VORTEX2 Destination Clinton, OK.
I heard from the Erik Rasmussen, co-chief investigator for VORTEX2, that the best staging area for Tuesday weather is in Clinton, Okla. The vehicles are leaving throughout the day to rendezvous in Clinton. I saw a team member in the parking lot of the Norman Holiday Inn putting Rainx on the windows of her vehicle. She is from Oklahoma City. Saw a guy carrying his computer around the parking lot and thought he was testing equipment. Turns out he is from Italy and was using his laptop web cam to show the radar and other vehicles to his friends and co-workers back home. Small World.
Jennifer Standridge with the National Center for Atmospheric Research puts rain shedding material on her vehicle as the group prepare to leave for Clinton, Okla. on the second day of VORTEX2 prepares to leave for Clinton, OK as a staging area from the Holiday Inn in Norman, Okla. on Monday, May 11, 2009. Standridge is from Oklahoma City. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Gabriele Formentini from Italy uses his computer web cam to give a tour of the parking lot to his friends back home on the second day of VORTEX2. He and other scientists are preparing to leave for Clinton, OK to stage for Tuesday storms. The Italian audience get a tour of vehicles parked at the Holiday Inn in Norman, Okla. on Monday, May 11, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Clinton residents Pauline Lee and her daughter Jennifer Lee couldn't help notice the Doppler on Wheels, command and support vehicles lined up in the parking lot of the Ramada Inn on the second day of VORTEX2 as the team arrives in Clinton, Okla. on Monday, May 11, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Doppler on Wheels, command and support vehicles line up in the parking lot of the Ramada Inn on the second day of VORTEX2 as the team arrives in Clinton, Okla. on Monday, May 11, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
See Monday’s VORTEX2 gallery by clicking here
-Steve Sisney
Tornado Intercept Delayed by Good Weather
It’s ironic. After packing my bags, charging my batteries and kissing my wife goodbye, I arrive to the VORTEX2 meeting to find no viable targets are available. Trip cancelled because of good weather.
I did get an idea of the size of the project. The auditorium at the National Weather Service was full of researchers and grad students (most of them peering into laptop screens) who also found out that Sunday would be a day to test equipment instead of a day to travel to severe storms.
Also ironic is the fact that a lot of the science used to predict no super cell storms and no-go for Vortex2 was derived from the information gathered years earlier by VORTEX1.
The indicators for upcoming severe weather that co-principal investigators Josh Wurman and Erik Rasmussen alluded to in the meeting this morning show that we will probably leave Monday to travel to northwest Oklahoma for the first showdown.
George Bryan, National Center for Atmospheric research in Boulder, Colo. and about 100 of the team for VORTEX2 attend the 10:00 am. update and hear that there isn't a target storm for Sunday or Monday on the first day of VORTEX2 at the National Weather Service in Norman, Okla. on Sunday, May 10, 2009. Bryan is in charge of weather baloons for the project. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Team members Andrew Arnold and Rutger Boonstra work on software as the team uses the first day of VORTEX2 to test equipment and software at the National Weather Service in Norman, Okla. on Sunday, May 10, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
-Steve Sisney
Golfing with Wet Shoes
The state 5A Girls Golf Campionships were played in what one golfer optimistically called “heavy humidity.” When I got there at around 9:30, the golfers had been going for an hour and it had just barely cleared up enough to see the edge of the greens.
Lilian Seay, Carl Albert freshman, lines up a putt during the Girls 5A State Golf Championship at Earlywine Golf Course in Oklahoma City, Okla. on Thursday, May 7, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Mary Kirk, Bishop Kelley; Lilian Seay, Carl Albert; and Ryann Uselton, McAlester, walk over a wet fairway during the Girls 5A State Golf Championship at Earlywine Golf Course in Oklahoma City, Okla. on Thursday, May 7, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
-Steve Sisney
‘Weather’
I got a text from our Director of Photography this morning that said ‘Weather.’ That means the same thing to newspaper photographers all over the country. If there’s inclimate weather of any kind we get pictures of people either being in it or staying out of it. We keep an eye out for weather art when it’s too hot, too cold, too wet, too windy and even if it’s just right.
