A Week of Severe Weather Including Tornadoes. 100+ Reports Possible!

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A Week of Severe Weather Including Tornadoes. 100+ Reports Possible!
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-blogs/meteomadness/a-week-of-severe-weather-including-tornadoes-100-reports-possible/12568226?partner=MSN
5/16/13

Last night started a five- to seven-day period of severe weather which will include tornadoes. I think over the next five to seven days, we may see over 100 reports of tornadoes given the situation. I do think that Sunday into Monday will be the big days for tornadoes as the jet comes out into the Plains. That jet will only increase the upward motion and shear for thunderstorm and tornado development. I just hope we don't see the big tornadoes like we saw last night, especially Sunday and Monday when the storms move into higher populated areas.

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Updates on the TX tornados(NBC News)
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/21134540/vp=51914674&#51914674

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http://local.msn.com/tornado-threat-exists-oklahoma-city-to-kansas-city
5/19/13
Tornado Threat Exists for Oklahoma City to Kansas City

More severe weather is in store for the Plains on Sunday in the wake of a day with more than 200 reports of severe weather.

The area that will be affected by this severe weather will stretch from South Dakota to Texas, just east of where severe weather was seen on Saturday.

Storms will begin to develop on Sunday afternoon and will continue into the evening bringing the threat of heavy downpours, damaging wind gusts, large hail and even tornadoes.

Some of these thunderstorms may continue to strengthen after initial development and become long-lived supercells.



The threat for tornadoes will grow in the late afternoon and evening hours as thunderstorms develop and strengthen. The area that will be at the greatest risk for tornadoes includes central Oklahoma and eastern Kansas; although tornadoes may still develop elsewhere in the area outlined above.

Heavy downpours from these storms can lead to localized flash flooding, especially in low-lying areas and areas with poor drainage. Heavy rain in the northern Plains will also lead to a "Renewed River Flood Threat".

Damaging wind gusts up to 70 mph may be strong enough to blow over trees and power lines which can cause power outages and property damage.

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http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/19/18355926-tornadoes-tear-through-kansas-oklahoma?lite
5/19/13
Tornadoes tear through Kansas, Oklahoma



People in two states were taking shelter amid wailing warning sirens Sunday as tornadoes were confirmed to have touched down in Kansas and Oklahoma as part of an extreme weather system plowing through the nation's midsection.

The system, which stretched from North Texas to Minnesota, also heaved hail -- dime to softball sized -- as well as heavy rainfall.

Residents in downtown Wichita, Kan., were told to seek shelter Sunday afternoon after a tornado was confirmed on the ground – with its presence cloaked by thick thunder clouds and heavy rain.

Near Oklahoma City, a half-mile wide tornado was reported, prompting a stark alert from the Weather Service: "You could be killed if not underground or in a tornado shelter," the advisory said.

The National Weather Service in Wichita warned of a large and “extremely dangerous and potentially deadly” tornado late Sunday.  Weather spotters confirmed the tornado 7 miles northwest of Haysville and moving northeast at 30 mph, the Weather Service said.

The tornado later passed south of the city in Sedgwick County in southern Kansas but rain and thunderstorms continued to batter the area, NBC station KSN TV in Wichita reported.

The warning, which covered downtown Wichita as well as the surrounding area that includes Haysville, was lifted in early evening, KSN reported.

Power lines were down and at least three homes were damaged near Wichita, one with its roof blown off, KSN reported. Authorities said there were no injuries to report.

more

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At least one reported dead as tornadoes hammer Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa
5/19/13
http://news.yahoo.com/severe-kansas-tornado-prompts-stark-national-weather-warning-003115770.html

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A tornado half a mile wide struck near Oklahoma City on Sunday, part of a massive storm front that hammered the central United States. News reports said at least one person had died.

By early Sunday evening, 19 tornados had touched down in parts of Iowa, Oklahoma and Kansas, according to the National Weather Service and local news reports.

Fox News reported that one person was killed in Shawnee, Oklahoma, east of Oklahoma City.

Police in Shawnee could not immediately be reached to confirm the report.

Officials of the National Weather Service in Oklahoma issued a series of increasingly urgent warnings in the late afternoon and evening, including an alert on Twitter about a tornado striking Pink, a town on the edge of Oklahoma City.

"Large tornado west of Pink!" the post read. "Take cover RIGHT NOW in Pink! DO NOT WAIT!"

An extreme weather system stretching from north Texas to Minnesota had been building for hours on Sunday when a "large tornado" touched down near Wichita, Kansas at 3:45 pm Central Standard time, according to a weather service alert.

Another alert warned of the likelihood of "exceptionally powerful, severe thunderstorms capable of destructive hail as large as baseballs," especially over southeast Kansas in the evening.

Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Iowa are all in the path of the storm system capable of producing winds of up to 80 miles per hour, large hail stones and violent tornadoes.

The storm prompted an unusually blunt warning from the central region of the National Weather Service, which covers 14 states.

"You could be killed if not underground or in a tornado shelter," it said. "Complete destruction of neighborhoods, businesses and vehicles will occur. Flying debris will be deadly to people and animals."

A tornado also touched down in southwest Wichita at 3:45 p.m. Central time, moving northeast at about 35 miles per hour toward Topeka, said Pat Slattery, spokesman for the National Weather Service for the U.S. Central region.

In northeast Oklahoma, the Lincoln County sheriff's office reported three tornado touchdowns in that region, NBC News said reported early on Sunday evening.

Slattery said the potential severity of the storm prompted the weather service to issue the stark advisory, which is part of a new warning system being tested in the U.S. Central region after a violent tornado that struck Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011, killing 158 people and injuring hundreds.

Slattery said the new advisory was reserved for severe tornadoes with the potential to form into "supercell" storms, which produce powerful winds and flash flooding. Supercells are considered to be the most dangerous of four categories of storms because of the extreme weather they generate.

