Chris Allen

A weather girl having fun when she realizes there is a graphics glitch. Very cool.

At 6:57 p.m. on May 3, 1999, an F5 tornado was on final approach, about to raze parts of the southern Oklahoma City metro area. As it barreled up the H. E. Bailey Turnpike, forecasters at the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma knew what was about to happen. Dozens would perish, and that entire neighborhoods would be obliterated. The warning meteorologist on duty knew a run-of-the-mill tornado warning wouldn't cut it. Shortly before 7 p.m., the office did something that hadn't been done before – they issued a "tornado emergency." It was the first time that phrasing had ever been used. The spur-of-the-moment decision proved fateful. We've included photos of the radar at the time, what the tornado looked like on the ground AND what was going on behind the scenes that dreaded evening at the National Weather Center – where the alert originated. Here's the text from the first-ever tornado emergency: ...TORNADO EMERGENCY IN SOUTH OKLAHOMA CITY METRO AREA... AT 657 PM CDT...A LARGE TORNADO WAS MOVING ALONG INTERSTATE 44 WEST OF NEWCASTLE. ON ITS PRESENT PATH...THIS LARGE DAMAGING TORNADO WILL ENTER SOUTHWEST SECTIONS OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY METRO AREA BETWEEN 715 PM AND 730 PM. PERSONS IN MOORE AND SOUTH OKLAHOMA CITY SHOULD TAKE IMMEDIATE TORNADO PRECAUTIONS! THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS AND LIFE THREATENING SITUATION. IF YOU ARE IN THE PATH OF THIS LARGE AND DESTRUCTIVE TORNADO...TAKE COVER IMMEDIATELY. Since then, there have been 314 tornado emergencies issued nationwide. The pioneered phrasing is now reserved only for the most significant events with the highest fatality potential. On May 20, 2013, another tornado emergency was issued in Moore, Oklahoma as Another EF5 tornado barreled into the beleaguered community.

“Men do not seek God first; God seeks them first; and if any of you are seeking Him today it is because He has first sought you.” -Charles Spurgeon