# Oklahoma Tornados

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858>\
**Category:** The BBQ Pit\
**Created:** [June 1, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858 "2013-06-01T13:24:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ClintO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@ClintO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClintO)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/1 "2013-06-01T13:24:01Z")

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I’m so god damned tired of these tornados in Oklahoma that fucking destroying everything. I live on the in the Village in Oklahoma City and every other day it’s get out of the way or underground. “You will not survive if you’re not in a shelter.” People try to leave and they’re just as fucked because of the traffic.

A friend in Shawnee comes out of a storm cellar and his car has all the windows busted out and two flat tires… It was a piece of shit expedition so not worth putting full coverage on so now it can sit with the 50 other totaled cars. I mean, if it hits a well to do neighborhood, it sucks but at least most have the means to pick themselves back up. When a mile wide son of a bitch tornado hits a section 8 trailer park where people can hardly afford shit, you end up with a man and woman carrying their baby down the road with no money, no insurance, and nothing left. They go from,“my life is shitty but maybe we can eat and have some clothes,” to ,“We’re homeless and completely at the mercy of strangers just to survive.”

Last night put it over the top for me. Another mile wide tornado is west of Oklahoma City heading straight for downtown. It comes with softball size hail at 5 in the evening and there is no place to go. Some tried to leave and the rest in storm cellars, then comes the 6 to 10 inches of rain. Drown underground or get your ass blown apart above ground. pretty sweet options. It’s like a crazed demon killer of a person trying to come up with the most fucked situation to put people in. “lets put 60,000 people without electricity so no one knows what’s coming, muhahahah”

Spring time in Oklahoma is notorious for this shit but lets give people a chance to pick up some of their stuff before it happens again.

-Clint-

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**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/2 "2013-06-01T13:34:12Z")

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You should move. If I had to guess, I’d say the tornados are there to stay.

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**Author:** ![ClintO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5ac83/32.png) [@ClintO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClintO)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/3 "2013-06-01T13:43:08Z")

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It happens in every state in the midwest so it’s basically a wait your turn.

Who would have thought moving would be the thing to do? Where are you going to move to that doesn’t have wildfires, earthquakes, hurricanes, or isn’t Idaho?

The storms can cut the shit for a little while, that’s all I’m saying

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**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/4 "2013-06-01T13:53:24Z")

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[Hawaii](http://www.forbes.com/2005/08/30/safestplaces-insurance-realestate-cx_sc_0830home_ls.html). There’s the occasional hurricane and tsunami, but they are well prepared. The last death from a tsunami was 30 years ago, and that was campers on the beach.

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**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/5 "2013-06-01T14:00:00Z")

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Move near me and then follow me. Despite the fact that I’d love to be in a big earthquake, hurricane or tornado, they’ve never happened to me.

By moving to the Bay Area 15 years ago I’ve single handedly prevented any earthquake bigger than a low 5, guaranteed that nothing like the Oakland hills fires would recur. My time living in Hawaii directly caused a couple hurricanes to swerve and made sure no earthquake in the rest of the Pacific triggered a tsunami.

I was only six, so my powers were weak and so could not prevent Mt. St. Helens from blowing up even though I could see it from our back yard. But I was strong enough to make sure that most of the negative impacts went in other directions than where we lived.

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**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/6 "2013-06-01T14:06:55Z")

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> [@DCnDC](#):
>
> [Hawaii](http://www.forbes.com/2005/08/30/safestplaces-insurance-realestate-cx_sc_0830home_ls.html). There’s the occasional hurricane and tsunami, but they are well prepared. The last death from a tsunami was 30 years ago, and that was campers on the beach.

That makes it a bit better I suppose.

Here’s a little traditional number:

She blowed away, she blowed away  
My Oklahoma woman blowed away  
Just as I bent and kissed her, she was picked up by a twister  
My Oklahoma woman blowed away

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**Author:** ![drew870mitchell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drew870mitchell/32/3946_2.png) [@drew870mitchell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drew870mitchell)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/7 "2013-06-01T14:59:26Z")

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> [@ClintO](#):
>
> I’m so god damned tired of these tornados in Oklahoma that fucking destroying everything. I live on the in the Village in Oklahoma City and every other day it’s get out of the way or underground. “You will not survive if you’re not in a shelter.”

I really like the more ballsy tornado warning messages that they’ve done lately. Maybe the last few years? They’re definitely more urgent than the ones I remember from my childhood.