A recent National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration assessment of the Joplin storm found that "when people heard the first tornado warning, they did not immediately seek shelter. They looked for a secondary source to confirm the tornado," Slattery said. "That got some people killed."

(Reporting by Chris Francescani; Editing by Theodore d'Afflisio, Richard Chang and David Brunnstrom)

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National Weather Service Enhanced Radar Image Loop
http://radar.weather.gov/Conus/full_loop.php

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Tornadoes level homes in Okla., hit other states
5/19/13
http://news.yahoo.com/tornadoes-level-homes-okla-hit-other-states-015914312.html

EDMOND, Okla. (AP) — One of several tornadoes that touched down Sunday in Oklahoma turned homes in a trailer park near Oklahoma City into splinters and rubble and sent frightened residents along a 100-mile corridor scurrying for shelter.

The tornadoes that touched down in Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa were part of a massive, northeastward-moving storm system that stretched from Texas to Minnesota.

At least four separate tornadoes touched down in central Oklahoma late Sunday afternoon, including the one near the town of Shawnee, 35 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, that laid waste to much of a mobile home park.

Reports of injuries in that tornado strike couldn't immediately be confirmed, as getting into the area was made difficult by the overturned tractor-trailers that forced the closure of a section of Interstate 40.

A storm spotter told the National Weather Service that the tornado left the earth "scoured" at the mobile home park.

Forecasters had been warning for days that the weekend storm system could produce tornadoes, and emergency responders throughout the region were keeping a close eye on it Sunday night as it moved northeastward. Tornado watches or warnings were in effect through late Sunday in several states.

Dozens of homes were damaged by the other tornadoes that touched down in Oklahoma, but emergency officials had no immediate reports of injuries caused by any of them, including the first of the afternoon that hit Edmond, a suburb north of Oklahoma City, before making its way toward Tulsa, 90 miles to the northeast.

"I knew it was coming," said Randy Grau, who huddled with his wife and two young sons in their Edmond home's safe room when the tornado hit. He said he peered out his window as the weather worsened and believed he saw a flock of birds heading down the street.

"Then I realized it was swirling debris. That's when we shut the door of the safe room," said Grau, adding that they remained in the room for 10 minutes.

In Wichita, Kan., a tornado touched down near Mid-Content Airport on the city's southwest side shortly before 4 p.m., knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses but bypassing the most populated areas of Kansas' biggest city.

"At this point, there are very few reports of damage and no reports of fatalities or injuries, and we're very grateful for that," said Sedgwick County Emergency Management Director Randy Duncan.

There were also two reports of tornadoes touching down in Iowa Sunday night, including one near Huxley, about 20 miles north of Des Moines, and one in Grundy County, which is northeast of Des Moines, according to the Des Moines Register. There were no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.

In Oklahoma, aerial television news footage showed homes that appeared to have suffered significant damage northeast of Oklahoma City. Some outbuildings appeared to have been leveled, and some homes' roofs or walls had been knocked down.

"When I first drove into the neighborhood, I didn't see any major damage until I pulled into the front of my house," said Csabe Mathe, of Edmond, who found a part of his neighbor's fence in his swimming pool. "My reaction was: I hope insurance pays for the cleaning."

"I typically have two trash cans, and now I have five in my driveway."

The Storm Prediction Center had been warning about severe weather in the region since Wednesday, and on Friday, it zeroed in on Sunday as the day the storm system would likely pass through.

"They've been calling for this all day," Edmond resident Anita Wright said after riding out the twister in an underground shelter. She and her husband Ed emerged from their hiding place to find uprooted trees, downed limbs and damaged gutters in their home.

In Katie Leathers' backyard, the family's trampoline was tossed through a section of fence and a giant tree uprooted.

"I saw all the trees waving, and that's when I grabbed everyone and got into two closets," Leathers said. "All these trees just snapped."

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At Least 19 Tornadoes Hit 3 States
http://news.yahoo.com/least-19-tornadoes-hit-3-states-013339314.html

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Anchors forced to evacuate during live broadcast as tornado strikes Wichita
5/20/13
Video inside: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/20/18375230-anchors-forced-to-evacuate-during-live-broadcast-as-tornado-strikes-wichita?lite

A television station in Kansas was forced to evacuate during a live broadcast on Sunday afternoon after a massive tornado — one of three that ripped through the Plains States over the weekend — touched down in downtown Wichita.

Dramatic video footage shows J.D. Rudd, a meteorologist for NBC affiliate KSN, rushing out of the camera frame as station staffers frantically flee the set shortly after 4:15 p.m., following nearly two hours of continuous live coverage of the wrathful storm.

“It appears that it is time for all of us to get to shelter,” a man can be heard saying off-camera. “Get to shelter right now! Everybody ... let’s go!”

Station employees scattered and bolted to the basement as warning sirens blared and the cyclone whipped across downtown Wichita, according to KSN producer Kathy Ivy.

“Downtown Wichita was in the target zone,” Ivy said. “We were in the target zone.”

Fortunately, the storm lifted the second it arrived at the KSN studio’s doors, leaving the facility largely unharmed.

Thousands of homes and businesses lost power during the brunt of the tornado’s tear through town, but it missed the most populated areas of the city.

There were no reports of fatalities or injuries in Kansas on Monday morning. Tornadoes killed two people and injured 21 in Oklahoma on Sunday.

