TORNADO WARNING

There are big storms threatening central Oklahoma tonight. So I decided to record the sky from my front yard, along with the rhododendrens before the storms hit.

I'm also watching the skies. They are the color of tornadoes and bad storms in every direction.

You learn to watch the color of the skies this time of year. The color tells how dangerous the coming storm or tornado is going to be.

I was terrified of tornadoes when I was younger. There would be tornado warnings on TV and I would want our family to go to the basement at our church not far from our house, but we couldn't take our dogs. To leave them at home was out of the question. My dad, who grew up in Oklahoma, would go out to the backyard, look at the sky, upon which he would render his judgement. It was safe to stay at home, and we were never hit all those years of growing up.

A lot of people who weren't afraid of tornadoes growing up, became afraid of them the late afternoon of May 3, 1999. I remember exactly where I was that afternoon and looking at the sky. It was NOT a good color. There's a funny greenish gray that skies can become that tell you danger is in the air.

As I was making dinner that night, I began to wonder if it was going to be our last supper, literally. The weather men on each TV station, who had seen it all, were pale and solemn. They had never seen anything like this. The tornado was on the ground for over an hour. It was a mile long and is to this day, the strongest, biggest tornado ever recorded. An F-6.

The area that was hit hardest was Moore, just south of Oklahoma City. It was an unbelievable sight the next morning. Barren. People don't realize tornadoes literally strip the bark off of trees, along with all the limbs and branches.

People calling the next day to check on loved ones were amazed to find out that the radar technology we have in Oklahoma predicts the exact time the tornadoes are going to hit, and can give the estimated time, street by street it will likely hit. I wish we had that technology when I was growing up.

But even with that technology, children still experienced terror that night, as did adults, Safe rooms were built all over the area in home garages in the months following.

In October of the same year, 1999, another tornado hit the exact same area. That's why it's called Tornado Alley.

I remember Donald Trump being interviewed a year or so ago and a question about rebuilding came up. He said the only place he wouldn't rebuild was Tornado Alley.

I'm glad Bill Warren didn't agree with him. The Warren Theater that I blipped about May 10th, is in Moore, Oklahoma. In the exact place the worst tornado in recorded history took place.