These are some of the greatest hits of what I’ve heard on the radio the last two weeks:

> [@](#):
>
> ```
> THIS TORNADO IS WRAPPED IN RAIN - IF YOU WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE OR HEAR IT COMING IT MAY BE TOO LATE TO GET TO A SAFE PLACE. TAKE COVER NOW!
> TORNADOES AT NIGHT ARE ESPECIALLY DANGEROUS. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL YOU SEE OR HEAR THE TORNADO - IT MAY BE TOO LATE. TAKE COVER NOW!
> THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND LIFE THREATENING SITUATION. IF YOU ARE NEAR THE PATH OF THIS LARGE AND DESTRUCTIVE TORNADO..TAKE COVER NOW!
> A TORNADO MAY FORM AT ANY TIME - TAKE COVER NOW! ABANDON MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES FOR MORE SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER. AVOID WINDOWS.
> IF NO UNDERGROUND SHELTER IS AVAILABLE...GO TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES ARE NOT SAFE.
> DO NOT RUN OUTSIDE TO FIND THE TORNADO - TAKE COVER NOW! IF YOU CANNOT GET UNDERGROUND...GO TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. AVOID WINDOWS!
> RADAR SHOWS STRONG SIGNS THAT A TORNADO IS DEVELOPING - TAKE COVER NOW!
> THIS STORM SHOWS STRONG ROTATION AND MAY PRODUCE A TORNADO AT ANY TIME. DO NOT WAIT...GO TO A SAFE PLACE NOW! PUT AS MANY WALLS BETWEEN YOU AND THE OUTSIDE AS POSSIBLE.
> IF YOU ARE NEAR THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO...TAKE COVER IN AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR. PROTECT YOUR HEAD AND BODY FROM FLYING DEBRIS.
> DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADO MAY FORM AT ANY TIME. TAKE COVER NOW. ABANDON MOBILE HOMES AND VEHICLES. MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM OR HALLWAY ON THE LOWEST FLOOR.
> THIS TORNADO IS LIKELY OBSCURED BY RAIN AND MAY NOT BE VISIBLE. TAKE COVER NOW. 
> 
> ```

I snipped the ones I haven’t heard any parts of from this page: [tornado call-to-action statements](http://www.srh.noaa.gov/msd/CTAtor.htm). I just hope people don’t begin to get used to more urgent warnings like these and start ignoring them.

I’m continually impressed by the local television weather crews here in Oklahoma. I don’t quite know how to feel about watching tornadoes form from a live helicopter feed while I’m in my air conditioned dry house up the road in Tulsa. Kudos to them for the coverage; after the dust settles this season (if it ever does) talk about a treasure trove of documentation to learn more about how mother nature forms these.

P.S. Since this is the pit, fuck this weather with a rake. These colors don’t run.

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**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/8 "2013-06-01T15:01:58Z")

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If you want the tornadoes to stop you’re going to need to radically change the weather systems of Earth, or perhaps more easily you could try creating some mountain ranges down the middle of the continent which might help break pressure fronts up a bit. Good luck!

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**Author:** ![Ionizer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5daacb/32.png) [@Ionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ionizer)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/9 "2013-06-01T15:22:32Z")

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I hear ya loud and clear, \*\*ClintO \*\*I live a bit south of Chickasha, and had to get outta town when another off/on funnel was bearing down on us. Almost got good video of it but damn cellphone won’t focus worth a damn. The park in town here had a few trees knocked over and other minor stuff (more of a gust-nado, to use the locals’ terminology).

It is kind of neat how, when I first saw the clouds building, I called my teenage daughter outside to ‘educate’ her on how cells develop and grow, etc, basic meteorology stuff - and it kept getting bigger and more ‘solid’. Then more and more circulation, then the wispy edges going up and down in area where the hook-echo was shown on radar and me trying to not to show just how fucking concerned I was getting as she tends to freak and get pretty emotional at times like that…then I told her to go help get her grandma and Mom into car as we were bailing out of area. When I yelled “RUN!!”, she knew the seriousness.

I am happy she got to see what to look for in future storm events 🙂 The scalloping of the cloud base looks so cool when things settle down afterwards! The entire visible sky was entirely ‘bumpy’ with the rather low cloud deck - not too many folks see such a sky (fortunately, LOL). Our cockatoo sure did act unusual with the weather being so different than he is accustomed to, and at same time had to share the car with our Chihuahua, LOL. We certainly weren’t the only ones with animals just thrown into a vehicle - many cars had multiple animals’ heads hanging out windows as they sat along roadways, haha.

[Did ya see where a storm-chaser car got carried a few hundred yards??](http://www.newser.com/story/168845/tornado-hunt-car-hit-by-tornado.html) Near El Reno, IIRC. When I and family were waiting out of the storm’s main path, there were a LOT of ‘chasers’ sitting along Highway 7, with all their gear up and spinning, etc. It might’ve passed for some type of military exercise except for all the logos on sides of cars and trucks, LOL.