[Psalm 51:17]

New tornado strikes Missouri as rash of central U.S. twisters kills 1 May 20, 2013
http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/19/us/severe-weather/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Oklahoma ravaged by deadly tornadoes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-22592695

Oklahoma to Minnesota: Severe Storm Outbreak Continues Monday May 20, 2013
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/dallas-to-chicago-severe-storm/12831401

Sunday Reports: Tornadoes Touch Down From Oklahoma to Iowa
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/live-blog-hail-and-severe-stor/12804758

Oklahoma video of tornado
http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-video/tornadoes-touch-down-across-the-plains/2194113410001

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http://news.yahoo.com/oklahoma-other-tornado-hit-states-brace-more-162916050.html
5/20/13
Oklahoma, other tornado-hit states brace for more

SHAWNEE, Okla. (AP) — When Lindsay Carter heard on the radio that a violent storm was approaching her rural Oklahoma neighborhood, she gathered her belongings and fled. When she returned, there was little left.

Sunday's tornado that tore part of the roof from Carter's frame house — one of few such homes in the Steelman Estates Mobile Home Park near Shawnee — laid waste to many of her neighbors' places, and killed two people and injured several others.

"Trees were all gone. I walked further down and all those houses were gone," she said of her return home to the neighborhood.

The tornado was one of several that touched down Sunday in the nation's midsection, concentrating damage in central Oklahoma and Wichita, Kan. Two people were killed in or near the mobile home park, which is outside of Shawnee, a community about 35 miles southeast of Oklahoma City. At least 39 people throughout Oklahoma were injured, according to the state's emergency management director, Albert Ashwood.

The National Weather Service was forecasting more of the same for the region — including Oklahoma City and Tulsa — Monday afternoon and evening, warning of the possibility of tornadoes and baseball-sized hail. Residents of Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri were also warned to watch for bad weather Monday.

Gov. Mary Fallin began touring the hardest-hit areas early Monday, including Carney, in Lincoln County, and a mobile home park near Shawnee, 35 miles southeast of Oklahoma City, that suffered a direct hit and was where the two confirmed deaths happened.

"It took a dead hit," resident James Hoke said of the Steelman Estates Mobile Home Park. Emerging from a storm cellar where he sought refuge with his wife and two children, Hoke found that their mobile home had vanished. "Everything is gone."

Hoke said he started trying to help neighbors and found his wife's father covered in rubble.

"My father-in-law was buried under the house. We had to pull Sheetrock off of him," Hoke said.

Forecasters had been warning of bad weather since Wednesday and on Sunday said conditions had ripened for powerful tornadoes. Wall-to-wall broadcasts of storm information spread the word Sunday, leaving Pottawatomie County Sheriff Mike Booth grateful.

"There was a possibility a lot more people could have been injured," Booth said. "This is the worst I've seen in Pottawatomie County in my 25 years of law enforcement."

Booth said a 79-year-old man, who was later identified as Glen Irish, was found dead out in the open at Steelman Estates. The state medical examiner's office said Monday that a 76-year-old man, Billy Hutchinson, was found dead in a vehicle. The office said both men lived in Shawnee, but the city wasn't hit by the tornado and it wasn't immediately clear if either or both lived in the mobile home park, which is near the city.

"You can see where there's absolutely nothing, then there are places where you have mobile home frames on top of each other, debris piled up," Booth said. "It looks like there's been heavy equipment in there on a demolition tour.

"It's pretty bad. It's pretty much wiped out," he said.

Tornadoes were reported Sunday in Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma as part of a storm system that stretched from Texas to Minnesota.

Emergency officials traversed the neighborhoods struck in Oklahoma in an effort to account for everyone. Keli Cain, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said that, many times in such situations, people who are not found immediately are discovered later to have left the area ahead of the storm.

A storm spotter told the National Weather Service that the tornado left the earth "scoured" at the mobile home park. At the nearby intersection of Interstate 40 and U.S. 177, a half-dozen tractor-trailers were blown over, closing both highways for a time.

"It seemed like it went on forever. It was a big rumbling for a long time," said Shawn Savory, standing outside his damaged remodeling business in Shawnee. "It was close enough that you could feel like you could reach out and touch it."

Fallin declared an emergency for 16 Oklahoma counties because of the severe storms and flooding. The declaration lets local governments acquire goods quickly to respond to their residents' needs and puts the state in line for federal help if it becomes necessary.

Heavy rains and straight-line winds hit much of western Oklahoma on Saturday. Tornadoes were also reported Sunday at Edmond, Arcadia and near Wellston to the north and northeast of Oklahoma City. The supercell that generated the twisters weakened as it approached Tulsa, 90 miles to the northeast.

In Wichita, Kan., a tornado touched down near Mid-Continent Airport on the city's southwest side shortly before 4 p.m., knocking out power to thousands of homes and businesses but bypassing the most populated areas of Kansas' biggest city. The Wichita tornado was an EF1 — the strength of tornado on the enhanced Fujita scale — with winds of 110 mph, according to the weather service.

Golf ball-sized hail slammed homes in the area. Jim Raulston, of Wichita, said the ferocious winds slammed the hailstones into his home.

"It was just unbelievable how the hail and everything was just coming straight sideways," Raulston said.

Sedgwick County Emergency Management Director Randy Duncan said there were no reports of fatalities or injuries in Kansas.

The weather service reported two tornadoes touched down in Iowa — near Huxley and Earlham. Damage included the loss of some cattle when the storm blew over a barn on a farm in Mitchell County. Some 6,000 customers were without power Monday, including in the hardest-hit areas where the tornado sirens were also rendered silent. In the event of new impending strikes, first responders planned to use their emergency vehicles' sirens to warn residents.

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http://news.yahoo.com/more-storms-tornadoes-expected-central-united-states-115234529.html
5/20/13
Threat of tornadoes in parts of 10 states

OKLAHOMA CITY (Reuters) - The central United States braced for another round of violent weather on Monday after tornadoes struck the region over the weekend, killing two Oklahoma men and injuring at least 39 people.

Severe storms were expected to pummel as many as 10 states on Monday, the National Weather Service said. It predicted a 10 percent chance of tornadoes in parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri and Illinois.

Parts of four other states - Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and Iowa - have a 5 percent risk of tornadoes, the service said.

