For those not familiar with storm chasing, it is not a vocation for the weak at heart.  In fact, amateurs have a tendency to get in the way of those that are trying to do their job of tracking and reporting.

With respect to further learn about tornadoes, all kinds of things are built to put into the path of one, including this one which is occupied when it sits in the path of the storm.

The interior:

This is the narrative that related to the above pictures.  This particular vehicle was actually built for a TV series on the Discovery channel:

"Tornado Intercept Vehicle (T.I.V.)

That is Sean Casey's T.I.V.1 used on the Discovery channel show "Storm Chasers".  Basically they drive it into the path of a tornado, drop the skirting and it has hydraulic stakes that are pushed into the ground to help withstand the tornado.  I believe his was able to handle up to 250mph winds (EF5...kiss your town good bye)

Depending on what drive train you start out with and what you want in it. I think Sean's was around $60,000 +/-. it was built out of 1/8" plate and in some areas up to 1/4" plate and weighed somewhere in the ball park of 18'000 lbs. we did the install using some of our KICKER (car audio/speakers) product so that they could hear the CB outside the vehicle and/or use as a PA system."

During the coverage of today's storms, they showed a vehicle very similar to this one.

Terry

Hope all our friends in Oklahoma and Kansas are safe.Terry,you safe where you are? 

Thanks, George.

We are fine here were we are.  If you look at a map of the Oklahoma City area, there is an intersection of I-35 and I-44 on the Northeast side of the city.  We are very near that junction.  (If you look at aerial views, you can see the Twin Fountains RV Park right near there and we are just across the fence to the west of the park.)

The first tornado went through Edmond, roughly 7 miles North of us.  Then, the later ones went through way to the South of us between the Norman, OK area and Shawnee, OK.  Those multiple vortex tornadoes created a very long path of destruction, with at least one mobile home area completely destroyed.  (Out here, we call mobile home parks "Tornado Targets.")

Oddly enough, as I've told others, I have yet to actually see a tornado with my own eyes.  Across this area of Oklahoma, the tornadoes almost seem to follow certain "tracks."  In all the homes and apartments we have lived in over the last 25 years, the storms have either gone North of us or South.

Some people are amazed when I tell them that when the storms come through, we tend to turn on the TV to KWTV Channel 9 in Oklahoma City.  With a bit of knowledge of where our home is, we can watch the weather reports to follow the "storm track" on the TV.  Channel 9 tends to give an excellent reporting of the storm tracks because of the number of storm trackers out chasing the storms and if it is light enough, their news helicopter is up and also providing information and images of the storms.

Channel 9 is also where a pioneer in weather reporting still works.  His name is Gary England and he has helped to be instrumental with the National Weather Service and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association) to develop new technologies for tracking storms.  Their radar is so good that they can see "debris clouds" which are radar images of debris that is thrown up into the air by the tornadoes.

When the tornadoes go through a populated area, one can see bright flashes of light that are electrical transformers on the electrical poles being destroyed.  That also gives an idea of the track of the storms.

So far, we've only heard of one fatality in these storms, but a number of 18-wheelers and vehicles were damaged out on I-40 in the Shawnee area.  There are a lot of injuries, but so far very few really serious ones.  We'll see what reports come in the morning.

Terry

When I saw the waterspout crossing the lake, I thought of the fact that I had mentioned that about how the lake had been hit before.  Since I didn't know your travel schedule, I was really hoping that you hadn't changed your mind and gone out there after all.

Glad you are safe.  If you are still in the area tomorrow, keep Channel 9 in mind as they are saying that there are severe storm possibilities again tomorrow.

Terry

Terry and Jo wrote:

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When I saw the waterspout crossing the lake, I thought of the fact that I had mentioned that about how the lake had been hit before.  Since I didn't know your travel schedule, I was really hoping that you hadn't changed your mind and gone out there after all.

Glad you are safe.  If you are still in the area tomorrow, keep Channel 9 in mind as they are saying that there are severe storm possibilities again tomorrow.

Terry

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 I looked at Diane and said CRAP I'm glad we didn't go there. We are actually going to head into Arkansas tomorrow. We had a good time in Oklahoma City however.

Terry, I have been so very worried about you and Jo.  All the way home from work I worried and there was nothing I could do.  So glad you and Jo are safe and sound.  God bless you both, and take care!!

I don't suppose my signature is appropriate today... or maybe it is.

Our prayers are with Oklahoma and beyond.

Phyllis,

But....but....

....a hurricane hits EVERYONE.  The damaged area of a tornado is so much smaller.

But, to each his own.  I used to say that I'd take a tornado over a earthquake any day.  But, now that we've had several of those in the last year, I'm not so sure we are in the right place.  Maybe I need to move to the mountains of Colorado.

Terry

Terry, we don't typically get tornadoes in the Colorado mountains (although we do get them here in Denver & out on the eastern plains), but if you want to live up in the hills year round, you'll need a really big snow shovel.   

More tornadoes this afternoon.  The death toll will be much, much worse than yesterday's storms.  At least two elementary schools have been hit...no word as to whether those schools had storm shelters.  One or two reports indicate that this storm was possibly worse than the May 5, 1999 tornado, and that tornado had damage to about 6000 homes with something like 40 lives lost.

