Ticker for May 20, 2022

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
May 20, 2022       May 20, 2022       May 20, 2022       May 20, 2022


A new beginning




Short and sweet today, just like my last dose of chocolate milk. I've had two,
maybe three shots and I'm looking for trouble. Our much-hyped late-May
many-hyphenated cold front has arrived, and boy are its arms tired. Temperatures
are dropping by 20-30 degrees in its wake, and winds are kicking up into the 20-300
mph range in its sleep.





And there is lots of significantly cold air (for late May) behind it.



There are winter storm warnings to our northwest in Colorado where they're
expecting up to 2 feet of snow.



Nothing that drastic for us. I think we might see some 30s in the Panhandle
Sunday morning, some storms today, and then some decent rains early next week.









That's all, just your ordinary, average 7-day return to spring after 2 weeks of
summer.



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Obviously I can't get past this day without remembering that morning 9 years
ago when I set off for work expecting bad weather for the second day in a row,
and by the time that day was over our lives had been transformed forever when
an EF-5 tornado decided to churn through the northern outskirts of our
neighborhood, and our town, and our state. We  were some of the lucky ones
from that day, riding it out in our storm shelter and only having to replace
our roof. Nothing can ever replace those that were lost, however. I'm going to
send you back down memory lane through a few Tickers from that day and after.
I could probably correct some of these stats and figures, but I won't because
the raw aftermath of that day is more real than any  data I could come up with
as we spent the next week without power in a war zone, behind National Guard
barriers with helicopters hovering overhead for days (and nights) on end.

An EF-5 impacting your life will definitely change your mind about "the
excitement" of severe weather. Seven children died in that tornado at Plaza
Towers Elementary in Moore. My twin daughters served as Junior Escorts at
the Southmoore High School graduation ceremony that those 7 children would
have walked across the stage at, had that monster not destroyed their future.

Antonia Candelaria – 9 years old
Kyle Davis – 8 years old
Janae Hornsby – 9 years old
Sydney Angle – 9 years old
Emily Conatzer -9 years old
Nicolas McCabe – 9 years old
Christopher Legg – 9 old

We remember those kids and the other Oklahomans that lost their lives that day.

The Ticker from May 20, a day after a different severe outbreak the day before.

http://ticker.mesonet.org/select.php?mo=05&da=20&yr=2013

The Ticker from May 21, made the day after from an iPad I was trying to keep
charged in my car. In it are some pics of the carnage as I walked through our
neighborhood.

http://ticker.mesonet.org/select.php?mo=05&da=21&yr=2013

A double-Ticker made  a few days after, with more pics and some more mundane
weather.

http://ticker.mesonet.org/select.php?mo=05&da=23&yr=2013

A "memoir" made a year later, with some recollections of that day still
somewhat "fresh"  in my head.

http://ticker.mesonet.org/select.php?mo=05&da=20&yr=2014

Some would say it is a day to forget. But we can't do that, can we? No, this is
a day to remember.

Gary McManus
State Climatologist
Oklahoma Mesonet
Oklahoma Climatological Survey
gmcmanus@mesonet.org