MAY 3, 1999 ...ENOUGH SAID !!

Little did I know this severe wx setup would end up being the largest tornado outbreak in Oklahoma recorded history. Unfortunately, I had to work at US Cellular until 4pm, so I knew I would be joining the severe weather outbreak in progress. Over the past few days, parts of today's severe weather puzzle were coming together in the S.Plains, and more specifically Oklahoma . An intense and compact shortwave was diving almost due south and would eject rapidly across the Rockies as it made the turn to the east. The forecast models did not catch on this strong feature until last night. Jeff Piotrowski (my usual chase partner) and I just returned from a storm chase in the W.Texas area on Sunday and we noticed a very strong boundary across N.Texas. We were sure this would start lifting to the north once the upper system approached and a surface low developed in the Plains. The combination of these 2 factors coupled with intense warm advection pattern setting up over Oklahoma was almost a sure bet to trigger severe storms and likely tornadoes by afternoon. Jeff and I were certainly surprised to find that only a slight risk was issued for Oklahoma today on the first SPC severe storm outlook for this day. We recognized the great low level shear environment that was over N.Texas yesterday, and were very sure that this same environment was going to work northward into Oklahoma . Jeff and I conferred several times during the morning, and he kept me updated on the new RUC model data that started to favor SW Oklahoma for initial development. I also monitored the weather situation on the limited resources I have at work. One thing for certain, I could not get out from work early today. I had a 2pm training meeting at work and had to attend !!

My original target zone was focused on NW/NC Oklahoma during the day as the surface low continued to deepen over NE Colorado . I was convinced that by the afternoon hours, the warm frontal boundary across S. Oklahoma would surge to the north in response to the deepening surface low to the northwest. Also, I had my attention there as it looked to me like the diffluent mid-level jet axis would be setting up there by evening. NW/NC Oklahoma looked to be primed for tornadic supercells, especially if the warm front could anchor there. The RUC model was persistent in bulls-eyeing SW Oklahoma for the explosion of supercells. I could not ignore this, but I remained settled on NW/NC Oklahoma as my target zone. Just before I had to go into the 2 hour meeting, I called Jeff one last time to make sure everything was setting up okay. He indicated that the SPC upgraded much of C. Oklahoma to HIGH RISK. This did not surprise me one bit but I still could not figure out why it took so long for them to recognize the threat. Jeff was already in route to SW Oklahoma and I finally agreed to his target zone. I plotted up one last surface map before the meeting, and this matched up well with what information Jeff was giving me. The warm front was not accelerating like I originally thought that it would, but it had crossed the Red River into SW and SC Oklahoma .

The meeting fortunately was not too lengthy so it was appearing that I may be able to actually get out of work on time. I had lost all contact and access to any new weather developments while in the meeting. After I left the meeting and got ready to head out, I checked radar one last time. No storms had developed yet, but there were clusters of organizing tcu over SW Oklahoma/NW Texas that were showing up well on the visible satellite imagery. My chase was now on !! I still had to fuel up and get some cash for the chase so I wasted about 15 minutes in accomplishing these errands. I barely beat the rush hour traffic in getting out of Tulsa on I-44. I had not talked to Jeff in a while so I called him from my cell phone. He kind of surprised me when he said there was already a full blown supercell underway near Lawton !! I guess either my weather data was old or this supercell literally exploded. Jeff said it was the latter. He seemed sure that this supercell was eventually going to track towards Norman . He advised me to get southwest quick, as the supercell was rapidly forming a nice circulation on radar just to the northeast of Lawton . I called Mike Morgan at KFOR in Oklahoma City , and he told me to head southwest to Oklahoma City , and then decide on the road option from there.