The area at greatest risk includes Joplin, Missouri, which on Wednesday will mark two years since a massive tornado killed 161 people.

The threat comes as Oklahoma was still recovering from a strong storm front that hammered the state on Sunday with fist-sized hail, blinding rain and tornadoes, including a half-mile-wide twister that struck near Oklahoma City.

Two men in their 70s died in the storm, including one at a mobile home park on the edge of the community of Bethel Acres near Oklahoma City, said Keli Cain, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Office of Emergency Management. Thirty-nine people were injured around the state as storms toppled trees and ripped through rooftops, she said.

Several hundred homes and buildings were thought to have been damaged or destroyed and approximately 7,000 customers were left without power in Oklahoma. "There is definitely quite a bit of damage," Cain said.

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin declared 16 counties disaster areas, and she and other local and state officials were touring damaged areas on Monday morning.

MULTIPLE TWISTERS

More than two dozen tornadoes were spotted in Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas and Illinois, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and local news reports. Hail stones, some as large as baseballs, were reported from Georgia to Minnesota, NOAA said.

Wind gusts of 72 miles per hour (115 kilometers per hour) were reported near Gardner, Kansas, and 60 mph in Atchison, Kansas. The high winds toppled trees, downing power lines and smashing cars and rooftops in communities around the Midwest.

A tornado that touched down southwest of Wichita, Kansas, on Sunday afternoon was rated an EF1 on Monday by the National Weather Service. The most powerful is an EF5. The tornado stayed on the ground for about 4.5 miles, with winds of 86-110 mph, the service said.

The tornado damaged homes and outbuildings, felled trees and knocked out power to about 11,000 residents but caused no injuries, said Sharon Watson, spokeswoman for the Kansas Division of Emergency Management.

"We came through this one very fortunate," Watson said.

In southwest Missouri, a tornado touched down shortly after midnight Monday in Barton County, said Tom Ryan, the county's director of emergency management. The tornado damaged some farm buildings and two houses but caused no injuries, he said, noting that it struck in a rural area.

Just east of Barton County, in Dade County, the tornado tore off roofs at a grocery store, golf course and city swimming pool complex in Lockwood, said Bob Kitsmiller, director of emergency management for the county, adding that no injuries were reported.

Forecasters were particularly aggressive in issuing warnings on Sunday evening. The National Weather Service's storm prediction center in Norman, Oklahoma, posted a Twitter alert on a tornado about to strike Pink, a town on the edge of Oklahoma City.

"Large tornado west of Pink!" the post read. "Take cover RIGHT NOW in Pink! DO NOT WAIT!"

The storm also prompted an unusually blunt warning from the central region of the National Weather Service, which covers 14 states.

"You could be killed if not underground or in a tornado shelter," it said. "Complete destruction of neighborhoods, businesses and vehicles will occur. Flying debris will be deadly to people and animals."

Pat Slattery, National Weather Service spokesman for the U.S. Central region, said the advisory was part of a new warning system reserved for severe tornadoes with the potential to form into "supercell" storms, which produce powerful winds and flash flooding.

The tornado season in the United States had been unusually quiet until last week, when a tornado struck the town of Granbury, Texas, killing six people.

(Reporting by Carey Gillam, Kevin Murphy, Steve Olafson, Jane Sutton, Chris Francescani and Ian Simpson; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Xavier Briand, Greg McCune and Leslie Adler)

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/live-severe-weather/12881915
Live Blog: Tornado Touches Down South of Oklahoma City
5/20/13

Severe storms are erupting from Texas to Minnesota on Monday spawning large hail, strong winds and dangerous tornadoes.

The storms are a continuation of the weekend's severe weather, as the system that unleashed over the Plains shifts eastward.

Cities at risk Monday include Oklahoma City, Tulsa, St. Louis, Kansas City and Chicago.

The greatest risk for tornadoes is expected from north of Dallas, Texas, and Oklahoma to central Missouri.

UPDATES: (All reports listed in CDT)

3:59 p.m. CDT Monday: The storm that produced a tornado in Moore, Okla., may produce another tornado south of Choctaw, Okla., and southwest of McLoud.

3:57 p.m. CDT Monday: A storm north of Tulsa, Okla. is capable of producing a tornado. It has a pronounced hook echo on radar which indicates possible tornado.

3:51 p.m. CDT Monday: Hail as large as 4.25 inches reported in Osage County, Okla.

3:48 p.m. CDT Monday: While the tornado is no longer on the ground in Moore, Okla., storms in the area are still capable of producing tornadoes.

3:47 p.m. CDT Monday: Cars piled up on top of I-35 behind the freeway in Moore, Okla.

3:37 p.m. CDT Monday: Oklahoma City police report people trapped under debris at Weston Elementary School.

3:26 p.m. CDT Monday: Police cannot get to Briarwood Elementary School due to all the debris on 149th Street in Santa Fe, Okla. Large gas leak at Elementary school on 149th street reported.

3:22 p.m. CDT Monday: Oklahoma City Police: "Powerline down near Santa Fe, near the school. Headed there to check on people."

3:16 p.m. CDT Monday: Tornado reported northeast of Duncan, Okla., near Highway 29 just west of Bray, Okla. according to Oklahoma County Sheriff and Fire.

2:53 p.m. CDT Monday: Police blocking off Indian Road, west of I-44 in Newcastle, due to tornado activity.

2:53 p.m. CDT Monday: Law enforcement reporting a tornado on the ground in Moore between Norman and Oklahoma City.

2:52 p.m. CDT Monday: A funnel cloud has been spotted between Norman and Oklahoma City.

2:51 p.m. CDT Monday: A storm north of Newcastle, OK, south of Oklahoma City, is capable of producing a tornado. Click here for radar.

