We're true Okie's now (even if it's temporary)

People from home thought I was crazy to move to Oklahoma in general. Growing up, Oklahoma was synonymous with tornadoes, and tornadoes were unknown and scary. But even when I was little we had a plan; we would go down to the basement in the front of the house that was partially underground. We never had to do this. When you aren't around it, and you don't now anyone that's been affected, you feel invincible to it. I knew it was possible, but like most people that aren't from Oklahoma, I didn't think it would happen to me. 

When I first moved here and told people I lived in Moore, I would always get this look, like "are you crazy?" followed by something along the lines of, "You know that's where all the tornadoes are right?" No, I didn't. But I soon heard all about May 3rd. It was weaved into a lot of conversations around here. It was not only part of Moore's identity, but the whole OKC area. But I wasn't really too concerned, I mean what were the odds something like that would happen again? I did some research; I found the path of the tornado. Our house wasn't really near it. It's not like it was built upon destroyed houses. Plus, our neighborhood had been there for years, and the neighborhoods near it even longer. That was a good sign too, right?

Now, I love thunderstorms. I really do. That's one thing I loved about Florida. There were so many afternoon rolling thunderstorms and I found it relaxing. Even at home we had some nice relaxing ones. Then when I first got here it didn't rain for like 2 months, so I was happy when we started getting some weather. J warned me, saying the thunderstorms here are unlike anything you've ever heard. The thunder sounds like its hovering right above your house. The lightening is deadly. And most storms come with some degree of hail, and hail = damage. I wasn't prepared for the craziness of these storms.

Then March and April rolled around, and severe weather season started. This was my first tornado season in Oklahoma. Coming from Massachusetts, the main threats were hurricanes and blizzards that have days worth of warning. The fact that even with the best meteorologists, the specific location, impact, and severity of the severe weather here can't really be predicted, freaked me out. I became pretty vigilant about the weather. The first day we had a severe weather prediction, I put all my valuables in the closet and showed up to work with my camera (my baby) and all my important documents. I don't think it even rained that day, but so began this ride. I think a lot of people thought I was a little crazy about this, especially my coworkers, as they got to hear most of my worries. I started following all the local news stations, weather people, storm chasers, and National Weather Service. I was checking the weather updates constantly, and spent many evenings watching the local severe weather coverage for hours (well, when J wasn't home). I recently started watching a bunch of tornado documentaries and Storm Chasers on Netflix. It may have been a little obsessive, but looking back I am so glad I did all this, and if it didn't save our lives, it at least saved my sanity.

Here's what I learned that saved us:

1.) We have the best meterologists and storm chasers here. They can't predict where storms will start, but they know and have experienced ALOT. They have a pretty good idea days out when it will be bad. We knew about 6 days before that Sunday and Monday would be really bad. They also are pretty good at predicting if storms have tornado potential and where it is going once it forms. And with the help of the storm chasers on the ground, they can tell you exactly where the tornado is, and what you need to do.

2.) EF4 = underground or run. Last Sunday I was glued to the TV when the storms and tornados were moving through Edmond and then in Norman. Our sirens were even going off. So many times that night Mike Morgan (Channel 4 Meterologist) said: "this is an EF4. If you are not underground you will not survive." Had this not been ingrained in my head from the night before, and then repeated again on Monday, I may not have been confident we needed to run.

3.) You can run from a tornado. Well, as long as you have some distance. They used to tell you not to get in your car and go, but now, if you don't have a shelter they tell you to get out of there. We had about 10 minutes I think. But this is why you need to pay attention and stay vigilant, so you can get out while you can.

4.) There really is an eerie calmness. When we were just watching the news and watching the tornado develop, it was raining and hailing a little, and it was windy. I think it was after it made a  turn east and right at us, there was this eerie calmness outside. Everything stopped. The wind stopped, the rain stopped, the hail stopped. Just to make sure I wasn't crazy and imagining things, I even asked J to look, and he agreed. This is when it clicked for me. It really was coming, and it was time to go.

5.) Tornadoes travel North-East. J already told me this, but this piece of information is crucial. Tornadoes can touch down anywhere, but the travel north-east, which means you need to go south to get away.

This is at least the information I used, and my sporadic thought process. I plan on writing out what happened May 20th chronologically, so it makes more sense.

I told J, we are true Okies now. We got caught in the middle and survived what Mike Morgan called "the worst tornado in the history of the world". If the people of Moore and the town itself used to define itself by the May 3rd tornado, well, after this one we are now ingrained in it's history and identity too. We are another story to add to the thousands that aggregate into the story of Moore, Oklahoma.

Now it's time to watch the weather for today!