May 3, 1999 Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak | Full KWTV coverage 

I never once say Mike Morgan say anything like that. Gary is incredible.

Oh my god imagine being home alone in that

Best in Oklahoma yes, but James Spann in Alabama is the best meteorologist overall.

I’m from Alabama & yes JS is the Gary England for Alabama! There’ll never be 2 more like em

Except where he said get between the stool and the wall. I had no idea what he meant there. Maybe it's a oklahoma thing, but I don't keep a stool in my bathroom, unless he was referring to stool, as in the stool that's in a toilet. But that was kind of confusing if you wanted to know the truth

It's great for people who love to study weather and natural disasters to watch coverage of the May 3, 1999 tornado that tore through Moore, Oklahoma provided by Oklahoma City's CBS affiliate KWTV Channel 9 and hear the familiar comforting voice of the station's chief meteorologist Gary England. Gary guided many residents of Oklahoma through the many violent and destructive tornadoes that tore through the state and always made sure to let kids who were either at home alone or with a babysitter and no doubt scared to death know that if they listen to him they will survive. I have reason to believe that the kids who have listened to Gary England are moms and dads themselves and use his advice to keep their own kids safe.

Channel 4 also released their coverage as well.

Why would they not run this at the time, makes no sense to archive,then revive years later , now a days we share live, IMO that can save lives, I posted hurricanes live , then people see the threat and take very serious

🌤🌧🌧🌧🌧🌩🌩🌩🌪🌪🌪⚡⚡🌪🌀🌬🌪🌩

Ikr? Bout time.

Well, thankfully. Oklahomans know to respect their meteorologist when their desperately telling them to take cover and that this is a MAJOR tornado.

I believe he also said that with El Reno in 2013, but he says it here also 44:45

@@PublicAtLarge Dave Freeman did the same with his coverage of the May 4th, 2007 tornado that devastated Greensburg, Kansas. Dave was the chief meteorologist for KSNW; the NBC station in Wichita, KS at the time of the Greensburg tornado and he urged any kids who might be home alone or with a babysitter that they had to be brave and turn the volume on the TV or the computer speakers or the radio so they could hear him as they took shelter. Dave Freeman, James Spann, Gary England, Mike Morgan and Damon Lane are the five meteorologists for whom I have high levels of respect.

@@michaellovely6601 you can add Dr. Greg Forbes to that list as well

@@jeffvanschoonhoven5171 Oh absolutely. I would also add in Jamie Simpson for his coverage of the Memorial Day tornado that tore through Dayton, Ohio in 2019. Viewers who were watching a new episode of "The Bachelorette" on Fox 45 complained about how the coverage of the tornado had interrupted the show; but Jamie was having none of it and ripped into viewers on air.

Gary retired about 3 months after the 2013 El Reno tornado, but he had been OKC's trusted voice since the early 1970's. He even made a cameo in the movie Twister where they used archived footage of him that Jo's Father was watching just before the F5 arrived. He even had a premonition after Moore was hit by the F4 in 2003. He said an EF5 was going to strike within the OKC Metro Area when schools were letting out kids, calling it the worst-case scenario, and guaranteed it would happen. On May 20th, 2013, what he said 10 years prior transpired in Moore. Unfortunately, 7 children were killed at Plaza Towers (damage was labeled EF4 for the school) where the EF5 tornado was inflicting EF5 damage to a few homes a couple of blocks to the North of both Briarwood and Plaza Towers.

Ohhhh no. I was crying at the lady who's neighbor wouldn't let them in then seen this comment and cackled. 😂 I am so sure it wasn't meant to be funny at all but thank you for sharing. I hope they visit at some point. ❤

I usually hear bridge creek mention with the Moore tornado, they just didn't put it in the name

@@mattb6646yeah They said it wasn’t mentioned while it was happening They mentioned it afterward

As somebody who also lives in a tiny town that nobody has ever heard of, I can relate They focus more on places that are bigger population areas

@@UnlicensedOkie usually just because more lives are lost or damage is done, thats usually what they name the tornado after if it hits multiple towns

My friends lost their newborn baby this day and the mother in law. The father in law & my 2 friends were almost killed. My momma held Baby Ashton on Sunday at church then just days later he was back where he was sent from. They had more children however now divorced. Her scars are a forever reminder of how lucky they all are. Tornadoes like these don’t happen to often thank God but when they do, they deserve respect.