2:49 p.m. CDT Monday: Golf ball-sized hail reported just north of Wichita Falls, Texas

2:15 p.m. CDT Monday: Thunderstorms erupting to the southeast of Oklahoma City, Okla., are heading to the downtown are in the next half-hour.

2:05 p.m. CDT Monday: Two severe thunderstorms south of Oklahoma City, Okla., are producing hail up to 1 inch in diameter.

1:05 p.m. CDT Monday: AccuWeather meteorologists are closely watching southeastern Oklahoma as storms begin to fire and keeping a close eye on potential in Missouri. Click here to view the regional radar.

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Live Streaming - KFOR news:
http://kfor.com/on-air/ios-live-streaming/

Now saying tornado was 2 miles wide!

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2 schools in Moore, OK got wiped out by tornado, FYI.

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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/tornado-oklahoma-city-moore-205548879.html
Massive tornado touches down near Oklahoma City
5/20/13

A devastating, mile-wide tornado touched down near Oklahoma City on Monday, decimating homes, businesses and schools in the suburb of Moore.

There were no immediate reports of fatalities or injuries, as emergency officials urged people to remain off the roads so rescue workers and first responders could reach people trapped in rubble.

"This is war zone terrible," Jon Welsh, a helicopter pilot for KFOR-TV who lives in Moore, said while surveying the damage from the air. "This school is completely gone."

The funnel cloud could be seen for miles, creating a debris field several miles wide. According to the National Weather Service in Norman, Okla., the tornado was on the ground for approximately 40 minutes, and a tornado warning was in effect for 16 minutes before twister developed.

Weather officials estimated the strength of the tornado to be an F4 or F5, the highest intensity rating on the Fujita scale.

A host on KFOR called Monday's storm "the worst tornado damagewise in the history of the world."

The 106-acre Orr Family Farm was completely destroyed, killing between 75 and 100 horses, KFOR said.

Another tornado was reported on the ground west of Meeker, north of Shawnee, on Monday.

The Oklahoma House of Representatives canceled its afternoon sessions so lawmakers and staffers could take shelter, the Associated Press said.

The tornado comes a day after powerful storms ripped through the center of the country, spawning at least a dozen tornadoes, killing two people and causing extensive damage from Georgia to Minnesota.

According to the Oklahoma state medical examiner, the two victims in Sunday's storms—Glen Irish, 79, and Billy Hutchinson, 76—were from hard-hit Shawnee. At least 39 other people were injured on Sunday, Oklahoma emergency management director Albert Ashwood said.

[Mark]

please pray for all involved in this disaster. The Lords Will, be done...

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http://tv.msn.com/tv/article.aspx?news=808727
5/20/13
CBS pulls 'Mike & Molly' tornado-themed season finale

"Mike & Molly" fans won't be seeing Monday's season finale episode, which was scheduled to debut at 9:30 p.m. CBS has pulled it in light of Monday's devastating tornado in Oklahoma.

"Due to the tragic events this afternoon in Oklahoma, we are pre-empting tonight's season finale of 'Mike & Molly,' which has a related storyline," a CBS spokeswoman told TheWrap. "A repeat broadcast of 'Mike & Molly' will run in the time period. The season finale will be broadcast at an appropriate date."

The episode titled "Windy City" placed its main characters Mike and Molly (Billy Gardell and Melissa McCarthy, respectively) in a tornado that hits Chicago.

Monday's Oklahoma tornado spent 40 minutes on the ground and left damaged homes, businesses and at least two elementary schools in its wake. Tornado warnings were also in affect for Texas and Kansas.

CBS renewed "Mike & Molly" for a fourth season, though its creator Mark Roberts isn't continuing with the comedy series as its showrunner.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/20/18375741-at-least-51-killed-as-tornado-tears-through-oklahoma-leaving-miles-of-debris?lite
At least 51 killed as tornado tears through Oklahoma, leaving miles of debris
5/20/13

A monster tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburbs and killed at least 51 people Monday, pulverizing block after block of homes, tearing the walls off an elementary school and leaving behind miles of mangled cars and splintered wood.

Crews frantically searched the wreckage and were only beginning to get a sense of the destruction. Hospitals reported several dozen injured.

“The whole city looks like a debris field,” said Mayor Glenn Lewis of the city of Moore, which appeared to be hardest hit.

At Plaza Towers Elementary School, authorities said there were casualties could not specify how many or give details. The tornado tore the roof off, and authorities kept hysterical parents back because it was too loud to hear screams for help. A teacher told NBC affiliate KFOR that she draped herself on top of six children in a bathroom to shelter them.

It was not clear how many children were trapped. Students in fourth, fifth and sixth grade were evacuated to a church, but students in lower grades had sheltered in place, KFOR reported. More than two hours after the tornado struck, several children were pulled out alive.

The Weather Channel said the twister was a mile wide at its base, and a reporter for KFOR said it kicked up a cloud of debris perhaps two miles wide. The National Weather Service initially classified the storm as an EF4, the second-strongest type, with winds of 166 to 200 mph.

“It seems that our worst fears have happened today,” said Bill Bunting, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Norman, Okla.

As the death toll steadily climbed, television footage showed a landscape shattered — not the arbitrary damage of a tornado that leaves some homes untouched, but vast and utter obliteration.

Emergency workers stepped gingerly around piles of wreckage left on the foundations of homes. Other people simply walked around dazed, marveling that nothing was left of their houses — and in many cases that they themselves were alive. Fires broke out in some places.

“I lost everything,” one man said as he walked through the ruins of a horse farm. “We might have one horse left out of all of them.”

At one hospital in Moore, cars were “piled like Hot Wheels” in the parking lot, and police were searching them one by one and spray-painting X’s to mark them clear of victims, said Kurt Gwartney, news director for radio station KGOU.

An Oklahoma emergency management spokesman said a hospital was being evacuated after sustaining severe damage, and 16 ambulances were being sent to move patients. It was not clear whether it was the same hospital.

