I don't remember Harry Volkman, but I do remember Jim Williams, who would interrupt programming, tell you what was happening, and be off again in less than a minute.

No one got killed because he didn't stay on the whole evening flogging his collection of adjective-laden radars.

This stuff of staying on for hours in some cases just to follow a wall cloud or do a live shot with some guy who's being rained on annoys me.

Every spring, I say this is the year I'm getting a weather radio. Maybe this year I'll do it.

While I'm on the subject... I already know what hail looks like. You don't have to scoop up a handful and hold it up to the camera for me.

I bought a weather radio after May 3, 1999. It missed me barely and changed forever the way I view storms and storm reports. I had been in buildings hit by tornadoes more than once before May 3rd.

I think the people who work at the severe storms lab and the weater service and the tv stations and all the volunteer spotters all deserve tremendous respect as well as much credit for actually saving people from injury and death.

There's nothing on TV that I think is as important as a weather report when there are storms. Just the other night there was a lot of damage.

It apparently means nothing to some people but to those who are hurt or have lost property it is very significant.

As one who had his house hit on May 3rd while being in the house with no place to go, I'd rather have night disrupted for the sake of safety. Yes, the forecaseters do go over board with the snow/ice coverage, but I believe they are doing the right thing when it comes to tornadoes.

I decided on a new word the other day.

Snonadoes.

When it is tornadoey one night, and snowy the next day.

__________________
Still corrupting young minds

Blah discrete...broken line...whatever. Yeah the one up in NW Oklahoma was definitely a pretty tornado...even better it was out in the middle of nowhere.

The anti-weather comments on here just amaze me. It definitely shows people really don't understand the dynamics behind situations like we had on Sunday. The amount of shear in the atmosphere and the setup was one to where anything could spin up extremely fast. The Oklahoma County storm showed that. The radar signature clearly showed a compact, tight area of rotation and NWS Norman made the call and issued the warning. The TV stations are always going to go a bit nuts when you see something like that in a populated area - especially close to Downtown OKC.

As far as terrifying people in the OKC Metro with a storm a 100 miles away...I really don't think that is the case. Most educated people have a good understanding where certain locations are in the state. However, like others have posted, the OKC stations are the only TV station covering a lot of Western Oklahoma. So to those people, the OKC stations ARE their local stations. If that pisses you off, find an investor and pay for a new station in one of those areas. On May 3rd, and several other events, the long track tornado situations can make anyone in OKC or elsewhere in Oklahoma grateful for what the OKC Weather community does. You could argue on May 3rd there was a lead time of well over an hour on the tornado warning for OKC. That is not something you get everywhere.

When severe weather is getting ready to impact the metro, you can be assured that hundreds of chasers and spotters are out following. That is definitely not something many cities around this country have. I remember being on a chase back in 2004 or 2005, and a storm with a nice wall cloud and an occassional funnel moved from over where Riverwind is now across south Norman. They didn't blow the sirens in Cleveland County right away because there was no visual confirmation. The benefits of the storm moving into a "spotter rich environment" as NWS Norman said over the ham radio. Now contrast to Sunday. We didn't have the luxury of daylight and good viewing conditions. The configuration of the storm also almost guaranteed the thing would be rain wrapped. Visual confirmation isn't really going to happen in that case unless it is via power flashes - which then it is too late.

So just like every year this time. Stop complaining and change the channel. They are providing a service that is somewhat unique and also beneficial to this area. I've lived in a few cities that had nothing like our weather coverage, and I couldn't tell you how scared people can get when they see a tornado warning and but have absolutely no information about it.

You have a remote control for a reason. As much as the TV stations would love for you to watch their station, I bet they'd rather you change the channel than have to hear you whine on the phone while you waste their time and patience.

ha. no, they love those calls! really.
some people just wouldn't have a complete life if they didn't have something to complain about. there are over 300 channels on tv now and you want to complain about tornadic weather being reported on the local channels which probably had what on sunday night anyway? what was on that was so important that you were missing? change the freaking channel, program your dvr to record your shows and never have to watch a weather report again! whoa technology!!

i love the weather shows. i love to watch the storm develop, i like to watch it move in, and i like to watch it move out.

i didn't find the warnings to be over the top this weekend so i don't have a dog in this hunt, so to speak. but i will add this... on cox, the audio on all channels cut out at least a couple times for emergency weather advisories, so it isn't exactly fair to say that someone could just change channels.

