Moore, OK — Hit Again!

You’ve likely already heard about it. You’ve seen the news, seen the drama.. I’m late to the party, but I’ve been building this website. Sue me.

This event has brought a bunch of dramatic posts from all angles, including meteorologists, storm chasers, spotters and the general public. The two focal points have been on 1) NWS failing to issue a tornado warning before the tornado and 2) AccuWeather prediction of tornado events before the storm. Obviously I have connections here, serving as a volunteer and intern within the NWS for 4 years, and even more obviously, working for AccuWeather.. Beyond that, I respect both organizations to a very high level and have no desire to speak ill in any way… Long story short, you won’t lasso me into speaking on either situation explicitly.

I will however talk about my chase experience from the day! — I began of course in Norman. The decision to go northeast toward Tulsa for the warm front storms, or wait southwest for the dryline was tough… I decided I liked the front better, so I took off with Brett (@wxmstr) and Nicole, my girlfriend (@nicoleuncreativ) and we went and sat on I240 just east of Oklahoma City. After a hefty delay, I decided to hedge us a bit north, northeast of the city.. As we began heading north, I saw a flash of lightning! I didn’t see anything on radar, but I was sure what I just saw.. Sure enough, next scan, boom, there it was. We followed this initial development northeast toward Stroud/Chandler. By the time we got to that point, the storm was looking messy, we knew Tulsa was coming with rush hour and horrible terrain, so we decided to call it quits and head back southeast toward OKC..

We got into OKC and awaited the line to hit us.. We sat at a gas station on NW 23rd and took the core of the storm.. After it passed, we were hearing reports of damage and a tornado in Moore, so we headed right that way to see what was up. We got into down and ran into damage on the north side, before getting into the heart of Moore.. Many of the same areas that got hit May 20th, 2013 were hit again, especially across from the Warren Theater on I35.. I couldn’t believe it.. These poor people!!

What was unsettling, is the tornado began right by my new apartments (I move in in May), on 119th… Spooky!

Anyways, here is my video from the day! Nothing too fancy, but it does highlight the damage in Moore, plus some cool hail video.. Enjoy!