I raced southwest from Tulsa and monitored the severe weather brodcasts from KTOK ( Oklahoma City ). Spotters were already advising of a strongly rotating wall cloud approaching the Fletcher/Cyril OK area along I-44. I lost contact with both Jeff and Mike for much of the chase. I was on my own now so I listened closely to KTOK and NOAA weather radio. Tornado warnings were soon issued for the counties of Comanche, Grady, and Caddo. A developing tornado was near the town of Fletcher moving northeast at 30-35 mph. I plotted the tornado path, and it looked like eventually this tornado would head towards Chickasha if it continued. I was approaching Stroud (which later got hit by a F-3 tornado) at this time. I had lots of distance to close on the Oklahoma City area. I plotted storm tracks/reports from the KTOK spotters and this tornado was actually heading directly up I-44 for the Oklahoma City Metro. I did not want to bother Mike at KFOR and I was unable to reach Jeff's cell phone so I was wondering if my plans still looked okay. By the time I reached Chandler , the one supercell had split into 2 circulations. One was heading north for Anadarko, and the other was heading northeast directly for the city of Chickasha . No doubt as to where the diffluent axis was setting up. Quite a few tornadoes were reported between Anadarko, Chickasha , and Lawton . I had a hard time discerning from radio reports if there were a bunch of tornadoes or that spotters were observing the same tornado from different vantage points.

I pressed on to Oklahoma City and hopefully not too late to see the tornadoes that the KTOK spotters were reporting. The supercells were intensifying on radar as described by the live simulcast with KOCO's Rick Mitchell. I knew right then that something bad was about to happen. I reached the Wellston exit when a large tornado was now reported to the southwest of Chickasha . Originally the track was northeast, but fortunately for Chickasha , the track turned more to the n-ne. The tornado was going to track just to the west of town. This large tornado continued to track northeast from the Laverty area and was soon joined by a satellite tornado as it moved towards OK-9/U.S. 62. Two tornadoes on the ground at the same time and I was still 60 miles away!! I was becoming frustrated at this point, but I knew that I had to pick up the pace now. KTOK spotters were indicating that the tornado dissipated as it approached OK-9, but quickly called in reports that a new even larger tornado was on the ground immediately northwest of Chickasha . By the time I reached the northeast sections of the Oklahoma City Metro, I heard a report that an yet a larger wedge tornado was coming down near Amber. One report was followed by several others describing a huge wedge tornado on the ground to the southeast of Amber in E. Grady Co..

My chase was now truly just starting. The tornado was tracking right along I-44 and it was reported to be doing extreme damage to areas south of Tuttle in the Bridge Creek community. I was very familiar with Oklahoma City so I very quickly made my way to the SW part of the city and I-44. I plotted the storm and now fully realized that some part of the Oklahoma City area was going to be devastated. The tornado was now reported to be a mile wide and was now leaving the Bridge Creek area in ruins. I was at the intersection of I-44 and OK-37 at this time. I made the decision to top off my gas tank before heading west to the raging tornado not more than 10 miles to my southwest. I told the gas station cashier that something really bad was heading their way and to watch out in the next 10 minutes or so. I left the Phillips 66 station and headed to the west on OK-37. I plotted the tornado track to intersect somwhere very close to the I-44 and OK-76 intersection. Very prominent "feeder" bands were racing westward just above the ground and they all pointed to the tornado. I drove through the core and frequent/ very scary cloud to ground lightning strikes as I proceeded south on OK-76. My emotions were becoming widely varied ranging from excited to frustrated to very nervous to almost fear and panic. A semi had jack-knifed on the rain/hail slick highway and the huge tornado was bearing down. Meanwhile cloud to ground lightning arced to the ground in and around the accident scene( a few bolts nearly struck the police officers at the scene directing traffic). The emergency crews were frantically working to get the road clear. I had to get past this and fast !! Oddly enough, the F-5 tornado passed about 1 mile to the north of this very location on OK-76 just 15 minutes later.

I knew I had to get southwest still as the low-level inflow bands were racing back to the southwest of me. I really did not know exactly how close to the tornado I was at this point in time. Often times, one just needs to read the sky to give the much needed clues as to where the tornado would be located. The tornado at this time was devastating the Bridge Creek area and I was about 2-3 miles to the east of I-44 on OK-76. I was not fully aware as to the magnitude of this monster tornado that was approaching from the southwest. Needless to say I would be surprised by this one!! I reached a paved road west to get in closer to the massive tornado. I could see the very broad wall cloud edges just above the tree tops to my west-southwest. My heart was starting to pound now!! I knew I had to be careful and selective on my roads now. This storm was not like anything I have ever seen in my 15 years of storm chasing!! The core was so far removed from the meso that I started to question if the tornado was still on the ground. I continued west on the paved road ( SW 24th St. ) towards County Line Rd. My progress to the west was slowed somewhat by larger than quarter sized hail and occasional squalls of very heavy rain. Intense cloud to ground lightning continued. As I approached an open area just east of County Line Rd , I started to make out a very dark and low base that was actually the very large wall cloud and tornado. The massive and deadly tornado was now leaving the Bridge Creek area and approaching the Grady/McClain Co. line. My De Lorme Oklahoma atlas showed that this major tornado was tracking along and immediately west of I-44. The chase now goes into a feverish overdrive from here on!!

