When was the last Tornado? (Tulsa, Norman: apartment, mobile home, school)

[northernyankee]

Does Tulsa have many tornado's? If so, how many a season? Also, do tornado's form at night when most people would be sleeping?
Is Tulsa located in the middle of "Tornado Alley"?
Thanks.

[StillwaterTownie]

No, Tulsa, does not have many tornadoes. But a bad one hits about 2 or 3 times a decade. Since Tulsa is the 2nd biggest city in the state, it's gonna be more likely hit by a tornado than a smaller Oklahoma city, such as Stillwater, which has not been hit by a tornado since 1990. And if I'm right, Norman can boast that it has never been hit by a tornado.

No, most tornadoes don't form late at night when people are sleeping, but notice I only said most. Most tornadoes form from the middle of the afternoon to sunset. Tulsa isn't quite located in the in middle of "Tornado Alley", but still well within it.

The people in Oklahoma and newcomers who should be most concerned about the danger of tornadoes are the ones who live in trailer houses. If you don't get hurt or killed staying in one during a tornado, then you're liable to panic and flee your trailer house in your car in the middle of a tornado warning and the tornado beats you to safer shelter.

[Synopsis]

It's not usually tornadoes that kill people, but the flying debris as a result of the tornado. Hence the reason to clear out of a mobile home during a tornado watch or warning.

I don't believe Tulsa has seen a tornado in over a decade or two; at least not a strong one.

[BigOkie]

Originally Posted by Synopsis

It's not usually tornadoes that kill people, but the flying debris as a result of the tornado. Hence the reason to clear out of a mobile home during a tornado watch or warning.

I don't believe Tulsa has seen a tornado in over a decade or two; at least not a strong one.

We were hit with a smaller one on the west side, which was the same storm that tore up Moore OK on May 3 1999. I remember this pretty vividly because May 4 is my birthday, so for the first few hours of my birthday at my old apartment I spent it huddled in my bathtub with about 10 pillows as the sirens went off. It did destroy an old school out on the west side, but nothing like the destruction that was in Moore/OKC earlier.

We've had a few scares, but not many touchdowns lately and if so, it didn't cause a lot of damage.

[nsuterry]

I've lived here all my life (30 years) and used to go storm spotting with my parents as part of our local amateur radio storm spotting groups. While there have been a few close calls where we expected storms to become tornadic and had to go out looking to see if they were, I have *never* actually seen a tornado.

Seriously, people here don't worry about them. We go out onto our balconies and try to see them.

[Chickrae]

Even if it did hit at night when you were sleeping, usually you have enough warning you could prepare. I just remember a few months ago when the sirens went off in Owasso and we heard that there might be one a couple days prior. Of course it didnt hit though

[dreamzwalker]

Tulsa had a large tornado in 1993. I remember because the boot landed in front of our car at 21st street where Eastland mall used to be. We went into the mall to avoid the storm but i saw the wall cloud and part of the tornado.
it was an F4 or F5. It went through eastern tulsa along I44 and leveled a truck stop and then went on to catoosa.

Here's a link to some pictures.
[url]http://www.k5kj.net/930424.htm[/url]

The photo is the 169 and I44 junction just north of 11th and near Garnet road.
new york times page
[url]http://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/25/us/tornado-in-oklahoma-kills-10-and-injures-50.html[/url]

On another note: an F1 hit last night.

[Sarahsez]

Are you sure a tornado hit Tulsa last night? Everything I've heard so far is that it was straight line winds with possible gusts up to 90 mph.

[nevergoingback]

EF2 damage confirmed in NE Sapulpa. Winds 111-135mph.

[Sarahsez]

Thanks! This morning, the news people kept saying it was just straight line winds and not a tornado.

The Tulsa area has strange weather. In the time I've lived here, I've noticed that we seem to get hit with the 'damaging' weather and the storms pretty much skips other areas that normally get bad weather. This area gets micro bursts and straight line winds and gustnados more than anything. The tornados usually happen off the 'normal' storm paths.