The F-3 classification that you gave the storm means nothing for the wind or shape. the classification (EF-3 new classification old F-3 is no longer applied) is only based on the amount of damage it does. Agreed tho that it is not a place to be.

We even had news broadcasts about it hnere in Australia. :(

The tushka storm was a wedge, and hard to make out where it began and stopped (if you were too close) every now and then a rope would drop out. Yes the inflow suction was amazing and I would put the inflow winds in excess of 110 mph. I say this because I "interacted" with the system about 3 miles ENE of Tushka and got a little too close as I was working my way around to stay with it. I got some video as I was too near the wall and had pieces of tin slamming against my truck. Very damaging tornado and best wishes to those truly unfortunate ones who suffered it's wrath.

I've got video of one in 1991 that hit our lake and formed a beautiful water spout. I was just thinking the other day of transferring that to DVD. Have to get on that.

I've seen my fair share. Worst one was when I was 9 and got stuck in one on the Interstate. A guy got killed about 100 yards behind us as I watched out the back window of the station wagon. Still very vivid in my mind.

RiverDog, the new FE rating system is still a wind based rating that factors in building damage as it relates to 28 different building classifications. Bottom line, with the F only rating anyone could capture the wind speed and report that the tornado was a F-2 or a F-4. I guess the national weather service got tired of all the weather stations beating them with info, so this was designed to provide proof that we can not live on our local weather stations alone, we need a government worker in DC to tell us what the magnitude was of what we just witnessed.

Boy that was some twister to suck I-80 all the way down from Chicago to Arkansas & Mississippi!

I hope you have a fitfull night sleep. This system won't hit me until tomorrow late morning, but it looks like the worst will go South of us. That's fine with me.

Really, RiverDog? A "fitfull" night sleep? Dude, I'm also in the affected area: McCurtain County, OK, and I've already had a fitful night thus far. If No Son of a Gun can manage getting a few winks, then more power to him. As far as your reply, I'm thinking your heart really doesn't go out to the people affected directly. It's just something that sounds nice.

I sincerely hope you won't be affected by the severe storm system!!

Tornado Sirens woke us up at 6 am this morning. A few high winds and thunder with heavy rain, but by the time the main storm actually hit our town, the warning was cancelled. I know I should be thankful that we didn't have a tornado, but I'm just tired & grumpy.

Prayers for those in OK & AR, etc. that actually had tornados.

Upon review, that was a poor choice of a word to use. Not what I meant.

The front passed through with very little wind, no hail, lots of lightning, and some rain...

The sun is out, birds are sining, the dogwoods are in bloom, "life am good"....

Your picture is awful on here!!!!!

Don't look Ethel...

LOL!! I will save you Son of Gun!! come..let me hold you...

Nsoag....your picture is fine on here.

& riverdog, looks like you will be good for today at least it is comeing pretty much north. round one just went through here.

Hope you made it through Scoot. You had enough bad weather last week!

you know how it is riverdog, same ol for our part of the world. one of the four seasons, summer, winter, flood, tornado.

You don't have to live in tornado alley to have a tornado and it doesn't have to be tornado season. In the middle of winter, a tornado hit main town in Easley, South Carolina (my home town). Had a good bit of destruction, but thankfully, no loss of life. The people there were totally shocked. That was not the first time a tornado hit Easley in the middle of winter.

In my area we have 2 seasons. Winter and road repair.

I've seen a few tornados here in FL-that's in addition to the several waterspouts I've seen. One funnel cloud went almost right over my house (it was a bit east of us) while I was mowing the grass! (I know, I was an idiot to be out there; but it had been raining a lot and I wanted to get the thick grass cut before the rain began again-so I was foolishly braving the wind and lightning.) When I saw the funnel, you'd better believe I went inside! Now I wish I'd gotten my camera b/c half of you will probably say I'm lying-but I'm not! One tornado was pretty far west and not headed towards us, so I watched it for a while. A tornado was later confirmed on the news. Again, I wish I'd had my camera-this was before camera phones! The tornados we have here tend to be pretty brief and not too destructive unless they form within a hurricane-THEN all bets are off.

Once my dad pointed out a waterspout off Hilton Head, SC when we were on vac. It became like a scene from Jaws or something with everyone fleeing the beach. My sister and I had found some live sand dollars on the way up from the beach and we decided we needed to return them to the ocean at that moment (she was really tenderhearted), so we actually ran back towards the storm! By the time we got to the edge of the water the storm was hitting shore and the wet sand was stinging our skin like sandpaper. The waves were HUGE! We flung the sand dollars into the sea and ran back to our family. That may have been the beginning of my loving storms. I truly hate to see people get injured or killed or to have their property damaged, I never wish that on anyone-but if a storm is there, I want to see it and experience it if possible without being stupid.

