Another tornado moving into Oklahoma City

http://kamala.cod.edu/svr/ ^

[Lucas1]

Storm spotters report a large tornado approaching Oklahoma City. This just happened yesterday. God be with those people.

[kcvl]

I apologize for this being SO BIG!

[rwfromkansas]

Prayers lifted up for the people of Tulsa.

God please protect them and my relatives in Sapulpa.

In the strong and mighty name of Christ,

Amen.

[RasterMaster]

I didn't get any information on where, but the tornado was on the ground from El Reno to Tulsa. Could have been earlier, but they did not report it on the ground until it crossed Hwy 81 and touched down near Union City.

I heard on the radio while I was driving north that the Xerox plant was hit and debris from the building was found across town.

[kcvl]

http://iwin.nws.noaa.gov/iwin/graphicsversion/bigmain.html

[rwfromkansas]

Intellicast is often very delayed.

I have Stormlab at my dorm computer: www.interwarn.com

It is very good.

[Charles Henrickson]

PKM:

I know you've been watching on TV. I was just posting a reply to the last person who mentioned the radar (which was you). I should have addressed it to "All."

All:

When you zoom in on the map, you can see a small purple dot moving up along I-44, just north of the highway. According to the code, that's where the strongest winds are located. Looking at my atlas, I see it moved over right where Stroud is.

National Weather Service Radar Image - Short Range Base Reflectivity - Oklahoma City, OK

Looks like the storm is heading straight for Tulsa.

Be sure to hit "refresh" occasionally to get the latest radar.

[rwfromkansas]

good.

[stlnative]

My prayers are will all of you in OK & MO. This has been probably one of the worse tornado seasons in history. I know thet said the other day it was the 3rd worse before Southeast MO, IL & TN was hit again and before OK was hit just after MO, IL, & TN.

[Conservababe]

This highway closures and jams make me think of the danger of driving in unfamiliar areas, such as on vacation.

What should one do, always keep the car radio tuned to the nearest local station? Should one abandon a vehicle in case of a tunnel spotted?

[kcvl]

Tornado Warnings Type in zip code...

[dennis1x]

charles..base reflectivity is a precipitation (not wind) measure....

[boltCutter]

There are basically two primary reasons why there aren't as many basements in the southern United States. One is that rainfall is typically much heavier there and, yes, the water table is higher. Flooding of basements is a constant and expensive problem. Usually, houses with basements are built on a steep slope to provide adequate drainage. Without it, you are almost guaranteed of continual flooding. No amount of waterproofing solves the problem either.
The second reason is purely economic. The frost line in the south is very high, but much deeper in other parts of the country. The "frost line" is the deepest depth at which moisture in the ground is expected to freeze on the coldest of days. All foundation footings must be built deeper than the frost line (otherwise, when the moisture freezes it will heave the foundation and crack the concrete). Out here in Colorado the frost line can be as deep as 5 or 6 feet. With a frost line like that, you might as well dig out a basement if you're going to have to lay a foundation that deep anyway. In the south, there's just not as much economic justification for digging a foundation that deep.

[dennis1x]

YES...if tornado is spotted abandon car...find lowest lying area and lay down flat...

[rwfromkansas]

I am not using intellicast. I am using http://wxweb.meteostar.com/radar/site/INX.html

To toggle between velocity and precip, that is on the bottom.

[Freedom2specul8]

excellent link!

[bonfire]

Great link. Thanks.

[El Gato]

Wow, you must have some incredible power companies out there!

The tornadoes see to it that they have pretty new "infrastructure", by blowing down the older stuff periodically. :)

[Charles Henrickson]

On the left of the map, there's a scale of numbers, color coded. At the top it says "DBZ." What's that mean?

In any case, it does seem to track the storm and where it is most intense, does it not?

I'm switching the link now from the OKC radar to the Tulsa radar.

[PhiKapMom]

and don't take shelter under an overpass. They found out on May 3rd, 1999, that it was not a good place to be as the tornado sucks people right out from under the overpass.

Find a ditch if you can and lay down in it.