-M

I've had a weather radio for twenty-five years. (The same one, in fact; it just demands a new 9-volt battery twice a year.) The one problem with the NWS audio service is that when there are different warnings in the same broadcast area - witness last night, when everything southeast of I-44 got a Winter Storm Warning and things to the northwest got only a Winter Weather Advisory - you have to pay attention to both and listen to the list of counties for each. Fortunately, they're always in alphabetical order. And if there are five or six warnings and advisories around, you might be listening for a long time. On the upside, nobody shows you a handful of hail.

It should be remembered that all those towns out to our west don't have their own television stations: they watch Oklahoma City stations. You may not care what happens in Custer County, but Gary and Mike and Rick do.

Save a few like Altus and Lawton.

Lawton has one station of its own (KSWO); the other three stations in the market are actually in Wichita Falls. Altus, to my knowledge, has nothing. (Maybe they watch Lawton/Wichita Falls.)

My problem with the hours-long coverage is not that a program is being covered up.

It's that when the meteorologist has conveyed all the information he has to convey in thirty seconds the station then fills another 45 minutes or hour or whatever with non-information: here's a helicopter shot of a dark cloud, here's Reporter Joe Blow live from wherever he happens to be parked whether it's near the dark cloud or not, here's an assistant meteorologist repeating whatever the main meteorologist just said, here we are zooming in on the doppler, here we are zooming out on the doppler, and don't watch that other station's doppler because it sucks and you'll die for sure and we're the only station that truly cares about you and blah and blah.

Nothing has changed, there's no tornado, but pretty soon a half hour has ticked by while the viewers are waiting for something to happen. And eventually we get tired of sitting on the edge of our seats and we go back to whatever we're doing.

THIS.


What's wrong with the ticker at the bottom of the screen until there's an ACTUAL TORNADO?

lol, I'm reading this post and here comes a commercial for Rick's Advantage Doppler..

yes, I would love a CNN type scrolling at the bottom of the screen as well.

The first few years I moved here, I was glued to the set, ready at the drop of the hat to sprint to the shelter ( had visions of flying cows, the whole shebang... ) now, I'm more complacent.

I agree, even with my fear of tornados, it's still a little much and I can't help but think it's definitely a way to increase ratings and get more viewers to tune in.

__________________
" You've Been Thunder Struck ! "

They used to have that little ticker, when I was younger. It would be nice to go back to that.

__________________
Still corrupting young minds

The scrolls are still there. Typically those will run for any advisory/warning that isn't a tornado or a severe thunderstorm that is likely to cause damage. Typically the nonstop weather coverage is saved mainly for those extreme events.

We can argue this on both sides from those of us with a meteorological background and those that don't. The fact is, OKC media will continue to cover weather events much like Southern Cal stations cover car chases. It drives ratings and the "thrill" of not knowing what may happen next keeps people glued. When nothing drops from the sky, people are pissed and disappointed for wasting their time. When something does, they are grateful that the coverage was there. You can never satisfy people no matter how hard you try.

We are moving into our storm season, and it'll probably be a very active Spring. Sit back, get ready for typical OKC-style weather coverage, and if you don't like it...buy a weather radio and grab some DVDs to watch.

Interesting thread...I called a friend of mine in Mid West City that night and I asked her if she was paying attention to the weather and the sirens. She said 'no' should I be?

No matter how much time is spent on the television covering tornadic thunderstorms we still have people in Oklahoma, such as wrote on this thread, that would rather see the sirens stopped and the warnings discontinued so they can watch their precious television program.

I on the other hand am thankful, very thankful, we have men and women who, at times, place their own lives in danger to provide us the most comprehensive weather coverage of anywhere in the country! Thank goodness for men like Mike Morgan, Rick Mitchell and Gary England who have devoted their lives, and have extremely thick skin, in helping protect the lives of those who don't want it.

I run into this at the office every time we have severe weather and the potential of tornadic weather. Because I'm in charge of the Emergency Response Team I have to prepare and consider the worst possible situation and keep my team prepared for that as well and even though we have people who don't want that protection, who think they are just fine on their own, we have to maintain that level of security for them also. This is in response to those men on the streets doing the same thing reporting what may or may not happen.

I for one would much rather be told their is circulation in the storm and it may produce a tornado and I should seek shelter than not be told at all and it come down out of the clouds and destroy my life or a love one of mine.

I suspect those that complain the loudest about their lives being disrupted because of the siren or their favorite television show not on would be the first to scream the loudest if a warning was not provided and something bad happened.

Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

I too have been around here for 41 years and I've seen the destructive power of what a tornado! Keep those sirens going and let me know when the storm is on the horizon so I can make plans accordingly.