Bobbi Carter, a visitor to the state Capitol in Oklahoma City, tries to keep dry on Wednesday, April 29, 2009. Photo by John Clanton, The Oklahoman
An unidentified woman holds a duck umbrella as she waits for a bus on NW 10th near Rockwell on Wednesday, May, 7, 2008. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Generally speaking, features are more light-hearted than spot news. If the rain turns into flooding, then we get a different type of pictures. If time permits, I try to keep an eye out for unusual things. People taking cover from rain in odd places, people using something other than umbrella to stay dry, that kind of thing. Here’s a couple of examples of weather features over the last few years that were never published.
Hunter White caries his sled up a hill at Mitch Park in Edmond, Okla., Tuesday, January 27, 2009. Photo by Bryan Terry, the OKlahoman
An unidentified man takes cover from the cold weather under a blanket as he sits on a bench at NW 25th and Classen in Oklahoma City on Monday, Nov. 10, 2008. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
-John Clanton
Lightning Storm
Staff photographers Bryan Terry and Sarah Phipps took some pictures in Arcadia of the spectacular lightning in the metro area Sunday night. Here’s some of their photos of the Round Barn and Pops.
Lightning strikes behind Pops in Arcadia, Okla., Sunday, April 26, 2009. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
Lightning fills the sky over the Round Barn in Arcadia, Okla., Sunday, April 26, 2009. Photo by Sarah Phipps, The Oklahoman
Lightning strikes behind Pops in Arcadia, Okla., Sunday, April 26, 2009. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
Lightning over the Round Barn in Arcadia, Okla., Sunday, April 26, 2009. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
-Nate Billings
Spring Snow
From left, David Kenyon and Kelli Kenyon with their children Katie Kenyon, 5, and Kieran Kenyon, 6, all of Edmond, Okla., take a walk as snow falls at Hafer Park in Edmond, Okla., Saturday, March 28, 2009. PHOTO BY NATE BILLINGS, THE OKLAHOMAN
All week the weather forecasters have been telling everybody to stay inside Saturday because of the snow.
People seem to have listened.
Sarah Phipps, Paul Hellstern and I spent the day looking for folks out in the snow in the Oklahoma City metro area and didn’t find many. Truthfully, we didn’t find a whole lot of snow either. The metro area was spared the blizzard that buried much of the north and western part of Oklahoma for the past two days.
For a gallery of some of what we did find, click here.
A dog walker uses the trails in the snow at Hafer Park, Saturday, March, 28, 2009, in Edmond, Okla. PHOTO BY SARAH PHIPPS, THE OKLAHOMAN
This blooming Redbud tree is coated with a frosting of snow in north Oklahoma City, Saturday, March 28, 2009. PHOTO BY PAUL HELLSTERN, THE OKLAHOMAN
-Nate Billings
Lone Grove Tornado
So far, at least eight people, possibly nine, are dead after a tornado moved through Lone Grove, Okla., Tuesday night as part of the rare February severe storms that struck our state. Usually after a big news event, I feel like writing something about what it was like for us as photographers or how hard we worked to cover the story. We had people working Tuesday night and others starting before dawn Wednesday morning, but I don’t want to write about that today.
Right now, the details of how we spent Wednesday don’t seem very interesting compared to what the people and emergency workers in Lone Grove have been through or what many of them have lost. So, let’s keep the attention on them.
Here’s some of our photos from Lone Grove.
