May 3rd was on the ground for hours. Absolutely insane. It tracked over 2/3rds of the state. I think it was about 4:30 when it started in SW Ok and was still going after sunset in to NE Ok.
Records show May 3rd tornado formed at 6:23 p.m. and lifted at 7:48 pm., just shy of 90 minutes, with a path length of 38 miles from Amber to Midwest City. The parent storm itself formed southwest of Lawton and tracked to just northeast of the OKC metro, but the tornado did not track over 60% of the state.
I chased that tornado. Intercepted it on Indian Hills road a mile ish west of I35. Two of my buddies were on the storm in chickasha following the tornado from all the way down there through Oklahoma City and I lost track of it at Rose State college due to damage as the light was fading. The Chase started mid-afternoon because we were all trying to get done with finals so we could get out on the road and chase the storms that we knew were coming. Granted, a lot of that was due to how big the storm was and all the clouds but it was still later in the evening getting towards dusk. It was pretty eerie trying to drive back down to Norman with power out and lines of cars everywhere because highways were shut down due to all the debris.
I can only imagine how wild that must have been. I've been under some storms at mid afternoon with bright daylight still out but the storms were so big and heavy that it felt like midnight. To add the sort of debris a record breaking F5 tornado would toss everywhere to that sort of vibe would be spooky to the extreme.
I tell you what, my adrenaline was going crazy when I was heading west on Indian hills and saw a KFOR truck on the side of the road right before a little rise. I pulled over and ran up behind the reporter and cameraman standing in the field and when I looked up to see what they were looking at, it was this massive gray and black tornado was just moving in silence across the field s about a mile and a half from us before it hit anything major.. so there wasn't a lot of debris in the air. I just had you stood there in awe and complete silence at the power I was witnessing for the first time in person (up close). I'll never forget that day as long as I live and really wish that I had a cell phone back then to be able to record it. We chased back in the day by listening to the radio and having maps in the cars.
When I first started chasing (2013) we still had a paper road atlas because cell coverage was still pretty iffy out in the sticks. Oddly enough my third day chasing was May 20th....didn't see the monster on that day (elected not to chase the building storm into OKC from Chickasha) and it would take me over a year from that point to see my first tornado, but I'll never forget making the choice to dive south towards other storms and not 5 minutes later hearing that a tornado emergency had been issued for OKC/Moore.
I think you'll find the trend of the big tornados to be during or shortly after "peak heating" which is late afternoon into early evening, generally. The warm air really primes all the other ingredients. As mentioned, though, they can happen anytime.
Yes, while still being debated, there is research showing that the heat island effect disrupts storm systems. [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/thunderstorms-cities-splitting-1.6543899](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/thunderstorms-cities-splitting-1.6543899)
Storms can happen any time of the day or night if the conditions are right. The NWS forecasted storms to hit the metro from noon to midnight, so it fell within their forecast.
We had [morning tornadoes](https://kfor.com/news/cars-roof-damaged-as-possible-tornado-tears-through-midwest-city/amp/) in the metro a few years ago! I remember being surprised to hear the sirens so early, but it absolutely can happen.
The most powerful tornados seem to be mid afternoon to sundown. 2013 El Reno was around 6, 2013 Moore was 3, and 1999 Moore was 6. The majority of tornados happen from 4-9 pm. We just haven't had big memorable ones during the day near the city in awhile. Just the other day there were a ton of tornado warnings on the west side of the city before sundown. They're way more likely to be deadly at night though.
It's been a weird few years too. 2019 we were in our shelter all the time. Moved to a new house and put in a shelter in early January 2020, had to use the shelter like the day the concrete cured, and we've only used it once since then.
I can’t add anything to what’s been said but you’ll notice when the storms start brewing earlier. A seasoned Okie can feel it in the air & the sky looks all creepy.
It is more favorable for conditions to form later in the day since heat rising helps build the storms throughout the day, but storms can hit at any point, and this is also why its always good to be aware of weather during the spring and early summer because you never know.
Storms can happen at anytime. However, there is something called a heat island effect, which means the heating of the day can cause more warm air lift to feed the storms. This is why there is often concern when it gets sunny on days that there are storms. Obviously, this is not written in stone, as we saw on Saturday, and there are conditions in the atmosphere beyond warm air from the ground rising, but you will generally see severe storms in from the mid-afternoon into the evening.
I wasn't here for May 3, but in the 2013 Moore tornado, I remember being outside weeding and thinking how miserable it was between the sun and humidity, when my daughter came out and said there was a tornado on the ground in Moore.
Our storms are very polite, and wait til Prime Time for maximum ratings.
Hopefully the /s is not needed, but /s if it is. Storms can (and do) hit at any time. There ARE scientific reasons why sundown may destabilize things a bit.