The tornado struck at mid-afternoon and tore a 20-mile path, said Rick Smith, another weather service meteorologist. He said it was on the ground for 40 minutes. Much of the storm’s rampage was captured on live television, perhaps alerting people in its path to seek shelter.

President Barack Obama pledged the full help of the federal government. Gov. Mary Fallin asked the people of Oklahoma for patience and promised: “We will bring every single resource out that we can.”

Relief efforts sprang up. The Red Cross said it was opening a shelter, and the University of Oklahoma opened some of its housing for displaced families.

In addition to Plaza Towers, Briarwood Elementary School was heavily damaged, KFOR reported.

Search and rescue teams converged on a staging area at the Warren Theater, which was also damaged, as the tornado churned toward other Oklahoma towns. The storms were expected to continue through the evening.

Grasping for comparisons, some people said it looked like Joplin, the Missouri town virtually wiped off the map two years ago when a tornado — this one an EF5 — blew through and killed 158 people.

For people in Oklahoma, the ferocity was reminiscent of May 3, 1999, when a tornado registered wind of more than 300 mph, left 46 dead and damaged or destroyed more than 8,000 homes.

The tornado Monday also came one day after another cluster of storms in Oklahoma that killed two elderly men in the town of Shawnee. Tens of millions of people from Texas to the Great Lakes — an area covering 55 million people — had been warned to brace for more severe weather Monday.

The Sunday storms destroyed mobile homes, flipped trucks and sent people across 100 miles running for cover. In Kansas, a weather forecaster was forced off the air as a tornado bore down on his station.

“You can see where there’s absolutely nothing, then there are places where you have mobile home frames on top of each other, debris piled up,” Mike Booth, the sheriff of Pottawatomie County, Okla., told The Associated Press. “It looks like there’s been heavy equipment in there on a demolition tour.”

Fallin declared a state of emergency for 16 counties on Sunday and added five Monday.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/



Published on May 20, 2013
Late PM May 19, 2013, going into early AM May 20, 2013 --- multiple RADAR pulses / "HAARP rings" / and Scalar Squares...Midwest , South, and North USA.


5/17/2013 — Nebraska — RADAR pulse / “HAARP ring” confirmation – Possible tornado, damaging winds, hail
Posted on May 17, 2013 by sincedutch
In the late PM May 15, 2013 — going into the early hours in the morning of May 16, 2013 — a series of RADAR pulsed “HAARP rings” appeared out of north central Nebrask

Move forward 36 hours from the point of the pulses, and we see possible tornadoes, damaging winds, and hail form at the center of the pulsed area

http://sincedutch.wordpress.com/

[Psalm 51:17]

Oklahoma Tornado Causes 'Widespread' Damage, Elementary School Receives 'Direct Hit'
5/20/13
http://gma.yahoo.com/oklahoma-tornado-causes-widespread-damage-elementary-school-receives-222535826--abc-news-topstories.html

Authorities said Briarwood Elementary School in Moore, Okla., received a "direct hit" from the storm and was severely damaged. In anticipation of the severe weather this afternoon, schools in the Moore area did not release their students at the end of the school day, according to Oklahoma Emergency Management officials.

One sixth grade boy named Brady told ABC affiliate KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City that he and other students took cover in a bathroom.

"Cinderblocks and everything collapsed on them but they were underneath so that kind of saved them a little bit, but I mean they were trapped in there," he said.

Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore was also in the monster twister's path. Local residents who lived near the school rushed to help pull kids and teachers out.

One report says Plaza Towers Elementary had 7 casualties, while Briarwood Elem had zero(thus far). They are still going through them as there are still people trapped in it.

[Psalm 51:17]

Shepherd Smith on FOX News said 24 3rd graders at one or both of the elementary schools(Plaza Towers/Briarwood) died - but can't find another source reporting this.

[Kilika]

From watching coverage on the Weather Channel, one of their reporters said on air they had spoken with people at the Briarwood school who said no injuries at that school.

The other school, Plaza Towers, not so lucky. So far, 7 kids confirmed dead and I suspect there's more to come from there. They died from drowning in water that collected in the area they were hiding.

The one subdivision they were showing was a total loss. Everything was flatten, even big trees were stripped down to the trunk. The whole area looked like a garbage dump with piles of debris everywhere. It was completely leveled.

[Psalm 51:17]

Yesterday, reports said 51 died. My paper(Dallas Morning News) reported 91. Now I just read this NBC article that says 24.

So who knows...the MSM is hardly reliable to begin with...

Crews comb devastation in Oklahoma; confirmed death toll lowered to 24
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/21/18394047-crews-comb-devastation-in-oklahoma-confirmed-death-toll-lowered-to-24?lite

[Psalm 51:17]

First pictures of the missing tornado children: Parents' agony after seven kids drown in Oklahoma City school flattened by two-mile twister and rescuers search for many more buried under rubble

Two entire schools flattened in Moore, Oklahoma after 200 mph winds pulverized a 30-square-mile stretch yesterday
Officials originally said there were as many as 91 people dead - with 51 confirmed - but on Tuesday morning they corrected this to say there were 24 confirmed dead; some people had been counted twice amid the chaos

Authorities now fear for around 40 more; at least 240 have been injured, including 60 children

More than 20 children could be among the dead, including the seven found drowned in Plaza Towers

Children were told to hold on to the walls, while teachers shielding the students with their bodies
Hundreds of homes wiped out and more than 50,000 people left without power

The devastating tornado was larger than 1999 storm in the area that left 36 people dead


Read more plus more pictures: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2328000/Oklahoma-tornado-2013-7-children-drowned-Plaza-Towers-Elementary-school-Moore.html#ixzz2TwUoUbNp

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/why-moore-okla-tornado-severe-162642968.html
5/21/13
Why Was the Moore, Okla., Tornado So Severe?