Neat story!

Really?

The guy is reporting on deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma and rising flood waters in the Dakotas and you're worried about him saying, "summer?"

Yes, dear, this is not typical weather for April--this kind of weather should not start until May, but it is already here. While he might have stated his point more clearly, this is more May/June kind of weather than mid-April weather. Have a great day.

Bean@home... check out April 1991 in wikipedia and tell me it isn't the time of the year for a tornado in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, etc. I filmed the Andover, KS tornado (lived in Derby, KS at the time).

Last two weeks of April and first two weeks of May is the prime time for the really big ones.

I've lived in the Arkansas/OKlahoma area all my life. April is most definitely the time of year we start seeing this stuff...usually continues until about June

I was living north of Chicago in April 1997 when we had to take cover due to twisters up there. I was living in an apt building we the sirens went off. My friend and I brought beer and shared it with the other tenants. Good thing the all clear sounded as we finished off the beer. We were starting to talk about who would brave the elements to go get more out of thier apartment.....

Bean@home... you ain't from around here are ya? No need in answering, your comment pretty much says it all. It is prime tornado season. I was driving through Tushka last night and unfortunately missed this tornado by about 30 minutes. I felt it in the air when I got up yesterday morning. It was so noticable that I posted it on Facebook yesterday and predicted there would be a tornado near. It just had that feel in the air. I shoulda been a weatherman!

I live in Arkansas and one of the worst outbreaks of tornados we have ever had occured in January. Depending on the weather systems We can and do have tornadic activity all 12 month of the year. April is most definately the start of the prime tornado season here.

Bean, in Texas, and southern Oklahoma, and southern Arkansas THIS is the normal time for spring storms. It starts in early April and usually goes until late May. If we are lucky we will get rain up until the 4th of July. I don't know when the normal storm season is for the northern plains. But I do know even they have been getting hammered lately.

This system came through where I live also, be we were lucky enough to just get rain, some wind, and a light show.

I have done tornado clean up before where lives were lost. It is devastating to all. My condolences to all who lost their loved ones.

Yeah, I have the same thing. I can feel a bad day comin along. Its just in the air, the wind has a temper to it and puts me in an edgy mood and every time, its a TStorm with bad winds. I really felt that one day drivin along the rt 66 just comin into Oklahoma from Texas. The tumbleweeds were blowin all over the place and a big cell was dancin along just to the south of us. The soil turns red and the grass green as soon as you get into Oklahoma and then after Little Rock, we drove over the good ol Mississippi! Its so amazing and I am just so thankful I got to see that wonderful trip across the country in my lifetime, gasoline is sooo expensive now.

Idea: Dome mound homes like a salad bowl upside down mostly under the ground with just the top as a big strong window like a thick plexiglass lens for light, with a closing guard cover for bad weather is a vision I had driving through the low hills of Oklahoma and Arkansas. The tornado would just spin over it and move along.

Oh well, architectural pipe dreams... and best wishes to all in the windy zones tonight. If it comes northward to Ohio it will hit me, the winds are already whistlin and we have a big circle of a weather system with snow and ice up north in Wisconsin and Minnesota, the cold air chasing the warm downward from the northwest then east and back up along the Appalachians, :( eeegads. I will be glad when it all pushes out past the east coast!

That was either very brave or very stupid, and I can't say I'd be any smarter.

I'd be that idiot too. Weather can be fascinating and of course dangerous. I couldn't live in that area. It amazes me how people will stay there and continue to rebuild. I'd be so jaded. I live in a very mild place!

My dad and I climbed onto the roof when I was a kid to watch a funnel pass over our house. It was amazing. Of course, a few years before that a tornado had hit our house, so it was also pretty stupid.

I couldn't live in that area.

No different in living here with the tornados and putting up with earthquakes in California or hurricanes on the coast or blizzards in the Dakotas. You just deal with it and move on.

My little brother shot some video of it passing by, I wonder if he posted it anywhere yet.

Mac.. the thing is, you didn't cover my location!!! I don't want to give it away because I don't want everyone moving here (more than they already are). :D

I'm in the Inland NW. We have a pretty sweet deal here overall. Where I am, I'm fairly safe even from earthquakes and volcanoes should they start to blow. My big complaint is that the winters could be shorter but, even our worst snow storms don't cripple us like they do on the east coast.

