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Waiting for the sky to fall (Catch all tornado thread)

Royalfan5

By Royalfan5
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Blotto

Blotto 23366

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1 hour ago, bolverk said:

It likely has more to do with legacy oil money from Phillips Petroleum being founded there and that both Phillips 66 and Conoco Phillips still have a large footprint in the community. How many towns of its size can boast of having a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed tower in them, after all?

I grew up there. Is it better than most of the shithole smaller towns in the state? Yes. Is it still full of dumbass, bible banging okies? Yes. Did I get the fuck out at my first opportunity and head to UT? Yes, yes I did.

Here's a screenshot from radar as that tornado made its way through town. The circle was drawn by the streamer whose stream I grabbed it from indicating where that tornado was. The arrow I added points to the house I grew up in. That woulda been an ass-puckerer. 

BvilleTornado.png.8897e941146b945700ee8ad32d48ea40.png 

 

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PTINS

PTINS 3438

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34 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

I mean, obviously I'm a small town midwest guy, but I've been through Bartlesville and thought it was pretty nice.  You're near some nice outdoor areas, just up the road from Tulsa, and the town itself seemed to be doing well - especially in comparison to any other non-college town or major city in Oklahoma I've been through.  Not a vacation destination, but no shithole either.

Before I moved to Tulsa in 1979, my thoughts of Oklahoma were The Grapes of Wrath legacy and going to Texas from 74-79, OU weekends in Dallas, and watching some of the best college football in the history of the sport.  

I lived in Tulsa, Enid and Edmond (OKC), and traveled and worked all over the northern and western parts of the state, damn near all of which had oil production, and oil & ga$ royaltie$.  The Oklahoma Sweet grade of crude is unlike any oil I've seen, looks just like the greenish-yellow Quaker State 10W-40 that comes out of the can.

Never saw evidence of the Grapes of Wrath image. On the contrary, the reddest dirt, the bluest skies, and the winter wheat, ...

image.png.73019c66c9097b73880488e80dada6e9.png  

Bartlesville is/was the home of Phillips Petroleum. Ponca City, ~ 70 miles west, is/was the home of Conoco. Much like college towns, these were smallish towns dominated by a single entity, one that everyone owed their livelihoods too. There's a big difference between a town full of young, poor, college students and the homegrown HQ of oil companies that have been around for almost 150 years.

Once you accept that you live in a relatively flat, wind swept prairie, the rest of the town is pretty nice. Most of the town has good, well paying, and stable jobs, and to say that Phillips and Conoco supported the towns is an understatement.  Though the industry itself is cyclic, the HQ function and the refineries are not.

Wind swept prairie? The wind blows hard, all the damn time. Nothing between Oklahoma and Canada but a few barbed wire fences. Got down to -15 °F every year I was there.  That was the worst thing about living in Oklahoma. Them SEC boys about to freeze their 'nads off.

Going to work for Conoco in Tulsa in 1979 was not one of the mistakes I made in life. Formerly Continental Oil Company, the Hottest Brand Going, recognized that Conoco developed super high octane aviation fuel that powered the allied war effort in WWII. Conoco & Phillips pioneered many things in the oil industry, and taking care of the home folks is one of them. 

BTW, some parts of Oklahoma are not flat.

Candy Loving, from Ponca City, was a co-workers cousin. She was also Playboy's Playmate of the Month for the January 1979 issue and their 25th Anniversary Playmate.

image.thumb.png.2431cedef44ebaac33e552901f8d335d.png 

24 minutes ago, Pimphand said:

You have to remember as a college student in Texas the worst state ever moniker belonged to Oklahoma. As to how/why Bartlesville was the chosen city to be mocked I honestly do not know. I would imagine the cities/towns in western Oklahoma would be far more desolate/terrible.

Tulsa was similar to Austin; tree covered hills, a river and the lakes that go with it, and a good music scene.  Tulsa Time was about 10 years behind Austin. No liquor-by-the-drink, just private clubs.  They used to tell me not to go 'there', they were on the wrong side of the tracks; but those are my people!  I saw Tom Petty at the Austin Opry House, moved to Tulsa, and saw him at the "Old Lady on Brady". Was there for the Will Rogers Centennial.

Enid, OK, (north-central OK) home to Vance AFB, ideal location for pilot training. When I lived in Enid, I drove 71 miles back and forth to Chester, OK (Plant Manager at a gas processing plant). My first week there, we got 14" of snow, and had snow drifts over 10 feet high out at the Plant. Couldn't get my guys out of there, and the snow was too deep for horses. The local grocery store/propane dealer used his snowmobiles to get them out. Who the fuck has snowmobiles in Oklahoma? The propane guy said he did over $3 million/yr selling propane and propane accessories. You'd never know it talking to 'em. There was ice fishing on Canton Lake.

The people seemed nice, considering I was from Texas. Maybe being the company man where we spent tons of money had something to do with it.

Had one guy call in sick over New Years weekend.  He went to see OU in the Orange Bowl. Fuckin' Sooners.