A monstrous tornado that ripped through Oklahoma Monday (May 20) piling cars on top of one another, demolishing an elementary school and killing several adults and children, may owe its power and deadliness partly to a convergence of jets of air, say meteorologists.

The preliminarily rated EF-4 tornado touched down at 2:56 p.m. CDT (3:56 p.m. ET) and was on the ground for 40 minutes as it tore a 20-mile-long (32 kilometers) path through Newcastle, Moore and South Oklahoma City, Okla., with winds likely up to 200 mph (320 km/h).

"I think from looking at the helicopter footage, it's safe to say at its strongest point it was probably 2 miles [3.2 km] across, that's a safe assumption," Kurt Van Speybroeck, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service based in Fort Worth, Texas, told LiveScience. [Image Gallery: Moore, Okla., Tornado Damage]

'Perfect storm'

Moore, Okla., was undoubtedly hit the hardest.

"The debris ball from the tornado, as seen on Doppler radar, expanded to over 2 miles in diameter, and debris was carried over 100 miles [160 km] from Moore," Jeff Masters of Weather Underground wrote on his WunderBlog.

Tornado science is complex and several ingredients are needed to create a monster vortex like the one that spun through Moore; and even then, meteorologists say they can't identify exactly which storms will spawn tornadoes.

"The jet stream had a role, but of course, it is much more complex than that," Keith Brewster of the Center for Analysis and Prediction of Storms at the University of Oklahoma told LiveScience. "There are several ingredients involved in the creation of a tornado; these include a source of warm, moist air at the surface and colder, generally drier, air above."

Those ingredients were in place yesterday. Essentially, the perfect storm seemed to come together right over Moore.

"The atmosphere was just right in Moore, Oklahoma, for a violent tornado. If you'd gone 25 miles to the north, they had storms but no tornado," Van Speybroeck said. "Right in that location, we call that the local mescoscale, everything was just right in that storm for it to create that really violent vortex."

Tornado formation

To rev up a tornado, wind shear, or a change in wind speed and direction with height, is also needed. "Finally, you need some sort of triggering process to set it all off; in today's case, we had the convergence of air on the dryline southwest of Moore," Brewster told LiveScience on Monday night. That created the supercell storm that spawned Monday's devastating tornado.

The atmosphere above Oklahoma was set up perfectly to spawn tornadoes, due to the convergence of three jetlike streams, including the dry air from the southwest, Van Speybroeck said.

A low-level jet, at an altitude of about 5,000 feet (1,520 meters) was bringing warm, moist and unstable air up from the Gulf of Mexico. Just above that layer, from about 12,000 to 15,000 feet (about 3,700 to 4,600 m), a southwesterly jet of dry air blew in from the plateau of Mexico and northern Mexico. This southwesterly flow created the turning of the atmosphere above the unstable layer, Van Speybroeck said. The result can be a long-lasting supercell thunderstorm that is ripe for tornado spawning, which is what happened over Moore.

Adding to the mix, at about 20,000 to 25,000 feet (6,000 to 7,600 m), a high-speed jet of cold, dry air swooped west across the Rockies. This upper-level jet can reach speeds of 80 to 100 mph (130 to 160 km/h), and the air in it gets colder and drier with height, acting to pull the warmer, moist air upward and creating updrafts. Updrafts push storm winds that are rotating horizontally so that they are rotating vertically, creating a funnel cloud. Rains and hail in a storm then push the tail of the funnel cloud down until it touches the ground.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/tornado-threat-continues-including-dallas-fort-worth-area-144606501.html
5/21/13
Tornado threat continues, including Dallas-Fort Worth area

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Tornadoes could form across a wide area of the southern Plains and into the U.S. southeast again on Tuesday, including metropolitan Dallas-Fort Worth, the most populous urban area in the threatened area, a government meteorologist said.

"There could be a few more tornadoes again, particularly in northern and central Texas," said Brynn Kerr, meteorologist at the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

A massive tornado hit the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on Monday, flattening a wide area of the town and leaving at least 24 people dead and an dozens injured.

While the threat of tornadoes remained, Kerr said it was not as strong as it had been on Monday. As of 0900 local time on Tuesday, there were no outstanding tornado warnings, which urge residents to take cover immediately.

The risk of cells forming tornadoes would increase around midday west and north of Dallas-Fort Worth in Texas, into the Ozarks of southern Missouri and northern Arkansas and into the northern Gulf states including northern Louisiana, he said.

Kerr said the biggest concern is that a cell will form locally in an urban area, as it did on Monday near Oklahoma City.

"It only takes one to hit the wrong populated location," he said.

There were preliminary reports of 22 tornadoes on Monday in six states -- Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado, according to the National Weather Service website.

In addition to the massive damage and fatalities in Oklahoma, one person died in Arkansas on Monday night when debris from a severe storm crashed into his vehicle in Springdale, a police dispatcher said.

(Additional reporting by Suzi Parker, Brendan O'Brien and Ian Simpson; Editing by David Gregorio)

[Psalm 51:17]

Witnesses describe deadly Oklahoma tornado; Gov. Fallin says death count unknown
5/21/13
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/witnesses-describle-deadly-oklahoma-tornado-demolished-school-111345116.html

MOORE, Okla.—As a hailstorm bore down on the devastated region Tuesday afternoon, first responders continued to sift through debris to try to find survivors and figure out how many people died in the massive tornado that ripped through southern Oklahoma City and other towns a day earlier.

Twenty-four people have been confirmed dead—including 9 children—and 237 were injured by the twister, Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin said. At a news conference Tuesday, Fallin said officials are trying to find out if other victims might have been taken to local funeral homes and have not yet been counted in the death toll.

"We're going through that debris, and we're going to keep looking until everybody's found," FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate said at the news conference.