It was a compliment to the resilient people, that's all.

Brent, there was a cool front coming through. There fore you had the drastic temperature change. But that is commonly when tornadoes form.

People say Texas is very prone to tornadoes, But I have lived here most of my 57 years and have experienced maybe 20 in the surrounding 200 mile radius, but I have only actually seen 3 and one was not in Texas.

I think wanting to watch a tornado is common. We had a small one hit near our home last year. I stopped and watched it's path for a while then continued home. It also tore up a school, but only slightly injured one teacher who was working after hours.

I will take a tornado over a earthquake any day.. at least I can hide, come out, clean up the damage and go on... with an earthquake? You can't hide, you can't run, and if your lucky enough to live?

Besides, tornadoes have bad weather as a indicator of what is to come.. not earthquakes..

No thank you.. Texas is where I was born and where I will live out my days.. even if it is in a storm shelter!

you people are playing Russian roulette with your life.

mssuzieq- I fully concur! I used to live in Northern California I hate earthquakes they scare the poo out of me! I wasn't born in Texas but I got here as fast as I could ;)

so tell me....which is more scarier..tornados or earthquake?

definitely earthquakes Phat- you don't see them coming and you can't get out of the way.

yeah but, i think more people die from tornados each year in the U.S. than earthquakes...isn't it???

I have no idea Phat, but personally having lived through both I'll take a tornado any day.

hell yeah! It was pouring, hail was quarter sized and lightning was striking frequently, and then it just.....stopped.

Never had I ever heard such a detailed experience. “The air being sucked out of your lungs.” The Arizona sun attempts to kill around August but our weather is basically stable.

Don't worry about AG "666" or Son of a Gun. Just because they believe there is no Heaven or Hell is not going to make it one degree cooler when they get there....

Must be difficult typing with your fingers crossed...

"Gone Or Ear"

I don't fear.

How can you confuse fear with joy! Oh yeah... I forgot.. you don't believe.

From the mind of the right honorable George Carlin....

Think about it. Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!

But He loves you.

He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more.

Now, you talk about a good bull$hit story. Holy $hit!

(George Carlin)

See his whole genius rant on religion here...

http://www.rense.com/general69/obj.htm

RES IPSA LOQUITUR

Wow! Great thinking. Maybe George will reach over and turn your thermostat down for you. Good luck with that!

You actually HONESTLY believe that there is place, where God sends bad people...?
And there is fire there, (possibly controlled by a thermostat), that burns you forever...?

This makes perfect sense to you...?
And you don't just regurgitate this nonsense because you were indoctrinated into it as a child...?
Before you were mentally developed enough to say... hey wait, this makes no sense...?
You aren't just being "loyal" to concept that your mind really knows to be just silly...?

You REALLY expect bad people to go to this Hell...?
And you think I'M going to go there, because I don't believe as you do...?
Regardless of my life, which you know nothing about...
I could be taking care of hundreds of orphans, and volunteering in hospitals...
But if I don't believe what you believe, then none of that matters,
And I will burn for all eternity.... right?

Brilliant...

V

In all of your brilliance, you assume I was indoctrinated as a child.

And don't think for one minute that everything you have done for others does not make a difference, because it most certainly does. As all you have done for and with can surely attest (provided they are old enough to know). And you are right... about burning for eternity I mean. But only because you choose to. How do you like your "I can decide for my intelligent self" now?

Silly would be believing it just because I said it or believe it myself.

By the way, there will ONLY be "bad people" in Heaven... just forgiven

Gone (maybe too far)

Better to talk to a child than as a child......

Find some penicillin will you...

rightasrain

V

In all of your brilliance, you assume I was indoctrinated as a child.

I never claimed I was brilliant... But I do claim George Carlin was.

Assuming you were indoctrinated as a child, is not a wild assumption, being that 99.9% of the religious folk in the world WERE... but if you were not, then you really have no excuse... you should have been able to know better by the time you were an adult.

And don't think for one minute that everything you have done for others does not make a difference, because it most certainly does. As all you have done for and with can surely attest (provided they are old enough to know).

Oh I know good deeds are recognized by the people they are done for/to... but according to Christianity, unless I accept Jesus as my personal savior, I WILL go to hell, regardless of those deeds...

And you are right... about burning for eternity I mean. But only because you choose to.

Sigh... There is no hell...

How do you like your "I can decide for my intelligent self" now?

Just fine, thanks.

Silly would be believing it just because I said it or believe it myself.