Much to my surprise, I ran out of pavement as I continued on towards County Line Rd.  A cluster of local spotters and residents were pulled over and watching the very dark and ominous wall cloud to the west and southwest. Rotation was very pronounced as I pulled over, and I was still 3-4 miles off to the east of the massive tornado I still was unable to observe. I asked if the road was improved enough to drive on and continue on to the west. One of the spotters said it was okay to drive on up to County Line Rd ; he suggested that past that point, the road was shaky to drive on in a car. I followed him west to County Line Rd. The further west I drove towards the dark base, the more apparent was the fact that not only was there a tornado on the ground still, but also there was the largest tornado I had ever seen period!! My thoughts were now racing. How should I approach this monster, and more importantly, how close could I safely get? The wedge tornado was moving steadily to the northeast, so I decided to head north on County Line Rd. Extreme cloud motions were overhead as the clouds just above the ground streaked back to the northwest. I was about 1-2 miles east of the (now F-5) tornado. My progress to the north was slowed a bit as I doubted I could safely get ahead of the tornado north of the I-44 overpass. I decided the safest and best chance for decent video was to find an open area that was elevated and unobstructed by trees. I headed north and frantically looked for a road or street that I could watch the tornado pass.

I came upon a drive to a small mobile home park that had an open view of the massive tornado. Massive seemed to be the word of the day when it came to the description of the tornado (please refer to the Terror in the Heartland video). I was more or less stunned by the view I had of the advancing tornado. I was excited and nervous as I pulled up to shoot video. Excited because I had a great spot to video the tornado for a few minutes, and nervous because I was sitting in a mobile home park ahead of a raging violent tornado. My ears were popping frequently as I got my camera focused on the weirdly colored tornado. The tornado's color was best described as an "electric" shade of purple, one of the deepest and most brilliant colors of purple I have ever seen. The roar of this violent tornado was equally stunning. No freight train sounds, but a tremendous roar (that sounded like F-18's taking off) was heard as the tornado was crossing about a mile to my west along I-44.  It was at this point that I knew this tornado was beyond unique. Actually, the tornado at this point was probably at maximum intensity and size. The tornado was located about 2 miles northeast of Bridge Creek in extreme E.Grady Co.. I had several minutes of tornado viewing/video from this spot that was midway between 12th and 24th St. just west of County Line Rd. The time I was at this location was between 6:50-6:58pm, and it was a good spot to watch the tornado, except for the small tree that occasionally got in the video. Inevitably, trees or power lines get in the way no matter how hard you try!!

The massive tornado raged on to the northeast, and about 2-3 miles ahead of the main tornado, extreme rotation and lifted debris was seen to my north-northwest. I watched closely for satellite tornadoes, but this rotation was advancing to the northeast quickly out ahead of the main tornado. I was starting to lose contrast for video and I had thoughts of getting closer in to the tornado. I quickly got my car turned around and headed back to County Line Rd. , and then north to the I-44 overpass. I got to within 1/4 mile of the overpass before large amounts of debris fell from the sky and 70 mph+ winds shook my car. Soon large pieces of debris started to falling from the sky...one piece made a thud on the roof my car . I knew I could go no further north. Now I had to scramble! My next option was to get back to SW 12th Street and then get east to OK-76. The tornado was going to cross OK-76 somewhere to my northeast (I just did not know how far to my north). The sky was very dark as I headed on to the north on OK-76, and the tornado was approaching the road to the north of I-44. Surprisingly, I did see several motorists that were also heading north. I was almost sure a few vehicles were other chasers, but did not recognize who they were. The tornado had constricted some as it was about 2 miles to my northwest( width appeared to be 1/2 mile now). I continued north and the winds (RFD) were now approaching 60 mph, and moderate to heavy rain curtains were rotating around the south side of the violent tornado. Numerous power flashes signaled the approach of the still violent tornado to OK-76. My video shows this well, although the contrast of the tornado against the very dark background did limit the video of the actual tornado. My windshield fogged up too and this did not help matters any.