And at this moment, on the radar map (from [wunderground.com](http://wunderground.com)) I count at least seven rotating-thunderstorm ‘cells’ (per the icons Identifying storm-types) in a weather system that passed not far south of us just this morning. Mostly along Tx/Okie border up towards McAlester. Hell, scrolling map to east shows a LOT more than I imagined at first. Sigh, lots more shit still to go apparently (though hopefully not for Central Okies).

The last week or so of weather has sucked, for sure - and OKC-area has gotten more than its share of suckage, I totally agree :(☹

Fwiw - if you know anyone that needs a roof for their heads (or storage space in my shed out back) for awhile, lemme know. I will do whatever I can for anyone I can. Just sayin’…

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**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/10 "2013-06-01T15:34:29Z")

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We were at a friend’s cellar in Nichols Hills just down the road from us. HAd a neighbour come over with her grand daughter who just survived the Moore F5 in a safe room. She showed us the video she took right after coming out. Safe room was the only thing standing.

Poor kid was so nervous during this storm.

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**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/11 "2013-06-01T15:35:08Z")

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> [@drew870mitchell](#):
>
> I really like the more ballsy tornado warning messages that they’ve done lately. Maybe the last few years? They’re definitely more urgent than the ones I remember from my childhood.

i think that after Joplin there was more reason to change the warnings.

people would hear the warnings and then watch cable tv for more information.

people took all the weather warnings as cautions and get caught in the dangers of the weather. all the warnings for all seasons and hazards have been changed to actual impact warnings; these are being tested in the central USA.

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**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/12 "2013-06-01T19:22:35Z")

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> [@drew870mitchell](#):
>
> P.S. Since this is the pit, fuck this weather with a rake. These colors don’t run.

It seems they do, however, go to an interior room on the lowest floor, put as many walls between them and the outside as possible, and protect their head and body from falling debris. 🙂

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**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\
**Post date:** [June 1, 2013, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/13 "2013-06-01T22:52:28Z")

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Somewhere there is a woman who is the reason God Made Oklahoma. Fine

But somewhere there is a person who is the reason God HATES Oklahoma. You need to find that person and do something about it.

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**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/14 "2013-06-02T18:20:30Z")

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Three storm chasers from the old Storm Chasers show didn’t make it. Quite sad.

> **['Unpredictable' storm in Oklahoma turned on three chasers | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2013/06/02/us/midwest-weather/index.html?hpt=hp_t1)**
>
> Three men who devoted their lives to storm chasing died in Friday’s Oklahoma City tornadoes.

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**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/15 "2013-06-02T19:28:18Z")

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_Slate_ recommends Storrs, Connecticut as the best place to avoid natural disasters in the U.S.:

> **[Where to hide from Mother Nature.](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2005/09/where-to-hide-from-mother-nature.html)**
>
> Human beings are self-absorbed creatures, so the response to Hurricane Katrina has naturally included some hand-wringing over the question: "Could...

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**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/16 "2013-06-02T20:03:32Z")

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I think God is losing His aim. All the tornado video I saw, nary a trailer park in sight.

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**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/17 "2013-06-02T20:37:02Z")

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> [@BobLibDem](#):
>
> I think God is losing His aim. All the tornado video I saw, nary a trailer park in sight.

Don’t worry. Flood waters took out one in Midwest City, a suburb of OKC.

And one was destroyed in Shawnee in the earlier outbreak. Two people died in that one.  
.

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**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\
**Post date:** [June 2, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/18 "2013-06-02T21:27:45Z")

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> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> _Slate_ recommends Storrs, Connecticut as the best place to avoid natural disasters in the U.S.:
> 
> [Where to hide from Mother Nature.](http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/the_gist/2005/09/where_to_hide_from_mother_nature.html)

And unless the undercassmen at UCONN get frisky, you are safe from pretty much all excitement … it is a pretty boring little college widespot in the road.

[I live about 20 minutes from UCONN Storrs, I did my paralegal classes there]

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**Author:** ![colonial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/34f0e0/32.png) [@colonial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/colonial)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/19 "2013-06-03T00:06:29Z")

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Ever since Merle Haggard’s “Okie from Muskogee” I have figured that Oklahoma and everyone in it _deserve_ an F5 right in the schnozz.

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**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2013, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oklahoma-tornados/659858/20 "2013-06-03T11:23:57Z")

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This is what happens when you steal the land from a peaceful, tornado loving people.

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