So why DO you believe it? Because it was written down in a book, a book written by dozens of authors over many centuries who CLAIM it was divinely inspired? It's the same book that has other chapters that are patently absurd and rediculous mythological flights of fancy... SO are some true and others not, yet they are all divinely inspired? Nope.

By the way, there will ONLY be "bad people" in Heaven... just forgiven

Make sure they save you a seat next to all the forgiven pedophile priests...

V...

Ha! There are so many different versions of the book I probably wouldn't have much problem agreeing with your point if that was all it is about. As you get older maybe you will figure out how to get past the book..

I hope I can move up to the forgiven pedophile priests section!

Sigh while you can.....

rightasrain

V...

Ha! There are so many different versions of the book I probably wouldn't have much problem agreeing with your point if that was all it is about. As you get older maybe you will figure out how to get past the book..

Then why do you take that aspect of it regarding Hell as literal?
When so much of it is OBVIOUSLY metaphor?

I hope I can move up to the forgiven pedophile priests section!

Oh man... that is just a pathetic thing to say...
You feel yourself to be beneath men who raped hundreds of thousands of little children...
And you feel they will be given a better place in heaven than yourself?
I think the logic section of your brain is out of order...

You can't know until you Know. So much talk about silliness, 1st grade learning levels, logic. It is clear you really don't know. It is just as clear you choose not to...

BTW, absolutely none of the so called Christians you refer to will be in Heaven because of any of their good works. Zero. Zilch.

there's no such thing as heaven..... all christians will become worm's food when they die...just like everyone else.

not me Phat I'm being cremated ;)

A very wise choice....me too.

PHAT P.

there's no such thing as heaven..... all christians will become worm's food when they die...just like everyone else.

As much as I reject organized religious dogma with all my little heathen heart....
I have to disagree with you on this idea...

In my life there was a personal experience that demonstrated to me beyond any doubt that consciousness can and does exist outside the body, and still does after the body dies...
(But this does NOT imply the concept of heaven and hell are also true)...

HOWEVER... this was a personal experience, and is not something I would try to convince you of, or sway your opinion on... it's just something I now know to be true...

brothers

The storms were not supposed to go past the DFW area last night. And that was just supposed to be light rain, maybe some wind. Weather channel.com showed 0 chance of precipitation. Then the weather people on TV started started interrupting with warnings. It became a lot worse than anticipated.

I hope you and your area fared well.

Okay--you are being alarmist. In 1950, they could not diagnose tornadoes as easily as they can today. They barely had radar. Many of the tornadoes being recorded today are very minor ones which might have been thought to be straight winds. In the past, they only recorded tornados which were seen and confirmed--now, they can confirm a tornado which lasted only a minute or two and occurred where no one was watching.

But, yes, tornadoes have changed. I used to have to hide from them 3-4 times a year--I haven't hidden from a tornado in the past two years. They seem to have shifted east and north--which, I hate to tell you, doesn't break my heart.

However, most of what you are saying is annoying. Yes, weather detection is 7 or more times better than it used to be. No, nobody cares that much about a Category 1 tornado unless they are in it--it's little more than a nasty wind storm and straight winds often cause more damage. The public mostly cares about something that is dramatic (if they aren't in it)--so, yes, Category 3 and above is about all they discuss.

Really, dear, go see a doctor. You might need medication.

Could it be because the methods for DETECTING tornadoes has improved? What was weather radar technology like 50 years ago?

50 years ago, for a tornado to be "detected" it would probably need to be witnessed by someone and reported.

Today, every rotation in a weather system is detected right away. I know because I live in "Tornado Alley" and all the news stations try to one up each other by getting more advanced radar systems.

Basically, what I am saying is there is no way I believe there were only 200 tornadoes a year 50 years ago. Maybe only 200 REPORTED tornadoes.

The population difference you mention is only a part of the equation.

50 years ago, if a tornado dropped down in an unpopulated area, nobody would know.

Today, if a tornado dropped down in the same unpopulated area, it would be caught by radar.

Did you get your info from some global warming hysteria site?

Many tornadoes people do not see, they are embedded in clouds and rain and hail. The only way people know for sure it is a tornado and not just severe winds is if they are victims of it, if it IS one of those you can see from a distance, or weather equipment verifies it. That equipment was not available in 1950.

Love my PC and my Weatherbug is great. It's showing on the Doppler map tonight that part of the storm is moving over Illinois in a long red front line, and much also to the south of us here in Ohio, not good. Watch out and be ready to take shelter if you are near any of that swirly windy stuff...all the best to those affected today.