As I approached the I-44 underpass on OK-76, numerous cars were pulled under the bridge and actually a few people were taking pictures. A couple oblivious people stood in the middle of the highway and were shooting video/pictures. I had to honk my horn to snap them out of chaser dreamland!! I knew I had to keep going north and realized that I was probably going to go across debris/downed power lines as I headed across the damage swath. The outer edges of tornado damage were marked by F-1/F-2 damage; however, the central core of the mean tornado was F-4/possibly F-5 in this area. The overall width was about 1/2 mile, but the central core/most intense damage was 1/8-1/4 of a mile wide. A camera man for the Daily Oklahoman and I played leap frog along OK-76 as we dodged power lines and tried to get good shots of the tornado and damage swath. So often I had heard reports that in the most violent tornadoes, the ground/grass gets scoured. About 1 mile north of I-44, I saw this in person. The trees were debarked and mangled, and the grass/vegetation was blasted revealing only mud where a large pasture (I am assuming) once existed. The 1/2 mile wide tornado was on a course of destruction that unfortunately was aimed at the south side of the OKC Metro area, and more directly the city of Moore (Cleveland Co.).

My best option now was to blast north on OK-76 and then east on OK-37 to get even with the intense but shrinking tornado. I continued to video the best I could as the tornado was 3-5 miles to my east and heading northeast at a faster clip. Quarter to occasionally golfball sized hail wrapped around the main circulation and this slowed my progress a bit. I reached OK-37 and the tornado was churning along I-44/H.E. Bailey Turnpike. My best guess was that it would graze the far north side of Newcastle before continuing on into Cleveland and Oklahoma Co. to the northeast. Numerous motorists and spotters were pulled over and watching in awe as this violent tornado approached the U.S. 62/I-44 intersection. The city of Newcastle was very lucky this day!! The tornado appeared to be weakening somewhat as it raced towards the I-44 intersection. Earlier the tornado was only moving at 30 mph; however, now it was probably moving at 40-45 mph. The large stove-pipe tornado was in a transition phase obviously as several small satellite tornadoes appeared on the north side, probably signaling the formation of a new circulation. I was playing catch up at this point as the tornado was about 4 miles to my east and moving away quickly. By the time I reached the U.S. 62 overpass at I-44, the weakening tornado was tearing up the area immediately to the west/southwest of the Canadian River . Again more gawkers clogged the road is I attempted to setup for video on the shoulder!! Traffic was becoming more of a hazard than the tornado at this point!! My frustration really shows well on this portion of my video.

Fortunately the sight seer in front of me pulled over and let me get to the shoulder to shoot some video. West winds were roaring in the RFD area to the west of the re-organizing tornado. I would estimate the winds were in the 55-60 mph range but peaked later as a more intense downdraft plowed into the circulation. Still video were two words that did not come together at this point. For some reason, I pulled the camera down to put the time stamp on to the video. Bad move on my part!! For one, the time/date was incorrect, and 2 this more or less ruined some wide open video of the tornado. The rotation was so intense that at times it had the appearance of being fast forwarded. I've seen this degree of rotation only one time before in the Texas Panhandle on June 8, 1995 near Miami . It was not very hard to pick out when it hit buildings either. Large pieces of debris swirled far outside of the main tornado vortex as it centrifuged and dropped to the ground. A very impressive scene. As with the most intense tornadoes, wrapping rain curtains surrounded the outer edges of the circulation and obscured the video at times. If there was ever a time I needed a tripod, this was it!! I had about 2-3 minutes of fairly decent video before I had to scramble and get north. I was fearing that the roads would soon be shut down by the OHP. Little did I know, Jeff had passed my location just minutes before I decided to head north!! The cell phones were grid-locked so we had no idea where each other was.