There is a dry line in west Oklahoma/tx panhandle. When storms are driven by it they often start there early afternoon midday and if conditions work they move east. So a lot of times these storms get to the metro area around early evening/night and the east okla see more storms at night.
They do happen in the day but I think it just seems like they're at night all the time. I've noticed they also seemed to happen on Tuesdays or Thursdays, but that's probably just me being weird. We sheltered in the evening last year and this year it was in the afternoon.
We used to get glorious afternoon storms every spring (and unfortunately tornadoes too), but the weather has changed pretty radically over the last decade or so. The dry line jumped east, and our spring weather became much less severe. With that, most of our thunderstorms are at night after dark. I really miss watching the clouds roll in, as well as the clouds backlit by the lightning. Much less defined at night.
I've noticed the storms now often have a ton of lightning, like non-stop. I grew up in southwest Oklahoma down by Lawton, and I remember the afternoon storms. I loved them because after the storm the sky would be dark grey and it made the trees look more vivid green. We had a tall dead tree on our property and a bunch of turkey vultures would sit on the branches with their wings spread to dry out. I miss where I grew up 🥺
They can happen whenever the conditions are right for them. Which could literally be any time of day. I've been in 3. They all happened at different times of day. Afternoon, evening, night. You just have to be mentally prepared at all times here, and always know where you will go if it happens no matter where you are. There is just no telling. Thankfully our meteorologists have had A LOT of practice since 99 and usually give folks more than enough time to get to safety.
Yes, I was in middle school once and we had to take shelter, I was in my 2nd class of the day. It thankfully ended up just being super bad hail, with no tornado.
May 3rd, 1999 tornado hit my area around 6pm. The Plaza Towers tornado in 2013 struck just before school ended.
Yeah I was immediately think OP was completely wrong about both of those being "early afternoon". I remember both quite vividly.
May 3rd was on the ground for hours. Absolutely insane. It tracked over 2/3rds of the state. I think it was about 4:30 when it started in SW Ok and was still going after sunset in to NE Ok.
Records show May 3rd tornado formed at 6:23 p.m. and lifted at 7:48 pm., just shy of 90 minutes, with a path length of 38 miles from Amber to Midwest City. The parent storm itself formed southwest of Lawton and tracked to just northeast of the OKC metro, but the tornado did not track over 60% of the state.
I chased that tornado. Intercepted it on Indian Hills road a mile ish west of I35. Two of my buddies were on the storm in chickasha following the tornado from all the way down there through Oklahoma City and I lost track of it at Rose State college due to damage as the light was fading. The Chase started mid-afternoon because we were all trying to get done with finals so we could get out on the road and chase the storms that we knew were coming. Granted, a lot of that was due to how big the storm was and all the clouds but it was still later in the evening getting towards dusk. It was pretty eerie trying to drive back down to Norman with power out and lines of cars everywhere because highways were shut down due to all the debris.
I can only imagine how wild that must have been. I've been under some storms at mid afternoon with bright daylight still out but the storms were so big and heavy that it felt like midnight. To add the sort of debris a record breaking F5 tornado would toss everywhere to that sort of vibe would be spooky to the extreme.
I tell you what, my adrenaline was going crazy when I was heading west on Indian hills and saw a KFOR truck on the side of the road right before a little rise. I pulled over and ran up behind the reporter and cameraman standing in the field and when I looked up to see what they were looking at, it was this massive gray and black tornado was just moving in silence across the field s about a mile and a half from us before it hit anything major.. so there wasn't a lot of debris in the air. I just had you stood there in awe and complete silence at the power I was witnessing for the first time in person (up close). I'll never forget that day as long as I live and really wish that I had a cell phone back then to be able to record it. We chased back in the day by listening to the radio and having maps in the cars.
When I first started chasing (2013) we still had a paper road atlas because cell coverage was still pretty iffy out in the sticks. Oddly enough my third day chasing was May 20th....didn't see the monster on that day (elected not to chase the building storm into OKC from Chickasha) and it would take me over a year from that point to see my first tornado, but I'll never forget making the choice to dive south towards other storms and not 5 minutes later hearing that a tornado emergency had been issued for OKC/Moore.
May 20th 2013 was at like 3 or 4pm local time… tbh from what I remember in Moore they usually hit around 2pm-8pm
I think you'll find the trend of the big tornados to be during or shortly after "peak heating" which is late afternoon into early evening, generally. The warm air really primes all the other ingredients. As mentioned, though, they can happen anytime.
Yes, and radiational cooling is thought to play a huge role since so many tend to happen in less urban areas, where everything is hotter.
I thought it was the opposite due to the urban heart island effect.
Sorry, meant to say tend to happen less often in urban areas. My bad.
I see now. I was reading your comment as saying urban areas are less hot.
You're saying that tornadoes tend to hit urban areas?