The degree of deceit practiced by nay-sayers to the idea of climate changing can be indicated by the lack of information they bring to the "discussion".

Bean@home, for example, claims that "in 1950, they could not diagnose tornadoes as easily as they can today" because, among other things, "they barely had radar". By 1950, they had had radar for at least 10 years, and even in the early days, they could use radar well enough to fight a war by distinguishing between different aircraft! But, if the number of tornadoes was at a high constant value, why didn't the number suddenly jump from a low value to that high value when radar got good enough? The number of tornadoes has increased steadily over the years. Once radar is powerful enough to resolve the facts, the number should suddenly jump, not steadily increase. For that matter, radar was little different in 1980 than it is today, but the number of tornadoes listed then is only about half the average now. And, no matter what Bean@home might insist, no one would think a tornadic effect was a "straight line wind". Genuine tornadoes don't last so short a time and do so little damage that they would be mistaken. And even in 1950, the country was populated densely enough that there was no spot where tornadoes occur that they couldn't be seen, since tornadoes, being so huge, can be seen from a distance! What's more, tornadoes move! If they formed where population was limited, they would evnetually move where there were more people! And, don't forget, there was enough small aircraft travel in those days that tornadoes "where no one was watching" would still be seen from the air! MikeLight77 and Texana Deb use much the same insipid "reasoning". But, it should also be mentioned, the increase in tornado numbers has been recorded only in areas east of the Mississippi River which have been all but uniformly inhabited since even before 1950! There is no way the region that has experienced the increase in tornado numbers was not populated well enough, even back to the early part of the 20th Century, that every tornado occurring couldn't be seen! MikeLight77 talks about "every rotation in a weather system". But that is a fiction they toss out to explain away the increase in tornadoes. They didn't use to need rotating weather systems! Tornadoes may form due to rotating storms systems now, but normal tornadoes still form the way they originally did! The rest are modern perverted formations. And, in fact, the very idea of using improvements in radar to "explain" the increase in tornadoes is patently illegitimate! Beause radar does not confirm the existence of a tornado! Radar will identify rotations in storm systems, but not all rotating systems form tornadoes. And not all tornadoes come from rotating storm systems! In th3e end, if radar identifies a rotating storm system, there must sitll be visual identificiation to verify that a torndao occurred! And where tornadoes are not caused by wholly rotating storm systems, again, visual identification is required! In other words, confirmation of tornadoes is still dependant solely on visual verification! Which means the tornaod numbers are still determined, in the end, solely by observation, not by radar!

And Texana Deb's reply comes off as little more than delusional, claiming tornadoes are "embedded in clouds and rain and hail".

those tornadoes embedded in clouds, rain and hail are called rain wrapped tornadoes and they do exist. We had one hit last May, couldn't see it, yet it lifted a steeple off a church and set it down in the parking lot.

Just giving them a name doesn't make them real. The only references of "rain wrapped tornadoes" are recent, implying they are part of the perverted form that weather is taking these days. "Rain wrapped tornadoes" are related to the same "rotating storm systems" that gives rise to what are called "tornadoes" today, the manifestations that don't need flat, open territory to form. But they are not normal torndaoes. Yes, even normal tornadoes have been said to coincide with storms that have produced hail and some rain, but they are far from "embedded". Normal tornadoes would be broken up by the presence of rain and they would turn hail into projectiles whose destructiveness would be known to outdo the effect of their winds long ago.

The answer is "no". God is love. God is spirit. God is not angry with anyone.

Christians are just like the other worshippers, such as Islams, Buddists, Hindu.

They choose their own gods; and, we choose our own, but our God is Christian God, God the Father.

Christians have the same right as it has stated in our First Amendment.

Christians are not the ones to be blamed for any disasters.

There are a lot of gods and goddesses. Why don't you blame other gods?

Mostly Gone-

Good at the PC talk aren't you. That's "Picking and Choosing" not politically correct...

billie - because according to the the christain wackos there are no other "gods to blame - they ( christains) proclaim there is only one true god - but if something bad happens blame the god we say does not exist - priceless

Pathetic. Just pathetic

(Too far) Gone or just can't (h)Ear-

Just be glad it's a keyboard and not a trumpet...

Ha! Not me.

Stretch your mind a little... you'll figure it out.

I'm a bit at odds here.

If it's God's will to let innocent people die...then he's no god of mine.

Really, what loving, caring, righteous god would let his proposed "children" die and actually "will" it to happen?

However, maybe what saddens me more is how some of his followers have that holier-than-thou attitude like rightasrain seems to dislplay here. Then again, Gone Or Ear, you're encouraging them to keep on going.