Fallin said authorities "don't even know if there are missing people" but will turn over every piece of debris to find survivors possibly trapped in the rubble. First responders will check each damaged piece of property three times to ensure no one who needs help is overlooked, Fallin said.

"This was the storm of storms," Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett said.

Earlier, authorities said they expected more victims to be uncovered.

"Not to be pessimistic ... but we think the death toll will continue to climb as we find more bodies," Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb said on CNN.

Mother Nature was showing no mercy to Moore on Tuesday. Drenching rains and lightning had moved into the area by 9 a.m, and marble-size hail fell in the afternoon.

Officials said water, electricity and cell phone service was down in some areas. They urged people to stay away from the area. Residents can call 1-800-621-FEMA to find shelter.

President Barack Obama said the federal government would help with the disaster response.

"The people of Moore should know that their country will remain on the ground there for them, beside them, as long as it takes for their homes and schools to rebuild, businesses and hospitals to reopen, the parents to console, the first responders to comfort and of course frightened children who will need our continued love and attention," Obama said Tuesday morning at the White House.

Seven of the dead children were found Monday night at Plaza Towers Elementary School, which took a direct hit when the tornado chewed its destructive 20-mile path through Newcastle, Moore and parts of southern Oklahoma City for 40 minutes. Officials said that unlike 100 other schools in the area, Plaza Towers was not equipped with a tornado safe room.

Schools Superintendent Susan Pierce choked up at a news conference when talking about the twister, which destroyed at least two schools. She said every Moore school implemented its tornado shelter plan before the storm hit Monday. "We're in the process of learning as much as we can about what happened," she said, adding that graduation for Moore's high school seniors will still take place this Saturday in Oklahoma City.

Classes were still in session at Plaza Towers when the twister, estimated to be packing winds of 190 mph or greater, crushed nearly every corner of the property. Teachers’ cars were thrown into the building, and the playground no longer exists.

“All you could hear were screams,” local resident Stuart Earnest Jr. said of the scene at the school after the storm. “The people screaming for help. And the people trying to help were also screaming.”

“I can only hope those little kids killed didn't suffer,” said Earnest, one of many who rushed to the school to help survivors.

With several students still unaccounted for, rescuers worked overnight digging through the rubble. Police say they are still digging through the structure.

“I just hope they find her,” Shannon Galarneau said of her 10-year-old niece, a Plaza Towers student who was missing as of early Tuesday morning. “You just feel helpless.”

The girl's younger sister, also a student at the school, survived but suffered cuts to her head and bruises on her back. The 8-year-old was still wearing her hospital bracelet while asleep on her grandmother's shoulder in the front seat of a pickup truck just after midnight.

“She said it was probably the scariest day of her life,” Galarneau said.

Monday's tornado was estimated to be more than a mile wide at times. Its path was nearly identical to the one taken by a record-breaking May 1999 tornado that devastated the area.

Galarneau and her husband could see the twister a mile and a half from their front porch and scrambled to hide.

“It barreled down fast,” said Galarneau, who found refuge in a utility closet.

Obama declared several Oklahoma counties disaster areas and pledged to support the area's rescue and recovery. The funnel’s fury crumbled homes for several blocks around the school and in other parts of Moore. Missing street signs and other landmarks made some neighborhoods unrecognizable even to locals.

“It is a barren wasteland,” Galarneau said. “Everything is leveled.”

Allen and JoAnn Anderson huddled under quilts and pillows in their bathtub with their Yorkie, Magand, and cat, Meow, when the tornado came down their street.

“It was like standing in the middle of a train track and having the train go right over you,” said Allen, 63.

They emerged from the tub 15 minutes later to find their brick house gone and cars badly damaged.

“There’s no house. It’s just a pile of rubble,” Allen said.

The couple checked into a motel with their pets late Monday. Chunks of attic insulation were still stuck in JoAnn’s sandy-blond hair, and her legs were partially caked in dried mud.

“It could be worse,” JoAnn said. “We're alive.”

The tornado developed very quickly and caught many people, like Kelly Damphousse, off guard. He and his family were unloading a 26-foot U-Haul truck at a storage facility when they spotted the ferocious funnel.

The official count of people treated at local hospitals doesn't include unreported cases of minor injuries or the untold emotional toll.

A CVS drugstore not far from Plaza Towers elementary was averaging three to four patients an hour on Tuesday, according to Carrie Geurts, a nurse practitioner there.

"Don't endanger yourself," said Geurts, whose MinuteClinic staff had seen patients for scrapes, a gashed leg and possible cases of PTSD.

She said a handful of civilians who had spent the night looking for casualties, "are just glad to get in here and talk."

"People need to remember to take care of themselves too," Geurts said.

[Psalm 51:17]

[Psalm 51:17]

Video inside: http://houston.cbslocal.com/2013/05/21/okla-tornado-survivor-held-daughter-by-hair-to-save-her-life/
5/21/13
Okla. Tornado Survivor Held Daughter By Hair To Save Her Life

MOORE, Okla. (CBS Houston) – A survivor of the Oklahoma tornado that killed at least 24 people, including nine children, said she held on to her daughter’s hair to prevent her from flying away into the tornado.

CBS News reports that a resident of Moore, Okla., the site of the deadly tornado that killed dozens and left the area depleted and devastated, would have lost her daughter to the tornado if not for the mother’s grip on her daughter’s hair.

As the tornado was drawing near, the woman’s husband told the woman to get in the bathtub immediately and to put a mattress on top of them. When the tornado’s force was close enough to the house, the family was in danger. Feeling the tornado’s strength bearing down on the family, the mother held on to her daughter for dear life.

“I held her by her hair,” the woman, in hysterics, told KWTV. “It was trying to take her away.”

The woman, still overwhelmed by the situation, kept repeating the somber reality of what had happened.

“It’s gone,” she told KWTV. “Our cars [are] where our house was. Everything is gone.”