I along with several other chasers headed on to OK-37 east to Moore . This pod of chasers/spotters
was likely the last group to get on OK-37 eastbound. I thought I saw the OHP pull up on to the on-ramps in my rear view mirror. A close call to busting that's for sure!! The group of the "lucky" chasers continued on knowing that the tornado would eventually cross the road. The chasers acted as if in a some type of video game. The cars all drove with extreme caution and pulled over at various times to grab quick shots of video. Later, I did recognize my car on the Weather Channel's video as the tornado blasted into the west side of Moore . Anyway, occasional very large hail fell to the immediate north of the now intensifying tornado. This was not the ideal place to be tracking a wedge tornado for obvious reasons. The tornado was widening again as it approached OK-37/SW 134th Street. Now comes the tragic part that was unfolding just to the south of the road. I could see several sub-divisions that were obviously going to be in the direct path of this intensifying 1/2 mile wide tornado!! Earlier, I was unable to see what types of structures were being devastated. Now it was becoming very apparent that things were about to get much worse. This is when I started to get a pit in my stomach. The tornado was tracking directly for the intersection of Penn and SW 134th. I pulled over just west of May Ave as the tornado slowly approached SW 134th. Debris was a huge concern now that it was getting into a more densely settled area, and heading into the city limits of Moore . It was very obvious the tornado had reintensified significantly now. 

The tornado roar was now very discernable as it approached SW 134th. I along with several other chasers had pulled over at this point. Hail was now baseball to softball sized as the tornado closed to within 1/2-3/4 of a mile of SW 134th. The hail was falling sporadically along OK-37. Video continued to roll as the violent tornado approached Penn and tore into the sub-divisions in that area. I was forced to hold my location as the tornado headed into western sections of Moore . Damage was beyond extreme from this point on. Jeff was not much more than 1 mile to my northeast and he was in the path of the tornado that can be best described as maxing out tornado. Unfortunately the contrast was lost as the tornado blasted the west and north sections of Moore . Numerous power flashes marked the violent tornado's path across the city of Moore . I plotted the path as best I could given the lack of radar information. The tornado seemed as though it was directed for the Tinker AFB area east of Oklahoma City . I was still slightly oblivious to the magnitude of destruction now occurring not more than 5 miles to my northeast. I reached I-35 without any real delays or problems surprisingly. The on ramp to I-35 was still open and there was no traffic or emergency vehicles yet on I-35. My opinion now was that the tornado was not as far ahead of me as I originally thought. I reached the next main road up from SW 134th on I-35. Now I started to notice numerous ambulance/fire/police scrambling like ants around the ant hill. Apparently, most of the houses to my west (where the emergency vehicles were responding) were either badly damaged or gone all together. Now the realization of the ongoing devastation was affecting my chase of this violent tornado. My attitude quickly changed from a mad dash to keep up to a stunned following of the big tornado from the south. At this point I knew for fact this was going to head right for Tinker AFB.

Radio reports and scanner traffic indicated the tornado was in Oklahoma Co. now near Bryant Rd and I-240. I could see occasional power flashes still to my northeast, and I was certain that rain was starting to obscure my view of the now F4 tornado. As I approached Shields Blvd where the tornado crossed I-35, severe damage to structures was seen on the outer fringes of the damage path. As I closed in the core of the damage path, an unfathomable amount of debris was piled along the eastern most guard rails along I-35. It was at this time where I truly observed the most extreme tornado damage(aside from the scoured earth I saw on OK-76). Human impact wise this was by far the worst tornado I have seen, and I started to think this might be of historical magnitude. Most of the man made structures were damaged beyond recognition, and the trees left standing were de-barked and devoid of branches. I commented on the video F4 possibly F5 damage was seen in this area. A large rafter truss was laying across I-35 in this vicinity. I drove slowly across this and was totally mystified by the degree of damage. The violent tornado was still south of I-240 at this time. After snapping myself out of the storm shock, I realized that I needed to get up to I-240 to get closer in. Radio reports had the tornado positioned at Sunnylane and I-240 as I headed east on I-240, still unobstructed by traffic or closed highway. I was more or less in a stupor at this stage of my chase. I knew eventually that either damage or closed roads would end my chase. Neither case ended my chase, but a solid wall of eastbound traffic did. By the time I reached Bryant Rd , motorists some seeking shelter BEHIND the tornado and some just wanting to get through made for interesting times. Lots of vehicles gummed up the lanes on I-240 as the tornado made it's way on to Tinker AFB. Categorically, there was strong F3-F4 damage along I-240. I do believe in this type of critical situation, there needs to be a free lane for emergency vehicles or through traffic to continue without any delay. I-240 was severely grid-locked so a change of plans was in order!!

