This was the first chase that I have done in years. This was a chase due to necessity rather than curiosity. This was a chase that I never want to do again.
I have been without power, internet, and phone until now. I have only see a few pictures from the internet and first hand experience of what happened. With that said, here is my account of the day before I spend hours catching up.
I started the day off in the office in Norman. I called daycare (between 4th and 19th St in Moore) around noon to let them know I would be picking up my daughter at 230 because of the possible storms. I let them know that they should keep an eye on the weather later in the day. I checked out the HRRR and the 4km SPC WRF and noticed they they were popping cells over the metro from 2-4pm. While I kept an eye on the 1km vis sat loop from Dupage, I saw that OUN had launched a 17z sounding (notified via twitter). While the instability was extreme, I was not too convinced with the low level shear. However, as I learned from a data set Dr. Richman gave me in Metr. Statistics, extreme instability can compensate for moderate shear (especially in the southern plains). This happened with the 5/12/2004 tornadoes near Attica, KS.
So, I was now confident the atmosphere was primed. Once I saw the towers go up near Lawton and the one near KCHK, I decided to head to day care. While driving north on I-35 toward Moore from Norman, I noticed that the storm quickly had an anvil that was shearing in all directions. At this time, I called the daycare and coworkers to let them know the storm was coming. Quickly I contacted a fellow met and asked him what it looked like on radar. He said that it absolutely exploded with the latest scan. At this point I am sitting in front of the daycare watching the clouds in the anvil come flying across in a wave like fashion toward the east. I saw the back of the updraft and the noticeable horizontal rotation as the clouds were rapidly rising. I quickly went into daycare and let them know to get ready to take shelter (nap time had just ended). The storm had just become severe warned.
As I drove down Eastern toward Indian Hills, I called my wife to get her aware of the situation. Mike Morgan was already going wall to wall on KTOK 1000. My daughter and I sat at the corner of Indian Hills and Telephone/36th and watched the base (not necessarily rain free). Within minutes I made the decision to go get her and the pups from the house because this beast looked like it might head in our direction and our storm shelter won't be installed until the end of May. As I pulled up to the house the cell went Tornado warned. We went back to our perch at Indian Hills and Telephone and watched. Our house is just south of SW 34th on Telephone (1.5 mi south of Warren Theater). I just moved from SW OKC to Moore in March. In reality, the move was only a couple of miles. But, it is a couple of miles that saved us from losing everything. Our old house was on 149th Pl across the street of Orr Family Farms and Briarwood Elementary.
As we watched the storm we noticed rapidly rotating rain curtains. It was hard to see what was in there. I couldn't tell if there was a tornado on the ground or not. But, then it dropped that elephant trunk and there was no mistaking it. I called family to let them know we were out of harms way. I then called daycare to let them know there was a tornado on the ground. Withing minutes the elephant truck transformed into a wedge. When the tornado stopped its northeasterly motion, we repositioned 1 mile further south and west at Franklin and Santa Fe/48th. This is just next to the south doppler radar.
I only took 1 picture of the tornado. I was just too dumbfounded watching this thing roll through my old neighborhood. When the tornado got closer and remained a large and growing wedge, I called daycare one last time to let them know that this was a very serious tornado. The tornado was visible from our location until it got to about 149th and Western. At that point it became impossible for me to actually see the tornado. There was dirt and debris circulating around it for more than a full 1 mile section. It was due north of my location at this point. I can remember the fear and knots in my stomach as I watched. I was confident that it didn't hit our new house because I could still see the large flag at the Harvest Church in Norman. But, I was certain that it went right through the old neighborhood. I could see power flashes when the tornado became obscured. By the time it got to I-35, I was too far on the SW side to see anything. We waited a little longer and then went to make sure our house was there. It took 30 minutes to go 0.75 miles on telephone Rd to get home. Luckily we were about 1.5 miles away from the tornado path. There was debris littered throughout our yard. We were without power, cell reception, tv and internet. But we were safe.
I was able to fire up my radio to listen to the aftermath that night. It sounded catastrophic. All night long we could hear the ambulances going up and down telephone road. Still today, 2 days later, there is the constant noise overhead of helicopters flying non-stop. Slowly I was able to get messages from some of my old neighbors. They said half the homes on my old street were gone or severely damaged. Our old house sustained probably EF-1 damage from my best guess. My neighbor directly across the street to the north had EF-3. I learned today that NWS found EF-5 at Briarwood Elementary. The school is only 250 yards away from the old house. Luckily the tornado narrowed after crossing I-35 and spare our daycare. It received EF-0 damage. Not more than 200 yards north it goes to EF-3 and EF-4 (300yds). I am thankful that everyone on my old block is alive and safe.
My prayers go out to all in Moore.
I can't figure out how to upload my photos.
) and had to drop South...this is what I witnessed...