-_-

How about we stay on topic? 7 people have died tragically in a type of disaster that has been going on since the beginning of time (please, don't even start arguing how and when that happened).

I guess if you believe in all this religion stuff, you could argue that God tests those he loves the most.

If God were angry at Obama, he would target Obama, not those in the plains. His aim is very good ;-) It is just seasonal weather and is very common for Oklahoma. This system just happened to hit where people were.

Take the collar off of your eyes. The conversation was not how and when... but after.

Innocent people have been dying since the beginning of time. You said it was His will... nobody else.

ny mike - by having a 40ft tree fall on a six year olds head - that kind of test - what did he want to see if he was superman - yeah good arguement

I've only ever been through Oklahoma I've never lived there, but personally I can't see any reason God would ever be angry with them, I think God loves all the southern states.

It's not true....I LOVE EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!

fritz - a little concept called racism comes to mind

Fred....

There are racists everywhere...

My niece lives in Oklahoma... she's white, and dating a nice decent guy, who happens to be black... to my knowledge, no mobs with torches and pitchforks trying to run them out of town...

V - fritz made a comment about how can god be mad at the south - first let me say a god has nothing to do with any of these storms or nothing much else for that matter - but i just responded to the statement thats all - now you chime in need to clarify,great i am aware racism is all around , but two words CIVIL WAR - when the soutern states would rather have seen millions killed rather then abolish slavery - ........ fine long time ago - but if believe or do not see that that mentality and culture is still accepted and adhered to in a great many homes and communities throughout the south ..... well you just do not want to see it then - please you see more confederate flags then the american flag down there - they vote white and live white - 70% ot them are birthers - they still celebrate and reenact Civil War battles .... AND THEY LOST - please ok right, there are not alot of racist people down south - feel better v

Emily... all is well here in Tulsa / Broken Arrow. Most of the weather split around us... north toward Bartlesville early on and most all of the bad stuff (hail, tornado, straight line winds) were south later in the evening. Yes, power flashed and we lost cell and data services for a while during the storm but all is well now.

S.Ulmer: Exactly, we need a tornado tax!!

You do realize that you are undermining your own argument. One can, in fact, control to some degree the production and distribution of guns. One cannot (well, not yet) control the weather. The fact that the two are dramatically different in a key way is a counterargument to what you are supporting--not an argument in favor.

If we could control the weather the way we can control (to some degree) the production and distribution of guns--I seriously doubt that deadly tornadoes would be allowed to occur.

I don't personally think that most gun control laws are all that effective--however, I do think that most people who are "gun control nuts" are ineffective arguers. Most of them have the intellectual capacity of a snarky 12-year-old. And, let me just say, thanks in advance for having provided such excellent evidence for my last statement.

Almost every year, an early season storm travels up the turnpike from OKC to Tulsa. Usually loses energy before reaching Tulsa. I joke and say that it had to exit at Kellyville because it ran out of change for the toll booths. Hasn't signed up for a pikepass!

Bean@home... be gone, troll... back under the bridge

There's not much to see in Kellyville but I guess when your outta money your outta money!!

They run out of steam going up and down all the hills between OKC and Tulsa. There are some long steep grades on that stretch of road!

I happen to live right along I-44 a couple miles east of that exit. Every storm following the highway the past six years has weakened before arriving here. Except last May, a tornado lifted the steeple off a church on Dewey Street and set it down in the parking lot just a mile from my place. Yesterday, the funnel cloud travelling by didn't actually touch down, but was something to see regardless.

Bean: I took S.Ulmer's comment exactly the opposite as you did. It seemed to me he (she) was directing sarcasm toward those who favor oppressive gun control regulation, and he used the weather as an analogy in that anytime anything bad happens with a gun, liberals call for more regulation, and that he would expect liberals to have the same attitude toward deadly weather.... and that weather control laws would have about the same degree of useful effectiveness as gun control laws.

At least that's the way I took it anyway.

Sounds like a congressional action!!!!

conserative, you are right, too bad some folks tend to be too "snarky", (anyone not in their 80's and a grandmother directing it towards a smart mouthed child, should never use the word "snarky") needs help seeing all of the little points.

bean, sorry for confusing you.

lol S. Ulmer I love the word snarky though! It reminds me of my Grandmother

My grandmother's fart is more deadly than any tornados i've seen. Maybe, we should ban her form eating too much veggies.

You obviously don't live in Oklahoma. We had 2 days advance notice of these storms, but if we spent all of our time in the shelters when bad weather was predicted we wouldn't see the light of day between March and July.