I had a commercial job in Edmond (north OKC).  Spent my time chasing drilling rigs all over NW Oklahoma, and played golf 3x a week. Good times. Learned two life skills that served me well.  Dealing with owners of the small independent production companies was choice. When I "took" them out for lunch, they paid. Good people that might of done some shady shit? That is the Oklahoma legacy.

One constant when I was there; if you didn't have a plane reservation on Fridays, you weren't flying on Fridays. Seemed like everybody had money and they were going someplace.

I'm 8th generation Texan and both kids were born in Oklahoma. The oldest was born in Enid, on Texas soil. Took dirt from my mothers house in Austin, put it in baggies, and placed it under the hospital bed. Youngest came out so fast I didn't have time to put on scrubs, much less put dirt under the bed.

They developed Doppler Radar in OKC. Good for them. They deserve that, and I mean that in a good way. Getting a town by town and road by road update as a tornado was barreling down was traumatic.

I used to have the 3 Little Pigs theory about houses and tornados; build your house out of brick and stone. Had one hit a compressor station and twisted the structural steel building into a pile of hot spaghetti. F*ck that. 

When Twister came out, I took my young kids to see it, as Wakita is close to Enid. Parenting mistake #37. Scarred them for life.

Thoughts and prayers for my Oklahoma friends.

  

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SamsCorner

SamsCorner 395

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3 hours ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

 

 

Heartbreaking, that little town is gone.

I used to spend the day with dad driving all through the Osage checking leases, meeting with owners.  We'd end up in Barnsdall, or Hominy, or Pawhuska for lunch.  Makes me sick.

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12394

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There might be a silver lining in it.  A very small town near our farm got half leveled a couple of years ago (half of the town was destroyed).  Not near as bad of a storm, but a flattened home is a flattend home.

Insurance required everyone to rebuild on that property, and now you drive through and wonder why this town of ~50 people on the Minnesota/Iowa border is comprised of mostly brand new homes.  That storm was also a night time 'nader.

https://www.kimt.com/news/one-year-later-tiny-taopi-took-on-an-ef-2-tornado-and-won/article_1ed4e29c-d983-11ed-81af-c306ef0b1393.html

Edited by Al_4_ISU
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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 104226

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51 minutes ago, Francisco 2.0 said:

 

 

 

That has been one of the most amazing leaps in weather technology in the last 20 years or so: most of the time, they can accurately warn of a tornado/likely tornado in enough time for people to actually take shelter/get out of the path.  It's amazing.  Science, fuck yeah.

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NorthLoop

NorthLoop 14053

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4 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

That has been one of the most amazing leaps in weather technology in the last 20 years or so: most of the time, they can accurately warn of a tornado/likely tornado in enough time for people to actually take shelter/get out of the path.  It's amazing.  Science, fuck yeah.

That and a whole day before they wer e like "hey, oklahoma, gonna be some bad tornadoes tomorrow, bank on it." so people were hopefully already ready to go. 

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RDCanecutter

RDCanecutter 26198

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13 hours ago, Zonahorn said:

@RDCanecutter is from the Hnustvile area IIRC, y'all ok?

Thanks for the thoughts, but we are walking distance from Birmingham, about 100 miles south of Huntsville. No alarms here. The underground stream below our basement may rise again but that's normal.

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Chris Dishman's Donut

Chris Dishman's Donut 192

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On 5/7/2024 at 9:38 AM, Blotto said:

I grew up there. Is it better than most of the shithole smaller towns in the state? Yes. Is it still full of dumbass, bible banging okies? Yes. Did I get the fuck out at my first opportunity and head to UT? Yes, yes I did.

Here's a screenshot from radar as that tornado made its way through town. The circle was drawn by the streamer whose stream I grabbed it from indicating where that tornado was. The arrow I added points to the house I grew up in. That woulda been an ass-puckerer. 

BvilleTornado.png.8897e941146b945700ee8ad32d48ea40.png 

 

Same. BHS '88 and I've been there probably twice since my parents retired out of state 20 years ago.

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jimmyjazz

jimmyjazz 45428

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On 5/7/2024 at 11:37 AM, SamsCorner said:

I used to spend the day with dad driving all through the Osage checking leases, meeting with owners.  We'd end up in Barnsdall, or Hominy, or Pawhuska for lunch.  Makes me sick.

That's the little town near "Pioneer Woman" Ree Drummond's ranch.  I like watching her cook, she completely lacks pretension.  As a died in the wool Show Me guy who moved to Texas for college, I'd never live in Oklahoma, but there are a lot of good (if misguided) people there.

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12394

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NWS just issued a "Favorable conditions for funnel clouds" for my county.

I don't know if this is a precursor to an actual tornado watch, or if we've just zoomed on past that.  Does NOT seem like nader weather.  It was muggy AF yesterday, but it's been raining/drizzling since midnight.  Not much volatility in the air it seems.

