door. I offered her a bottle of water. We tried to tell him that the vortex would pass but he kept insisting that we get her in the van so he could escape. Needless to say the wall cloud passed over our addition and dropped a funnel over Lake Hefner about two miles from us. That was the first time I ever saw a waterspout. It did leave a swirl formation in the grass of my front yard.

About two months later I saw a Uhaul in front of their house. I walked over and asked them where they were headed.

The man told me that his wife couldn't handle another storm season in Oklahoma and they decided to move back to California.
Go on and get!
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Old 02-24-2014, 10:21 AM
 
1,836 posts, read 2,201,813 times
Reputation: 2451
The hostility to people from other places on this board is really sad. This story is pretty suspect anyway.
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Old 02-24-2014, 10:33 AM
 
Location: Area 51.5
13,887 posts, read 13,610,086 times
Reputation: 9170
What's suspect about it? Sounds perfectly normal to me.
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Old 02-24-2014, 11:58 AM
 
1,836 posts, read 2,201,813 times
Reputation: 2451
That's a whole lot of action to happen for a storm to move one mile.
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Old 02-24-2014, 12:06 PM
 
Location: Oklahoma City
374 posts, read 802,928 times
Reputation: 248
Totally factual. I still chuckle about it today.
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Old 02-24-2014, 01:18 PM
 
Location: Oklahoma City, OK
5,353 posts, read 5,769,691 times
Reputation: 6561
Quote:
Originally Posted by swake View Post
The hostility to people from other places on this board is really sad. This story is pretty suspect anyway.
Agreed.
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Old 02-24-2014, 01:28 PM
 
Location: Oklahoma City
374 posts, read 802,928 times
Reputation: 248
Don't be mad guys. Someone had to start being honest about our weather on this forum.
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Old 02-24-2014, 01:33 PM
 
1,836 posts, read 2,201,813 times
Reputation: 2451
Honest how? By scaring people?

Here’s the real world. Tornadoes look really scary on TV after one hits. But generally the area they damage is comparatively very small to other natural disasters. Only a tiny fraction of buildings or people in Oklahoma have ever been impacted by a tornado. Myself I have never seen one except high up in the clouds.

You are more likely to get hit by lightning than be killed in a tornado in Oklahoma.
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Old 02-24-2014, 01:38 PM
 
Location: Oklahoma City
374 posts, read 802,928 times
Reputation: 248
Quote:
Originally Posted by swake View Post
Honest how? By scaring people?

Here’s the real world. Tornadoes look really scary on TV after one hits. But generally the area they damage is comparatively very small to other natural disasters. Only a tiny fraction of buildings or people in Oklahoma have ever been impacted by a tornado. Myself I have never seen one except high up in the clouds.

You are more likely to get hit by lightning than be killed in a tornado in Oklahoma.
You can't make more democrats move here by lying to them on message boards about our weather.
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