Living in a rural community doesn't mean that you live close enough to hear tornado sirens. It also means you're probably relying on a satellite for television coverage, which can go out when the rain starts. I was watching the weather yesterday, one minute there are no storms and then bam there they are, and they can disappear just as fast.

I give kudos to the weather personnel they did a wonderful job yesterday, and the majority of people took cover like they needed to. The only safe place to be during a tornado is underground, but not everyone in this state has that luxury. When a tree falls on your shelter, or the tornado picks up your house, or picks it apart, shelter and all your necessary supplies don't really help.

Also we are a little jaded round these parts when it comes to storms and that unfortunately can be very costly. My prayers are for all those that sustained damage and loss. We can't replace your loved ones, and our hearts break for you, and we will mourn with you. But we are in Oklahoma and we will help you re-build, because that's what we Okies do.

Small Town--think you made the best point about being jaded. I don't even live in this area, but so often up here in Wisconsin they are setting off the sirens when the skies look completely clear. Just last week every siren in the southwestern counties near Milwaukee were going off, and it was completely sunny outside...just "potential for severe storms". When you hear that SO often you eventually just don't sweat it...you can't spend all summer in the basement holding out for the big one...

Small town,

you are so right about early warning. We have satellite tv, but have broadband Internet now (thank heavens). In the past we would have no warning what so ever since, as you said the satellites go out. We now have a county wide alert system, but so far, I have only received one call from them; AFTER the storm passed. We live in a rural are in North Central Texas and we were not even supposed to get rain from the system that devastated y'all. When it started building down here was after most had gone to bed and it actually hit around midnight. We were lucky no tornadoes formed down here. Knowing you are going to have storms with a tornado watch and ACTUALLY having one hit are two different things. You cannot live in the shelters, if you have one. And since the warnings are not always that good, you might only have seconds to take cover. In the after math, we in Texas do what you Oakies do; pray for those who lost their lives and help those who lost material possessions rebuild. Good luck to you and all your fellow Oakies and those in Arkansas in the aftermath.

gameutopia

People describe things the best they know how. Sometimes they just use their imagination as to what a bomb might feel like, even though they have not experienced a bomb. But maybe they have experienced a real bomb. You don't know for sure so don't make assumptions. Calm down. You've never heard of a metaphor or an analogy? Where is all your anger coming from? You should look at that.

...by the way, I have heard bombs go off...and I have also been in Tornados. I'd describe a tornado as more of a locomotive coming, but everyone is allowed their own interpretation (just as you are).

... now go get off your high horse and go make yourself some breakfast.

Oh, okay--so people shouldn't use figurative language? We can't, for example, say that a certain experience "felt like I was flying" (even though people cannot fly on their own)? We can't, for example, say that something "tasted like heaven" (especially since one probably cannot taste heaven)?

Figurative language (which was marked, in this case, by the word "like"--making it a simile) is not literal, dear. One does not have to experience having one's mouth set on fire to say that biting into a particular sort of pepper feels like having one's mouth set on fire.

Great to know that you don't have a grip on the idea of figurative language--have you been tested for autism yet, dear? You might want to be.

Picture the old film of what happens to the trees and the two story house after a nearby nuclear blast wave travels through the area. That's what a neighborhood looks like after a tornado, so I can see a parallel.

I always questioned the train reference. I've stood a half mile from the Wichita - Andover F-5 and what you hear / feel is a huge rush of wind at your back being sucked into the storm. The wind noise is quite loud... trains seem pretty quiet in comparison.

gameutopia...there are many military bases that have artillery fields in Oklahoma (similar to the one you grew up near) so there's a good chance the guy that said 'it felt like a bomb' actually knows what a bomb feels like. In addition, as we approach the 4/19 OKC bombing anniversary I'm sure many Oklahoma citizens are remembering another day 'it felt like a bomb.' Just because you don't know what a bomb feels like doesn't mean others don't.

Amen boomer couldnt have said it better!

David sounds like you were on the southern side of a NE bound tornado. The only time I have heard the "train" sound was when I was directly in front of an F3 headed directly toward the building that I was in at the time. Fortunate for me it was a strong building and the tornado for some reason jogged to the left about 300 yards before it clipped the northern corner of the building. Tornadoes are really bizzare events.

Best wishes for the families of the victims and to the survivors.

Yes. The tornado moved from Haysville through McConnel AFB (and then on to Andover) just north of my home north of Derby. It turned pink after hitting a family owned greenhouse full of flowers. The sound was louder than any train I have ever heard.