Just looked it up.  Weird.  Seems to just be aerial funnel clouds that don't become actual tornadoes.https://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=IAZ009&warncounty=IAC089&firewxzone=IAZ009&local_place1=Cresco IA&product1=Special+Weather+Statement&lat=43.3746&lon=-92.1134 

Crazy that it's happening by Charles City, though.  That place is an absolute nader magnet.  My grandpa was working there during their 1968 EF5.

charlescitytornado.gif

 

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Royalfan5

Royalfan5 2344

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1 hour ago, Al_4_ISU said:

NWS just issued a "Favorable conditions for funnel clouds" for my county.

I don't know if this is a precursor to an actual tornado watch, or if we've just zoomed on past that.  Does NOT seem like nader weather.  It was muggy AF yesterday, but it's been raining/drizzling since midnight.  Not much volatility in the air it seems.

Just looked it up.  Weird.  Seems to just be aerial funnel clouds that don't become actual tornadoes.https://forecast.weather.gov/showsigwx.php?warnzone=IAZ009&warncounty=IAC089&firewxzone=IAZ009&local_place1=Cresco IA&product1=Special+Weather+Statement&lat=43.3746&lon=-92.1134 

Crazy that it's happening by Charles City, though.  That place is an absolute nader magnet.  My grandpa was working there during their 1968 EF5.

charlescitytornado.gif

 

He wasn't working for Oliver was he?

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Al_4_ISU

Al_4_ISU 12394

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4 minutes ago, Royalfan5 said:

He wasn't working for Oliver was he?

No.  The city actually.  Funny you mention Olivers though, as the other side of my family (the one that farms) had plenty, and a 1655 was the first thing I ever learned to drive (after the skidloader of course).  And I know a lot of guys my dad's age who worked in that White factory.

8Wy-KixrQ0NRTjDREzNsqWxy.jpeg

Edited by Al_4_ISU
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Trey3216

Trey3216 15321

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4 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

No.  The city actually.  Funny you mention Olivers though, as the other side of my family (the one that farms) had plenty, and a 1655 was the first thing I ever learned to drive (after the skidloader of course).  And I know a lot of guys my dad's age who worked in that White factory.

8Wy-KixrQ0NRTjDREzNsqWxy.jpeg

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SimonBolivar

SimonBolivar 10890

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Not a nado, but not good if that continues for the Southern portion of the Metroplex.

 

Quote

 

At 414 PM CDT, a severe thunderstorm was located near Granbury, moving east at 40 mph.

 

HAZARD...Tennis ball size hail and 60 mph wind gusts.

 

 

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Brisketexan

Brisketexan 104226

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1 hour ago, NorthLoop said:

How the hell does that dam not have a spillway? 

It does.  And gates, although it doesn't say what capacity.

"The uncontrolled spillway consists of a concrete sill and a short apron located in a saddle adjacent to the left abutment. The spillway has a bottom width of 135 feet and a design capacity of 37,200 cubic feet per second (cfs) at the maximum pool. The flood control outlet works consist of a 7.5- by 10.33-foot oblong conduit operated by two 3.75- by 8.5-foot slide gates with an invert elevation at 711.0."

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Royalfan5

Royalfan5 2344

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4 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

No.  The city actually.  Funny you mention Olivers though, as the other side of my family (the one that farms) had plenty, and a 1655 was the first thing I ever learned to drive (after the skidloader of course).  And I know a lot of guys my dad's age who worked in that White factory.

8Wy-KixrQ0NRTjDREzNsqWxy.jpeg

While I learned on a 706 on my Mom’s side, the local A-C/Oliver/MM dealer dominated our area, so it put that Charles City/Oliver connection pretty solid in my head. Those over/unders took the abuse of the dairy guys really well. (M-M big block propane motors on the irrigation wells to, a bunch still running today) 

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InkaUtexas

InkaUtexas 25289

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23 hours ago, NorthLoop said:

Tornado warning for San Marcos. Nice little hook echo. @InkaUtexas hold on to your butt.

Was not there. Was driving to DFW can got stuck in that nasty cell that went across I35 West just outside DFW. There is no where to hide up there.

Buddy was house sitting. Said baseball sized hail. Lost a pretty nice tree to the winds. Veggie garden is no more. Might be able to bring some plants back, but maybe... trees in pots (had about 50) are pretty much start over from the base. One that pisses me off is the 7 foot Avocado. I liked that dang tree. Wife's chimea survived.

neighbor behind lost her front living room window.

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NorthLoop

NorthLoop 14053

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2 minutes ago, InkaUtexas said:

Was not there. Was driving to DFW can got stuck in that nasty cell that went across I35 West just outside DFW. There is no where to hide up there.

Buddy was house sitting. Said baseball sized hail. Lost a pretty nice tree to the winds. Veggie garden is no more. Might be able to bring some plants back, but maybe... trees in pots (had about 50) are pretty much start over from the base. One that pisses me off is the 7 foot Avocado. I liked that dang tree. Wife's chimea survived.

neighbor behind lost her front living room window.

Damn that sucks man. I also have a 7 ft avocado tree that my daughter started from a pit about 7 years ago. I would be pissed if a hailstorm killed it after dragging it in and out over the years during freezes. 

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