Video Games Vista: Inside May 3, 1999 Part I Videos

Added: Dec 3, 2008

From: stormchaser3751

Duration: 8:12

May 3, 1999 started sunny, warm, and humid across the affected region. The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma initially issued a "slight risk" for severe weather for most of the state of Oklahoma early that morning. By late morning the latest observations and forecasts began to indicate an increasing likelihood of widespread severe weather, and the SPC upgraded sections of the southern plains to "moderate risk." By 3 p.m. it had become evident that a widespread severe weather event was imminent. Parts of Oklahoma and Kansas were then further upgraded to "high risk". When a "high risk" is issued, this usually indicates the potential for a significant severe weather event, including damaging tornadoes. The SPC issued a tornado watch by mid-afternoon as conditions gathered together for what would be a historic tornado outbreak. By the afternoon the CAPE values reached nearly 6,000 J/kg over the region. Large supercell thunderstorms developed and in the late afternoon through the mid-evening hours of that Monday, tornadoes began to break out across the state. The most significant tornado of the outbreak touched down just southwest of the community of Amber, Oklahoma, and headed northeast, parallel to Interstate 44, just after another tornado had passed over the airport in Chickasha, OK. (Note: it may be argued that the storms touching down in Chickasha and Amber were the same storm; however, for weather tracking purposes, each touchdown is counted as a separate tornado which is most probable.) The storm continued moving northeast, destroying the community of Bridge Creek and crossing I-44 just north of Newcastle.The tornado then crossed the Canadian River, passing into far southern Oklahoma City. As it passed over Bridge Creek, Oklahoma, around 6:54 p.m., a Doppler On Wheels (DOW: Wurman et al. 1997, Wurman 2001) mobile Doppler weather radar detected winds of 301 mph (484 km/h), +/- 20 mph inside the tornado at a height of 32 m AGL (Wurman et al. 2007)[1] (The old record was a 257-268 mph wind measurement from a Doppler weather radar near Red Rock, Oklahoma, as reported in a formal publication by Bluestein et al. (1993)). These winds, however, occurred above the ground, and winds at the surface may not have been quite this intense. The tornado continued on into Moore and then passed over the intersection of Shields Boulevard and Interstate 35 and back into Oklahoma City, crossing Interstate 240 near Bryant Avenue. The storm then turned more northerly, striking parts of Del City and Tinker Air Force Base near Sooner Road as an F4 before diminishing over Midwest City and finally lifting near the intersection of Reno Avenue and Woodcrest Drive.Thirty six people were killed in this tornado. More than 10,500 buildings and 47 businesses were destroyed. This tornado caused $1.1 billion in damage, making it the costliest single tornado in U.S. history, adjusted for inflation. This was the deadliest tornado since the April 10, 1979 Wichita Falls, Texas Tornado which killed 42 people. However, early warning saved many lives. Warnings were issued well in advance of the tornado's arrival, and the Oklahoma City broadcast media interrupted programming to follow the storms on radar and even by helicopter. The death toll likely would have been higher if people had not been warned so far in advance. Following the storm, three of the local television stations in Oklahoma City: KOCO-TV, KWTV and KFOR-TV continued coverage of the damaging and deadly tornadoes through May 4.IN THIS VIDEO, we follow KWTV's live coverage as Gary England went on the air to cover the F5 Tornado that damaged much of central Oklahoma from Chickasha to the southeastern portion of the Oklahoma City metro, including the suburbs of Moore, Del City, and Midwest City. There were many other storms that day as well, the final death toll was 44, though it is believed that it would have been much higher without the advance warning provided by Gary and the rest of the KWTV weather staff.

Channel: People

Tags: 1999  bridge  castor  city  creek  dow  england  gary  kwtv  may  okc  oklahoma  outbreak  severe  storm  tornado  val  warning 

Rating: 5.00 (4 ratings)    Views: 574' favoriteCount='2    Comments: 2