How Do You Spell May?

A long time ago, an ad for an indigestion-relief product asked, "How do you spell relief?" And the answer was, "R-O-L-A-I-D-S."

So ... how do you spell May? T-O-R-N-A-D-I-C S-T-O-R-M-S. So many times in my life, I've seen bad, bad storms in May. Often, they'd happen right around the end of school, but anytime is game. The first Moore tornado back in 1999 hit on May 3. The Greensburg tornado happened on May 4. So this month is when you'd better hang onto your hat, and keep an eye on the sky. And get the cellar ready.

This morning was humid with ragged clouds spitting out some sprinkles. It was also kind of windy. Lots of ingredients were coming together to make a real "weather breeder" day.

Sure enough, around mid-afternoon storms started popping up. About the first one was off to our southeast, and it was tornadic.

Coming into town, looking north, showing the wild clouds.

Looking east over the creek, the tornadic storm headed towards the City. You can see how full the creek is, we had 1.66" of rain yesterday and last night.

Near some friends' house ... the sun with wild clouds going UP.

Another storm was off to the northeast, and it was tornadic as well.

This big, dark cloud just to our west didn't do much, and moved off to the northeast. But it sure looked ominous.

Looking east from our back yard, tornadic storm hitting the south part of the City (Norman area).

KOCO station showing the distinctive "hook echo."

Storm clouds in the Norman area shown on TV.

TV showing a closeup of the hook echo, showing where the tornado is about to hit.

Storm clouds in Norman area.

Another station, Ch. 9, showing the doplar radar - hook echo. Smaller pictures on the left of the screen show areas that have suffered damage.

Low, dark clouds on the TV.

The weatherman is pointing below a funnel that is forming. I'm amazed when they have HELICOPTERS up in these storms, getting pictures and giving reports.

A look east towards sunset, a SECOND round of severe storms with tornadoes, AGAIN in the area southwest of the City, headed towards the City.

Not only have they had tornadoes in several areas tonight (also in Kansas, etc.), there has been damage, and there has also been flooding. I heard one report on TV that one area here in Oklahoma has had 8 inches of rain these last few days. I think the drought is getting busted. Just prayers for safekeeping for folks in any stormy areas.

Update around 8:45 p.m. - it's dark, and there's a rain-wrapped tornado on I-35 in the southwest part of the City, cars reported flipped, etc. And this storm seems to be moving slowly, so that's bad for tornadoes and rain doing damage. Prayers.