Two days before Monday, Oklahomans were warned it was going to be a bad day, a “high risk” weather day. That afternoon, I was recording this week’s Gardenangelists podcast on clematis, aggressive vs. invasive plants and vegetable gardening with Carol Michel of May Dreams Garden and had turned my phone to do not disturb.
Suddenly, my Apple Watch tapped me with a message. It was my son overriding my do not disturb with a text about a tornado warning in Logan County. I left off Skyping with Carol and turned on the weather coverage. Fortunately, the storms were forming along a dry line north of me outside of Mulhall and later Perry.
That meant those tornadoes wouldn’t hit here. How did I know?
I live in the central part of Oklahoma north of Oklahoma City in southern Logan County. Thunderstorms usually move from west to east, and tornadoes move northeast. They might make a small jog, but then they will continue northeast. I was watching for any tornado that formed in southwest Oklahoma and headed our way. Of course, I have friends all over the state, and if it became a really dangerous weather night like May 3, 1999, or May 19, 2013, I would be warning my adult children and friends in addition to watching out for my own home.
I wrote about the latter storm in After tornadoes come blue skies in 2013.
Just so you don’t worry, I have a walkout basement that is set against a hill on the south end of my house. In the interior closet up against that hill, I am as safe as I can be.
During an active spring weather season in Oklahoma, watching the weather coverage is a bit like watching a sporting event. I’m not making light of our weather, but I can’t help but get a kick out of storm chasers who are running on full adrenaline, or my friends, online, sharing Oklahoma weather memes. We have three main channels that cover the storms, News9, KOCO-TV and KFOR. Most of us switch back and forth between the stations, and there’s even a drinking game or two based upon severe weather language, how unhinged David Payne gets, and whichever meteorologist(s) The Lost Ogle is making fun of this week.
All joking aside, our weather people do a marvelous job letting us know exactly where tornadoes are occurring and giving us time to run underground like mole people, or into an interior bathroom where we cover ourselves with mattresses and hide in the tub.
If it’s an F5 tornado, you really need to be underground. Gary England, our veteran and now retired chief meteorologist at KWTV News9, would tell you so. If I didn’t have a basement, I would have a tornado shelter.
With all of the social media sharing, there are a lot more storm chasers out there as you can see from the above video. It looks rather dangerous especially when all of them are jockeying for the best tornado video or live stream. If you’d like to read more about Oklahoma City’s weather culture, Boom Town: The Fantastical Saga of Oklahoma City, its Chaotic Founding… its Purloined Basketball Team, and the Dream of Becoming a World-class Metropolis
At the further risk of creeping you out, I think this video, below, is a great example of the sounds during storm season. Tornado sirens are really creepy especially if you’re caught out in a storm. The city also tests the sirens every Saturday at Noon.
Yes, there were tornadoes that night–one went down the west side of Mangum, Oklahoma, and another two or three were northeast of me. However, about the middle of the evening as we watched wall-to-wall weather coverage, I noticed the meteorologists were fired up about rainfall instead. I’d already seen on the Oklahoma Mesonet that 5-10 inches were predicted for my area. That’s a lot of rain in a very short time on top of the already soaked ground.
I’ve lived here all my life, and while tornadoes are scary–watch this Smithsonian piece on the May 3, 1999, tornado–if you want to really scare yourself–I believe flooding kills more people. Partly, because some of us are determined to drive around blockaded areas and into running water. “Turn around, don’t drown” isn’t just a slogan. Several places in Guthrie, the town north of me, are blocked off because Cottonwood Creek is out of its banks. The Cimarron River is also very high and expected to crest today.
As I understand it, the cold front was so strong it stayed on top of north-central Oklahoma for hours. It rained. It thundered. It rained some more. When I finally went to sleep around Midnight, the rain became almost gentle in my area, but I wondered what I would wake up to.
Path between my she shed and part of the shade garden is washed out. 
More washed out paths in my garden. I’m waiting to fix them after this rain event is over. 
More path damage. The rain rushed through making a huge mess.
We have a small lake/pond at the bottom of our property. It is held by the dam and roadway that runs through our neighborhood. Many years ago, we had a similar flood, and the tinhorn–a colloquialism in Oklahoma I’m told–for everyone else, a culvert, wasn’t large enough to keep the water from going over the dam. The road washed out, and it took months to raise the money to put it back. When we did, my husband, Bill, bought a much larger 48-inch tinhorn and placed it next to the other one. I walked outside yesterday and surveyed the property, and the water was rushing through both tinhorns. There is a snag in the larger one, but everything was holding, and for that, I’m so grateful.