I was forced to u-turn across the muddy median only to run into yet another snag. Power lines were hanging very low across the highway. Debris and mud was several inches thick on the road and made for very slick driving conditions. A UPS truck had driven under the power lines and had become stuck. This created a 5-10 minute delay as the man in brown did his best Homer Simpson. I guess he thought he was driving his sportscar or something!! Once again traffic jammed and now a few emergency vehicles were racing east on the highway. OHP was already on the scene. They did their best to restore at least some order to the mass chaos of freaked out travelers and people just needing to get home to verify their home was still there. I know desperation was at the heart of alot of OKC residents that tragic day. Radio was now reporting that the highest level of warning was now in effect for Oklahoma Co.- a tornado emergency was posted for the first time in Oklahoma Co. history. This says volumes as to the magnitude of this tornado!!

I tried my best to catch back up to the weakening tornado that was leaving the Tinker AFB area and moving into western sections of Midwest City . I initially tried I-40 to go east but no deal. Traffic was blocked just east of I-35. OHP had this sealed off. My next option was to try U.S. 62 east. I headed there and no traffic and no closed roads. I knew the tornado would cross this road eventually so I headed on through Nicoma Park and on to Choctaw. I could see what looked to be another (or the same) tornado extending out from a scalloped out updraft area right over Choctaw. I was driving through lots of debris on the road so I knew this was not the same tornado. Rain curtains blocked my view so I pulled over at a convenience store west of Choctaw and called my report into KFOR and Mike Morgan. I decided to call it a chase on this storm as it appeared as if it was weakening. I could see to my distant west a lone supercell that was very near El Reno . I had thoughts of going after this storm, but at the same token, I was mentally drained. By the time I could reach this storm, sunset would have already happened. I drifted aimlessly down I-40 trying to decide what to do. By the looks of this supercell, more tornadoes appeared likely. I was not sure I was prepared night chase so I headed on to KFOR. Just as I pulled in to the station parking lot, a tornado warning was issued ,and strong east winds (very humid east winds) were gusting towards the storm. One did not need a brain surgeon to figure this one out!!

I waited patiently at the station to dub off video, and was intrigued on exactly how much damage and suffering had just happened. The remainder of the night was spent watching radar and listening to the spotter reports/live coverage. At this point I was in amazement. It was hard to believe that such a small cumulus cloud could ever become something as horrendous and prolific as it did. I am a firm believer in historical tornado patterns and it was quite apparent that Oklahoma was due for a severe and violent tornado outbreak. 1991 represented the last major tornado outbreak in Oklahoma (aside from the weaker tornado outbreak on Oct. 4,1998). This outbreak tripled the numbers of violent tornadoes reported on April 26, 1991, and it also struck the most Oklahoma cities in one outbreak since the late 1940's. After all the tornado tracks had been documented, a total of 74 tornadoes touched down in the state of Oklahoma on May 3-4, a record and historical outbreak for Oklahoma. Also , the total of 87 documented tornadoes in Oklahoma during the month of May shattered all-time records for the state. Aside from this day being historical/incredible, it also will go down as frightening to some and tragic to others. Advanced warning by the NWS Norman and the OKC media saved an untold amount of lives this day, and will know doubt provide a valuable study for future tornado research and warning system development. I doubt I will see anything of this magnitude in my lifetime again...

A footnote to this story (Aug. 2006)...I am working on getting a few video grabs of my more interesting shots of the F5 tornado posted on this chase log page.  The May 3rd chase to date still ranks as my #1 most memorable chase. It was tough chasing being solo, but most of my decisions this day were good ones. It still is hard to fathom how much property this violent tornado wiped out. I still go back when I am in the OKC area and go through the areas that had been more or less wiped out. It was good to see most people rebounded and rebuilt. Then came the F4 tornado five years later that crunched some of the same areas devastated on May 3rd, 1999...ouch !!