The soil in the area doesn't always lend itself well to building homes half underground. If you live in an area where many of the nighly television adverts are for "foundation repair" then the soil probably expands / contracts too much for a basement. What's popular in this area are "safe rooms" made of steel.

Pretty much what David said- we have to actually blast (dynamite) holes to try and build basements, which in the long run isn't very cost effective when you have to continuously pay for foundation repair because of it.

To everyone affected by this our thoughts over here in the hill country are with y'all! God Bless!

Y'all what the heck language is that? Some kind of redneck ebonics.

you're such a troll sheesh.

In North Texas the soil is mainly gumbo clay. You can dig and build a basement, like some Northerners tried to do about 25 years ago. But the clay expands and contracts and will crumble your basement and house in a very few years. The foundation repair companies cannot even fix it properly.

1SGFitzsWife4ID Being a military transplant I would think you would have more pride than to speak like that. Guess you believe when in Texas speak like a Texan so you fit in huh? LOL

Well Howdy! I think its a special luxury that us cowpeople have in the good ol USA and its music to my ears. Happy trails!!! ;D

I've always said y'all even before the military, I don't understand what you mean by pride, since I hear a lot of grammatically incorrect things coming out of soldier's mouths all the time.

I already lived in Texas for 8 years before I even met my husband, not that it's any of your business in the first place, I wasn't born in Texas but I sure as hell plan to die here.

So you have always used words like an illterate? OK then, With those storms you may just get your wish. :-)

fitz - well if that is your intention you better get back there quick- before it burns to ground and there is nothing to go back to - i wonder why god is also so mad at texas - what did they ever do wrong

Fred- well it's about time you spelled my name correctly- go back where? I'm already in Texas, my comment about God was because someone asked if God was angry at the state.

that was "punny" =0)

oldwolf49... eggs zach lee...

Pretty jerky comment on your part. I don't understand how people like you are the way they are.

KimAL - Not sure if oldwolf49 lives in the area but... many people here know where they live and what the danger is. They are sorry for a neighbor's loss, pitch in where they can and only to the point that it doesn't offend. We are pretty conservative and don't believe this weather is anything unusual... it's April in Oklahoma! If anything, the discussion today around the office is about the media and others trying to make this more than it is. I challenge any other part of the country to be more compassionate or neighbor supporting than Oklahoma after a tornado or domestic terror bombing. I understand oldwolf's comment. Let's move on.

We can move on, sure... but to just be so blunt about caring less about the situation is incosiderate.

Thank you KimAL. I guess these heartless people have never had something like this happen to them. But I have and I assure you. Its hard to just move on when you house is across the road or a loved one is missing. So they can take move on and shove it!!

I guess men are heartless and deal with loss different than women

Time to pick yourself up dust yourself off and get over it and start to rebuild. Thats what you do whne a natural disaster happens like the floods in ND/ MN.

Well in that case you get out of the water and dry yourself off and get over it and rebuild. You don't see those people holding a pity party do you? NO they move on and do what they need to do to start living again.

Your right men deal with loss differently not through emotion like women. Men deal with reality and see what needs to be done to get their family through it as quickly a spossible. To us a house is a house now a collectable car thats something entirely different, See what I mean. Men and women value things differently is all, and see things differently as well. If women want someone to see things the way they do, they need to hook up with another woman. Because Men and women never will see things or value things the same way, Never has never will.

I guess so. But I don't think it matters if you are a man or a woman, when you see children crying because all they ever new is now gone or you see families huddle together crying and scared becasue they just lost everything, but are more worried about if their loved one are okay. because they have no way of knowing. I don't think it really matter what sex you are when it comes to pain and hurt. I have seen this and I have felt this. My heart acts for them. I got lucky this time and it missed me, but I assure you it didn't miss all my family.

Old me, I have seen men fall apart after a tornado. I was with a group of people doing clean up work in Kansas near Coffeyville Kansas about 8 years ago. We were to scour the area and look for any "valuable" that might be around and turn them in to the county where people could come look for their possessions. These were mostly pictures, small mementos, even one baby's certificate for being the first born that year. One of the young men was looking at a car with a bowling ball busted through the window when he was attacked by an elderly man who owned the car AND the bowling ball. He thought the young man was going to steal the only possessions he had left.

Ask Greensburg, KS what they really think of Kathleen Sebelius...

Please, no government "help."

It amazes me how you right wing crazies manage to turn a tragedy where at least two children died into reminding us all that our president is...omigosh...Black.