[colleeng47]

Great post -- excellent description. I'm glad you survived to tell the story.

[texangelwings]

Thank you both, Chickrae and Colleeng!

[texangelwings]

Colleeng,

Thanks me too!

[TU 'cane]

I've been wondering. With all these tornadoes that have been popping up in the Northern part of the Midwest and a few other areas (where it's not too common), do you think people respect Oklahoma a little bit more now? Do you think any of them realize that we go through this every year and we push through it?? Do you think they know it's not something to joke about now? Just been wondering..

[Nameless]

I'm not sure. I just hope that the widespread tornadoes in many areas of the country this year will take some of the focus off Oklahoma having so many tornadoes. There is way more to here than tornadoes and it's time the rest of the country realized that!

[LadyRobyn]

Mack Trucks fascinate me, but I'm not going to stand in front of a speeding one to get a better look.

Regardless of the size, being in the crosshairs of a tornado is a spooky feeling. Closest I have been was in February 1980 in Fresno, CA if I remember right it was an F1 and it tore part of the roof away from the airport, damaged some houses and quite a few cars. I happened to be in the bank across the street from the airport... Tornado hopped over the bank and hit the airport.

Thanks to the large windows in the bank we got a birdseye view of the Tornado skipping through the neighborhood behind the bank and then hitting the airport. Everyone in the bank saw it coming and started screaming to get away from the glass and under something sturdy.

My Mom was waiting for me in my car, so I ran out to get her... she was standing in the middle of the parking lot frozen in fear. (She was raised in AR and was terrified of all storms) I grabbed her arm to pull her into the bank, when she pointed up... near the top of the funnel we could see an aluminum rowboat spinning like a toy. (It got dropped in the field behind the bank)

I pulled her inside the building where we all watched and waited till it moved off in the distance. When we stepped outside the first thing that I noticed besides all of the debris was the eerie silence... the first sound we heard several seconds later were the sirens coming to that part of town.

I've only seen one little F0 since we moved to OK and it was just a pristine white little tendril dropping out of a jet black sky... I still wish I'd had my camera that day!

[OkieWolf]

I really don't understand some folks that don't pay any attention to weather warnings. When they say there is a tornado warning why do some people refuse to see it as a serious threat ? The answer........because they've never been in one so they have no fear of them. It's the same with wild animals. If a wild animal has never seen a human or had any type of contact with a human then they have no idea they're soon to be hanging on the humans wall. But, people just don't understand the power that tornadoes possess and the destruction they're capable of, despite all the information out there....as well as the movies.

Other people seem to believe that the tornado won't hit them because it hasn't yet. That just shows the complete ignorance people have to tornadoes. Of course they can hit you! It doesn't matter if you've been hit before or not.

Going outside during a plain old thunderstorm is not only dumb it's potentially lethal. Then, to go out into a mesocyclonic thunderstorm is just suicidal. If you want to see it then watch it on TV or go on the internet and look at pics or videos but do not go out in any type of storm. If it's not tornadic then you stand a very good chance of being hit by lightning. If not lightning then there is always straight line winds that I have personally witnessed upwards of 90mph. And yes, that will definitely leave a mark! Also there is hail that I have seen larger than a baseball. This will also leave a mark!

I always get aggravated at people when I see them on TV with their hair sticking straight up and smoking because they just got hit by lightning. Or the idiots you always see that say "oh, it just came out of nowhere" while they're looking at nothing but a foundation where their house once stood. No it didn't! Tornadoes DO NOT come out of nowhere! Neither does lightning. People that say those kinds of things need to pull their head out. What do you think all those weather reports were all about on the TV, radio, storm alerts, internet warnings ? What did you think those bright flashes outside were ? What did you think those loud "explosion" noises outside were for the past hour ?

And, to those of you who intentionally go outside to "look", you need to actually be in a tornado once. You won't do it again, I guarantee. You also need to go to the burn unit at a hospital, or the morgue, and see somebody that's been hit by lightning.
If you are not properly trained in storm chasing or meteorology then you need to stay inside and stop going out to get a look. You are going to be on the news soon and it won't be pretty.

[Chickrae]

Originally Posted by TU 'cane

I've been wondering. With all these tornadoes that have been popping up in the Northern part of the Midwest and a few other areas (where it's not too common), do you think people respect Oklahoma a little bit more now? Do you think any of them realize that we go through this every year and we push through it?? Do you think they know it's not something to joke about now? Just been wondering..

I certainly respect the area. I didn't pay much attention to the weather east of me until I moved here.

[Chickrae]

Originally Posted by OkieWolf

I really don't understand some folks that don't pay any attention to weather warnings. When they say there is a tornado warning why do some people refuse to see it as a serious threat ? The answer........because they've never been in one so they have no fear of them. It's the same with wild animals. If a wild animal has never seen a human or had any type of contact with a human then they have no idea they're soon to be hanging on the humans wall. But, people just don't understand the power that tornadoes possess and the destruction they're capable of, despite all the information out there....as well as the movies.

Other people seem to believe that the tornado won't hit them because it hasn't yet. That just shows the complete ignorance people have to tornadoes. Of course they can hit you! It doesn't matter if you've been hit before or not.

Going outside during a plain old thunderstorm is not only dumb it's potentially lethal. Then, to go out into a mesocyclonic thunderstorm is just suicidal. If you want to see it then watch it on TV or go on the internet and look at pics or videos but do not go out in any type of storm. If it's not tornadic then you stand a very good chance of being hit by lightning. If not lightning then there is always straight line winds that I have personally witnessed upwards of 90mph. And yes, that will definitely leave a mark! Also there is hail that I have seen larger than a baseball. This will also leave a mark!

I always get aggravated at people when I see them on TV with their hair sticking straight up and smoking because they just got hit by lightning. Or the idiots you always see that say "oh, it just came out of nowhere" while they're looking at nothing but a foundation where their house once stood. No it didn't! Tornadoes DO NOT come out of nowhere! Neither does lightning. People that say those kinds of things need to pull their head out. What do you think all those weather reports were all about on the TV, radio, storm alerts, internet warnings ? What did you think those bright flashes outside were ? What did you think those loud "explosion" noises outside were for the past hour ?

And, to those of you who intentionally go outside to "look", you need to actually be in a tornado once. You won't do it again, I guarantee. You also need to go to the burn unit at a hospital and see somebody that's been hit by lightning.
If you are not properly trained in storm chasing or meteorology then you need to stay inside and stop going out to get a look. You are going to be on the news soon and it won't be pretty.

Thank you for that information. I will never go out in a thunderstorm. Thanks for the great warning. I have always been afraid of lightening, and now I am afraid of flooding after walking through waist deep water this morning to get to my car.

[OkieWolf]

Oh yea, I forgot to mention flooding....

Another thing that is important if you live in Oklahoma.....get a storm cellar. Many, many people do not have cellars. Most of those folks are people that have moved here from somewhere else and don't realize that a cellar will save your life at some point if you stay here long enough.