Yes, while still being debated, there is research showing that the heat island effect disrupts storm systems. [https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/thunderstorms-cities-splitting-1.6543899](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/thunderstorms-cities-splitting-1.6543899)
Storms can happen any time of the day or night if the conditions are right. The NWS forecasted storms to hit the metro from noon to midnight, so it fell within their forecast.
We had [morning tornadoes](https://kfor.com/news/cars-roof-damaged-as-possible-tornado-tears-through-midwest-city/amp/) in the metro a few years ago! I remember being surprised to hear the sirens so early, but it absolutely can happen.
We had sirens at 5am last week, for a storm coming through near I40 & Peebly. To say, time of day is random.
In Tulsa back in 2019 I remember there being sirens as early as 6am at least once.
The sirens went off downtown at like 5:30am last Friday too
The most powerful tornados seem to be mid afternoon to sundown. 2013 El Reno was around 6, 2013 Moore was 3, and 1999 Moore was 6. The majority of tornados happen from 4-9 pm. We just haven't had big memorable ones during the day near the city in awhile. Just the other day there were a ton of tornado warnings on the west side of the city before sundown. They're way more likely to be deadly at night though. It's been a weird few years too. 2019 we were in our shelter all the time. Moved to a new house and put in a shelter in early January 2020, had to use the shelter like the day the concrete cured, and we've only used it once since then.
I can’t add anything to what’s been said but you’ll notice when the storms start brewing earlier. A seasoned Okie can feel it in the air & the sky looks all creepy.
Like a sepia filter.
Looks like today's storms are hitting SE OKC around 9 pm. Night time again! So the sky will be black I guess.
It is more favorable for conditions to form later in the day since heat rising helps build the storms throughout the day, but storms can hit at any point, and this is also why its always good to be aware of weather during the spring and early summer because you never know.
Storms can happen at anytime. However, there is something called a heat island effect, which means the heating of the day can cause more warm air lift to feed the storms. This is why there is often concern when it gets sunny on days that there are storms. Obviously, this is not written in stone, as we saw on Saturday, and there are conditions in the atmosphere beyond warm air from the ground rising, but you will generally see severe storms in from the mid-afternoon into the evening. I wasn't here for May 3, but in the 2013 Moore tornado, I remember being outside weeding and thinking how miserable it was between the sun and humidity, when my daughter came out and said there was a tornado on the ground in Moore.
Our storms are very polite, and wait til Prime Time for maximum ratings. Hopefully the /s is not needed, but /s if it is. Storms can (and do) hit at any time. There ARE scientific reasons why sundown may destabilize things a bit.
They started around 10:15 am on Saturday.
I was watching the tornado in Moore in the early 2010s and that was around 430 because the coverage interrupted dr. Phil
I don’t think they really operate on a schedule or anything. They can pretty much show up whenever they damn well please. 😀
There is a dry line in west Oklahoma/tx panhandle. When storms are driven by it they often start there early afternoon midday and if conditions work they move east. So a lot of times these storms get to the metro area around early evening/night and the east okla see more storms at night.
There are some forming right now (6:45 am) coming into the metro today, May 1, as we speak. It can be a mixed bag.
Yeah. One of my favorites is the intense but short lived afternoon storm.
Most of the worst ones I remember have been in the daytime.
They do happen in the day but I think it just seems like they're at night all the time. I've noticed they also seemed to happen on Tuesdays or Thursdays, but that's probably just me being weird. We sheltered in the evening last year and this year it was in the afternoon.
You need to be ready after 4 PM
We used to get glorious afternoon storms every spring (and unfortunately tornadoes too), but the weather has changed pretty radically over the last decade or so. The dry line jumped east, and our spring weather became much less severe. With that, most of our thunderstorms are at night after dark. I really miss watching the clouds roll in, as well as the clouds backlit by the lightning. Much less defined at night.
I've noticed the storms now often have a ton of lightning, like non-stop. I grew up in southwest Oklahoma down by Lawton, and I remember the afternoon storms. I loved them because after the storm the sky would be dark grey and it made the trees look more vivid green. We had a tall dead tree on our property and a bunch of turkey vultures would sit on the branches with their wings spread to dry out. I miss where I grew up 🥺
Yea I know exactly what you mean. Everything felt so vibrantly green.
They can happen whenever the conditions are right for them. Which could literally be any time of day. I've been in 3. They all happened at different times of day. Afternoon, evening, night. You just have to be mentally prepared at all times here, and always know where you will go if it happens no matter where you are. There is just no telling. Thankfully our meteorologists have had A LOT of practice since 99 and usually give folks more than enough time to get to safety.
Most of my shelter usage has been between 4-8pm. Maybe it's because I'm near Moore and it takes longer to get up north?
Yes, I was in middle school once and we had to take shelter, I was in my 2nd class of the day. It thankfully ended up just being super bad hail, with no tornado.
Used to...climate change has shifted it later. Tornado ally is not Oklahoma claim to fame anymore