Veteran television meteorologist Gary England of KWTV in Oklahoma City said that it was the first time in thirty years on air that he was actually scared. The frightening situation came as a menacing tornado was bearing down on the Oklahoma City metro area just after 10 p.m. on May 9, 2003.
As his team of storm trackers radioed reports that the tornado was very near the television station, England ordered everyone out of the studio. He said that he realized that if the tornado struck the studio, he would probably die.
It was then that he made the break for the station’s designated safe room, never missing a beat as he joined the rest of the staff in a room like a “sardine can with too many sardines.” Fortunately, the tornado passed without serious damage to the station.
Other areas of Oklahoma City were not as lucky as the long-lived supercell thunderstorm produced a tornado that hopped and skipped across the northwestern and northern parts of the metro area.
The storm would continue to produce tornadoes along a nearly continuous path paralleling the Turner Turnpike all the way to southern sections of Tulsa.
The town of Stroud, OK, hard-hit during the May 3, 1999 outbreak was again a target, suffering heavy damage. An elderly man in Oklahoma City died from injuries sustained during the terrifying tornado.
I had a front row seat for this event from my hotel room in Ardmore, Oklahoma that night. It made for some dramatic television, especially given that the Oklahoma City metro area had been visited by tornadoes the day before as well.