Lone Grove firefighter Greg Allen (top) and volunteer Jack Brown search through broken trees north of Highway 70 in Lone Grove following deadly storms the day before around Lone Grove, Okla., Feb. 11, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Margie Hughes, left, gets a hug from her sister Neda Wilson as they look at Margie’s destroyed home following deadly storms the day before around Lone Grove, Okla., Feb. 11, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
John Taliaferro sees the remains of his furniture store in first light after Tuesday’s deadly tornado in Lone Grove, Okla., on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
A home on Highway 70 was destroyed in Tuesday’s deadly tornado in Lone Grove, Okla., on Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Lone Grove firemen search a home for unaccounted people on the north side of SH 70 in Lone Grove, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009. BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, THE OKLAHOMAN
Trina Quinton sits with a lost dog at her cousin’s destroyed furniture store, John’s Furniture, on the north side of SH 70 in Lone Grove, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009. BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, THE OKLAHOMAN
Searchers look through mobile home debris for four unaccounted for persons on Brock Road in Lone Grove, Wednesday, Feb. 11, 2009. The rails in the tree are the base of a mobile home. BY PAUL B. SOUTHERLAND, THE OKLAHOMAN
Deric Brawley, 12, sits with his dog on a friend’s couch inside their destroyed home following deadly storms the day before around Lone Grove, Okla., Feb. 11, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
Gov. Brad Henry talks with Sue Rose while surveying damage at the Bar K Mobile Home Park in Lone Grove, Okla., Wednesday, February 11, 2009. On Tuesday, February 10, 2009, a tornado moved through Lone Grove killing at least eight people. Rose was unable to seek shelter in time to avoid the tornado and rode out the storm in a mobile home with four other people. The mobile home was damaged, however, the people survived. BY NATE BILLINGS, THE OKLAHOMAN
Dennis Parker holds his granddaughter, Brooklyn Hickman, 3, while sifting through belongings from his destroyed mobile home at the Bar K Mobile Home Park in Lone Grove, Okla., Wednesday, February 11, 2009. On Tuesday, February 10, 2009, a tornado moved through Lone Grove killing at least eight people. BY NATE BILLINGS, THE OKLAHOMAN
Tammie Rose searches for items to salvage from the destroyed mobile home in which her daughter, Shawna Inlow, used to live in Lone Grove, Okla., Wednesday, February 11, 2009. On Tuesday, February 10, 2009, a tornado moved through Lone Grove killing at least eight people. Inlow and her three boys were able to ride out the storm safely in Rose’s cellar. BY NATE BILLINGS, THE OKLAHOMAN
Neda Wilson reacts as she looks at her sister’s destroyed home following deadly storms the day before around Lone Grove, Okla., Feb. 11, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
To see a photo gallery of more pictures from Lone Grove and photos from damage in the metro area, click here.
-Nate Billings
Storm Damage
When ice and snow storms hit the metro area a few weeks ago, Nate Billings wrote that when the meteorologists tell everybody to stay inside, that’s our cue to go outside. The same is true with severe storms and tornado damage. Here’s just a few pictures from the storms around Oklahoma City and Edmond.
A firefighter talks on a cell phone in front of damage to the Chuck E Cheese restaurant following storms near NW Expressway and Rockwell in Oklahoma City on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009. By John Clanton, The Oklahoman
High line polls blown over on north Penn just south of 150 in Oklahoma City, Tuesday , February 10, 2009. By David McDaniel, The Oklahoman.
Carol Grieb carries a few items from her house at 5213 Circle Glenn that was damage by the tornado that hit north Edmond on Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2009, in Edmond, Okla. Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
To see a gallery of more photos taken on Tuesday of the storms, click here.
-John Clanton
When the ice forms…
One of the few things I can say for sure about working as a newspaper photojournalist is that when the folks on TV tell everybody to stay inside, that’s our cue to go outside. Jim Beckel, David McDaniel, Paul Hellstern, John Clanton and Steve Gooch grabbed their Class II reflective safety vests and headed out to cover the ice that had metro roads in terrible shape on Monday. I think they all made it through the day without falling or being involved in auto accidents. I hope most of you out there were as lucky. Check out some of the photos from the icy day below.
To see the full photo gallery of the winter weather, click here.
Teacher Ann Hawkins helps soften a student’s fall as he slips on the ice outside Chisholm Elementary School during winter weather in Edmond, Okla., on Monday, Jan. 26, 2009. BY JOHN CLANTON, THE OKLAHOMAN
Two motorists try to escape their car which overturned on the icy Turner Turnpike near the Wellston exit outside of Wellston, Okla., Monday, Jan. 26, 2009. BY PAUL HELLSTERN, THE OKLAHOMAN
Nikole Edwards scrapes ice from her car windows after she and other employees at Farmer’s Insurance at NW 23 and Villa were released early because of deteriorating weather conditions Monday, Jan. 26, 2009. BY JIM BECKEL, THE OKLAHOMAN
Walking cautiously on an ice-covered Broadway Extension, an unidentified women tries to keep her balance after the car she was in was involved in a minor accident near Hefner Road in Oklahoma City, January 26, 2009. BY STEVE GOOCH, THE OKLAHOMAN
A view of an accident in the 2700 block of west Britton Road due to the icy weather, Monday, January 26, 2009. BY DAVID MCDANIEL, THE OKLAHOMAN
A truck from the City of Edmond drops sand on 33rd street east of Boulevard during winter weather in Edmond, Okla., on Monday, Jan. 26, 2009. BY JOHN CLANTON, THE OKLAHOMAN
Check out the rest of the pictures here.
And be safe out there.
-Nate Billings