After the storm, our pond is very high. 
Our dock after the storm. 
Another view of the pond. It is out of its banks.
During the horrible summer of 2011, our lake/pond shrunk from the extreme heat, and I feared it would never rise all the way to the top again. Well, Mother Nature finally surprised me this year.
We are all fine in our part of Oklahoma. Please pray for those who lost their homes to tornadoes and flooding. Also, please ask Mother Nature to turn off the spigot for a little while. The bees and I thank you for your support. This week’s forecast is below. I hope they’re wrong about tonight.
Always enjoy your informative blog. Glad to know you have a safe place. My sister is in south Tulsa, so I watched the barges with her Thursday night. We are in the path again today and tomorrow. We pumped 4 feet of water out of our basement yesterday. I don’t have my garden planted yet. This spring has definitely brought us out of the drought conditions.
Hi Peggy, it’s been a wild and wooly spring, hasn’t it? I’m ready for this weather to move on out of here. We heard tornado sirens again last night, but fortunately, no tornado came down out of the wall cloud. I’m moving on to summer, and I hope the weather does too. I hope you’re still able to get a small garden planted even if it’s in containers. Thank you for your sweet words.
This is wonderful!
Thank you Aunt Della!
Love your blog. So much fun to read stories from a local Oklahoma gal!
Thank you Valerie! Being a native, I do have a certain perspective about gardening in our weather and living in our fabulous state.
So glad you’re okay, Dee! I grew up in Oklahoma, too. All my family is in Perry, so I had a very tense day on Monday. Your husband is a smart man to put in those big culverts! He may have saved your neighborhood! Stay safe!
Hi Laura, Monday was really rough for Perry, Oklahoma. Two nights later, it was rough for Tulsa and Missouri. My Bill is a super smart guy. He took care of our roads for years before they were paved, and we donated some of the dirt from our property to put back the dam when it washed away before. I like how he always thinks ahead.
I’m so glad you’re OK. This is all so eerily familiar, as the tornadoes and flooding happen here in S. Wisconsin, too, only later in the season. Sadly, the historic flooding of last summer took several lives in the area, partly because people tried to drive through areas when they should have turned around and taken a different route. Good advice here, Dee. Take care!
Thank you, Beth! I didn’t know Wisconsin got a lot of tornadoes. The flooding here has been a nightmare. I’m sure you saw on the national news about the dam that two barges ran into. That scared the people of Webber’s Falls for several days. Our lake hasn’t gone down an inch in several days. Spring is just bizarre this year.
You all have had quite a scare and plenty of rain. I am happy to hear that you and yours are alright. It has rained more than normal here too. The poor farmers are way off schedule. So many fields are too wet to plant. This will be a spring to remember. My garden looks great though.
Lisa, in Oklahoma’s case, the farmers need to bring in the winter wheat, but the fields are too wet. They’ve been waiting for a sunny day so that they can get into their fields. It’s interesting how weather affects different parts of the country and where we are as far as spring goes.
I am in Tulsa and we had tornado warning Monday night and then again Tuesday morning at 6:15 right over downtown. When I am in Stillwater (which is totally flooded) I get a kick out of David Payne. Tried to act so cool and calm while shouting! While I am writing, channel 6 is mentioning Kimball and another one south of Tulsa. Looks like another night.
Hi Merrilyn, yes, I’m watching, and you’re right, it looks rough for Tulsa and its surroundings tonight. David Payne makes me smile too. He gets ridiculously excited. I admire the trackers. I think they do some difficult work. So far, all the southern storms are dying out. Maybe it will pass us by. We’ve got so much rain, we’re drowning in Guthrie and Crescent. So many roads are closed they are having trouble tracking storms.
Glad you are all okay! Another round tonight. We live across the street from Lake Hefner and we get flooding at the end of our street.The lake is absolutely full now! Praying for continued safety!
Hi Sonia, yes, I’m watching weather coverage right now. Goodness! I bet there is flooding. I hope you don’t get any more rain. I hope I don’t either. We need to dry out.
Glad you and yours are safe. Eventually, Mother Nature dries things out, hopefully!
We are a-okay! Thanks Carol!