If you have watched the weather on the news over the last few days, you know there have been some big storms moving through the center part of the country. On Thursday May 1st there was an outbreak of thunderstorms and tornadoes that started in central Oklahoma and moved to the northeast toward Wisconsin. There had been as many as 12 twisters associated with these thunderstorms on Thursday alone.
So what, you say, tornadoes happen in Oklahoma every year. They happen in Wisconsin too. Well, the truth is, I saw these storms as they developed and was speechless. You see, I am writing this from a 6th floor hotel room in Norman, OK directly south of Oklahoma City. I am here for work related training and will be here for two more weeks. I knew Oklahoma had big storms, but I didn’t think they started until later in the spring. I was wrong.
I had finished my training for the day and had returned to my room to watch television for a bit before going to dinner. It had been extremely windy for the last few days. (30 mph and up) In addition, the temperature Thursday was in the mid to upper eighties. There had not been many clouds so except for getting blown over you could call it a beautiful day.
As I was returning to my seat after fetching the TV remote, I happened to see a huge wall cloud with the tell-tale anvil shaped top blocking out a large portion of the sky.
A super cell thunderstorm was less than 10 miles to my northwest. The afternoon sun was in the southwest lighting the storm from the side as I looked straight north out of my room window. A most picturesque sight I assure you, but because of its immense size and close distance, I immediately switched to the news.
I had always thought Wisconsin news people did a good job covering storms and tornadoes. That is, until last Thursday.
When I turned on the Oklahoma City news, they already had live news helicopter footage, a news person in a vehicle under the developing storm as well as the meteorologist in the studio.
To be fair, the number of severe storms the Sooner forecasters cover is much greater than what we see in S.E. Wisconsin. As it is said, practice, practice, practice...
The storm was moving NNE so luckily I was safe from my vantage point. There were no funnel clouds, hail or wind shear yet either. I kept the TV news on in the background and read the hotel tornado safety procedures before turning my chair toward the window.
“This storm is developing and will most likely produce tornadoes within the next half hour,” said the news person. (What county was I in again?)
“There are clouds being pulled from the west, south, and east feeding this storm. It almost looks as if it is alive,” said the helicopter reporter.
I don’t know about the east or west but he was right about the clouds from the south.
Being fixated on the giant (and dramatically lit) thunderstorm moving to my north I noticed low level clouds seemingly no more than a thousand feet off of the ground, being pulled into the bottom of the storm at an incredible speed. The clouds in the top of the storm so high, movement could not be seen. The mid-level clouds were where the “life” was. I became aware of the clouds along the whole side of the storm “rolling” horizontally as the vertical lift bringing in the low clouds made room for the newcomers.
“There are reports of golf ball to tennis ball size hail,” continued the television.
“Tornado!” said the reporter on the ground. “There is definitely debris in the air.”
As the evening went on it was reported this first rotating cloud had not reached all the way to the ground, but the spinning winds had and caused damage. Television reports continued as large hail and more funnel clouds developed as the storm moved northeast toward Tulsa. I had watched the storm move away for almost an hour. The fast low level clouds had disappeared and the sky started clearing as nightfall came to the plains.
I DO NOT CONDONE TORNADO WATCHING OR CHASING! These storms are dangerous! TAKE COVER when a warning is given. Tornadoes can and do change directions once on the ground. Many times there are numerous funnel clouds as well. (As I said this storm had 12 throughout the evening)
There was NEVER an active watch or warning for the county I was in and the first funnel cloud was over 25 miles from my location.
Safety is way more important than seeing a tornado.
Thunderstorms; however, can be awesome!
See you ‘round the campfire