10-9-2018 Oklahoma Tornado outbreak

[andyk1]

Hello all!!!

This post is for all those wondering and asking about what happened and how close the outbreak was to me. Well it was close. I am trying to figure out how to upload a local news chart to show my location compared to the outbreak. This was and I mean a surprising outbreak as it happened early 8:30am or so compared to historical afternoon/evening storms 3:00pm to 12:00am and very rarely past 12:00am

If this works the location of the chart is at https://www.nicomaparkwx.com/wx/imgs/10 ... rnados.jpg

In the diagram from Channel 9 News I think (Ok it is, I peeked...) if you count the yellow bars from top left toward the bottom right, I live between yellow bars number 3 and 4. I managed to place a light blue dot between those to two lines...barely. The road between Oklahoma city and the town of harrah is highway 62 or 23rd street which are the same. The Tornado to the east (third path line) missed us by half a mile and the tornado (fourth path line) minutes later missed by a country mile (1 mile) as they say. We did not know about the second until the news let us know. Yes I agree (WE WHERE LUCKY)

The reason I am posting this again is, I did not realize until today when I check my log as to how many looked at my site during and after the outbreak and the number is 29 from all over the world. News Travels fast in this day and age.

I guess we live in crazy times as I have been telling family and friends that we have been getting plenty of lead time (3 days to 13 min) on average compared to 15 years ago when we where sometimes warned after the storm has passed. The reason I say that is when the storm radio went off with an early am alert I blew it off as a test or whatever reason but it sounded off again few min later and then our local siren which by the way is a 1/4 mile away was louder than normal and then all the other sirens around us (5-6) in total went off and that is hard to ignore we headed to the storm cellar without checking the news as I have a 40 inch television down there. It wasn't a few minutes after we'd gotten our dogs and birds down safely our ears started popping and my wife and I looked at each other and knew that it was close. The Tornado that went by us (the first) hadn't even been reported on but Yellow line number 6 and 7 where being discussed. About 10 min after our what we thought was only one tornado they where talking about two one to our west and one to our east. Talk about close call.

All the time we have lived here no one can recall a storm outbreak this early in the morning as atmospheric conditions are just not there to spawn severe weather.

I was dying to check my weather array after it pasted as I saw it survived and was still up and wondered if it caught the inflow of air rushing toward the center of the storm but as luck would have it power went out as the storm started taking out the power poles (5 in total) to our west and 3 to the east. Normally power going out is not a problem as we have all electronic (cable box, Cable modem, router, meteobridge and ObserverIP on USP's but I didn't count on the power poles which also carry the cable and internet signals going out. Not sure why that never dawned on me. I caught up to the high 20 mph, 28-29 I think before the poles went down so I had a pretty exact time of that happening.

The one thing I remember very well is when my ears popped (from low air pressure caused by the center of the storm sucking in air around it) and looking at my wife and knowing she had the same sensation we knew whatever was happening... was here. The other thing is we spent hours in the past getting our important papers and other valuable things togather for a bug out box as they say (Metal Strong box) and we literally left that behind as there was absolutely no time to think but move.

We for the most part sustained no damage to property other than frayed nerves. To our west 3 cars where flipped upside down on highway 62 with no serious injuries and somehow the storm splitting between a few business and roof damage only and haven't heard of any to our east.

We have been picking up pieces of insulation and roofing material the past few days so if your missing any you can stop by to get it...

[Johnny]

Hi Andy,

That all sounds pretty scary, but a good read as well, glad to hear you're all okay. Do all your neighbours have storm shelters? How long did you have to stay in your shelter for? It's a shame that the 'power poles' also carry the telephone/com cables as well.

[andyk1]

Hi Andy,

That all sounds pretty scary, but a good read as well, glad to hear you're all okay. Do all your neighbours have storm shelters? How long did you have to stay in your shelter for? It's a shame that the 'power poles' also carry the telephone/com cables as well.

Hi Johnny!

It was a bit on the scary side as it came up out of nowhere early in the morning which well now I'll have to say very rare. I can't remember one that early in the morning. Most neighbours do have storm shelters about every 4 to 5 homes. The homes to either side of us come to ours as it is fairly large and have had up 14 people a few times. It was just my wife and I this time as it happened quick for us. We stayed in the storm shelter maybe 15 min till we knew it was past and right after it turned out to be a strange beautiful morning.

Yes we live in an area that still carries electricity, phone lines and cable television/internet on power poles. Most of the newer housing area's are putting them underground and I suppose maybe one day they will get to us. Power goes out here so often that we have our own generator and also a spare generator. I also have 400 watts of solar that keep four 12 volt 100AH batteries inside the storm shelter of course. Lots of emergency stuff I won't get into but maybe a months worth of food, water, dog and bird foods etc.

[Johnny]

You sound very experienced in what do in these bad weather experiences - even food and water. Coincidently I also built a tiny little solar array earlier this year (same battery power as you) enough to power modems, weather dongles, switchers and so on. That said, it's very rare we get power cuts here, all cabling is underground, so if we do get a cut it's when some silly bugger with a JCB digger ploughs through a cable. But most telephone wires are above ground on poles, but they pretty much stay in place as we never get the extreme weather that the USA experiences.

Hopefully you won't have to go into your shelter too often, as it must be a worry when you come and what you expect to see.

[andyk1]

Hi Johnny!

Well no more experienced than anyone my age I suppose. I also have about 22 1/2 years traveling the world and experiencing just about every type of weather at different times of the year. I also have experience traveling the US and Canada for 15 years after as a long haul trucker with my own business in both summer and winter and knew what to expect any given season. I got to experience the coldest of cold any human would want to, and thinking why would anyone want to live here to the hottest of hot and again wondering why. It is true some countries has it's most sever to the most mild and wherever you live one time or other the weather catches up to you in the form of unexpected nasty to the most beautiful of weather. If your a local to your weather you learn to adapt and except what God/Nature has thrown at you which ever you choice to believe.

I knew moving here 15 years ago what to expect as my wife's family is from here and had to except the risks in one form or other. The one absolute thing I wanted when moving here was a storm shelter. I went through about a dozen homes before choosing the home we live in now. Brick walls with a shelter big enough to store a months worth of provisions for 5. Most people living wherever to are learn to adapt and know what to expect in one form or other.

Andy