The tornado went across the Moore, Oklahoma area.

Terry

Glad to hear you & Jo are safe. 

The destruction along the path of this tornado is breath taking and almost unbelievable. 

Seeing it TV is nowhere near as stunning or unsettling as being there in person. 

Prayers to those who are and will be suffering as a result this catastrophe.

phyllen wrote:

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We spent last year and the year before in the OK, KS, MO, NE areas during "tornado season". My old heart just couldn't take it anymore. Never again. (at least that is what I am saying now). I suppose if that live in that area are accustomed to it. Me coming from NJ and hubby from Louisiana, give us a hurricane instead any day! More warnings and our house has wheels.

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 I agree!  I saw in the newspaper that a couple of roofs were blown off south of us and there were more storms that came through south of us today.  I told my husband last night "Well, at least with the hurricanes, we knew well ahead of time and could move out of the area."  I grew in SW MI and remember the Palm Sunday tornadoes that went through northern IN and have lived in KS quite a few years and I am not used to it.  The storms have become much worse as has all weather "events".  Actually, I also told my husband "Let it come because I'm ready to go to OZ or just about anywhere else anyway."

Terry,

So glad that you & Jo are fine.  The images on the news are just devastating.

One report is that all the students and staff at one of the schools all got out safely.  The second one is presently a search and rescue site.  So far, the reports of "found" students have been of children that are alive.  There about 50 firefighters and other emergency responders there and hauling out debris.  Only time will tell if the dozen or so of EMT's with ready stretchers will have to use those stretchers.

Keep in mind that this is Oklahoma, and we are a major location for both the Weather Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA).  This area and the folks involved with weather reporting and those two agencies have been pioneers in radar and other methods of advance warning.  There have been lots of reports from folks that have stated that they had 20 to 30 minutes advance notice in which to seek shelter.

As mentioned earlier, we can watch television and have an excellent resource as to whether to seek shelter.  And for us, shelter is only about 100 feet away.  Not very far at all, but in a stinging, wind driven rain, it can seem like a long ways to walk.

Thanks again for all of you and your expressions of concern.

Terry

As of 7:30 pm, reports from the Medical Examiner's office is that there are 37 fatalities, with more expected.  The one school where the search and rescue is going on "appears" to have approximately 2 dozen people buried in the rubble.  However, one area found revealed a hole, so rescuers are checking that to see if survivors are in the hole.  Actual numbers are in limbo as I'm not sure from what they are determining that 2 dozen are missing.

The May 1999 tornado had a total of 44 killed in the storm.

Terry

As of 8:15 pm, the death toll is up to 51 and the estimate of those trapped in the rubble of the Plaza Towers Elementary School could now be as high as 50 or more.  Doctors who were on the scene of the school have been pulled back to the command center.

Oklahoma City citizens have again stepped up as they did during the Murrah Building bombing back in 1995.  At the studios of KWTV Channel 9, there is a long line of vehicles snaking their way in to donate water, food, gloves, shovels, and so far, over $20,000 in cash donations.  From what they were just saying on Channel 9, the roads that lead to the studio area are all packed with vehicles.  All that just within the last 2 hours.

Dang....I love the people of this city!

Terry

Good news this morning.

Their original report of 51 fatalities was wrong.  This morning, they are reporting that 24 are dead with (I think) 9 of those being children.  Press conference is going on right now with the corrections.  There have been numerous false reports of deaths, with numbers as high as 91.  There is also word this morning that 101 survivors were found in shelters overnight.

Let me explain that last comment.  They make a small shelter that is installed in the floor of a home's garage.  While that location would normally be a good thing, it is subject to debris being dumped down on top of the door of the shelter, thus, anyone in one of those shelters would have to wait for rescuers to come and find them.  Generally, anyone with a storm shelter would "register" their shelter with some city agency so that after a storm has passed, someone can go to each registered location to see if the residents are safe or not.

Terry

The one that hit Moore on Monday was the biggest one.  The day before saw tornadoes hit east of Norman to Bethel Acres, Little Axe and Shawnee and one further north hit Edmond and Carney, Oklahoma.

The Moore area is one that really seems to have the "tornado track" down pat.  Tornadoes have hit in through that general area in May of 1999, May of 2003, and again this year.  This one appears to be worse that the other two, but all the numbers aren't in as to damage and total destruction to buildings and homes.  One guy "estimated at 13,000 damaged and destroyed, which would be 7000 more than the 1999 storm.  I find that one hard to believe right now.

Now, having said all of that, if anyone is traveling either North or South through Oklahoma, avoid Interstate 35 in the Oklahoma City area.  For anyone traveling south, I suggest following I-44 along the west side of Oklahoma City and then Highway 62 at Newcastle down to Highway 9 and then back east to I-35.  If going north, do just the opposite of that.  Highway 9 intersects with I-44 south of Norman.  It will be a few more miles, but since the tornado went right across I-35 in Moore, the rubber-neckers are causing the traffic to back up seriously bad, thus leading to seriously long times of traveling.

Terry

I don't know if any of you are AOL members, but this ran in their "news" features.  There are two links here, one to the story of a lady's efforts to reach her daughter and the other is a series of photos taken of the Moore tornado damage.

Woman's Search for Her Daughter

Photo Series of Storm Damage at Moore, OK.

Terry