Did you see that guy in the wheel chair with that long stick stuck in his head. God help him

@@darrylclaxton7473 OMG yes! I think the news anchors say it is a woman not a man though either way it's horrific. Even dirt is a deadly weapon in a 250mph+ wind its as good as a sand blaster. Debarks trees, hell it even scours out the ground as deep as 2 feet.

Right? I had never seen their radar imaging and when I saw that I gasped. Even the more recent monster in 2013 didn’t look that defined

@@nosilee2964I’m just now seeing your comment and you’re absolutely CORRECT! To this day I’ve never seen such a well defined radar signature Unbelievable the power that thing had it even brought down the wall cloud with it 😩

@@nosilee2964that and then Mayfield in 2021.

Sorry for your loss 🙏 may your friend Rip 🙏

Sorry for the loss of your friend from England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 to 🇺🇸

I know exactly where that is

Shame On them.

Cannot imagine what that woman went through. I live in the northeastern US, in NY State, and even I cannot imagine what that woman probably had to go through. That’s selfish of those neighbors.

I'd be really interested in which tornado u were in and anything you'd be comfortable sharing I've been interested in tornadoes since I was in third grade when the Andover hit F5 and everyone caught it on video and saw one unexpectedly in Florida 96 and it was on the other side of the highway while I was going on a vacation with my family and although I always wanted to see one but I was hoping to expect it like chasers..... when I first saw it it freaked me out I looked away almost like it didn't exist if I didn't look at it Then my dad reminded me how I've always wanted to see one so I opened my eyes again and watch the final stages of it rope out which all together was on the ground for less than 5 minutes but wasn't expecting it and that's a big difference than chasing them and just seeing one while driving through a storm in a state you're not from forgetting which direction you're in correlation to it but back then my father was I guess I always felt safe when he was driving no matter what was happening but I know a lot of people know what I mean But seriously any story I could hear that hasn't been told publicly a million times I'd love to hear and I don't mean to publish I'm just personally curious if you feel like telling the story on here or something

I was freaked out by the 3 mile miss by a tornado that was ef2 closest to me. I got no warning and it was 4 in the morning. It destroyed multiple steel buildings at ef3 strength and sent a good bit of people to the hospital. So it makes sense to be worried. But that little tiny baby is nothing. If you had them next to each other you wouldn’t even notice it. Something like this is too much for my brain to handle. It’s so big and so powerful you can’t do anything to save yourself other than get underground.

So true. When I was 5 years old my family and I lived through a direct hit by a strong F3 tornado. It remains the scariest night of my life. The trauma of that experience worsened as I got older until my parents sought out professional help for me, which helped immensely. Living through one of these monsters haunts you in ways you don't expect. I can't imagine what it would be like to live through an EF4 or worse, an EF5. In addition those who live in this area of Oklahoma have experienced this several times now. I admire their resilience and courage, I would live in a perpetual state of fear.

@@Carolinagirl1028 I’m glad you were able to get some help. Unfortunately I wasn’t. And like you said it’s something that stays with you forever. Ever since I went through that tornado I am deathly afraid of storms because you just never know.

@@blaine8274 I'll take that as a sign you don't want to tell your story then because if you posted it here I would certainly read it but maybe it's none of my business I can tell you my experiences but none of them were tragic

@Pat Luxor Pat, “Luxor” get ahold of yourself! Your psychosis is showing. That’s what following a white rabbit will do to you. Enter rabbit holes at the risk of your own sanity. Read your Bible and trust God only.

I lived one mile south of Anadarko as this was going on.. My son,mother and I rode it out in a very old cellar but we were spared any real damage. and Yes I was watching channel 9 through it all.

Thats why I pulled this up. Well said!

No kidding

We didn’t lose anyone but our 2 dogs were in this thing and amazingly both survived. One of them was found by a man we had known for years and another was picked up by a lady and taken to a shelter. Still very grateful to both of them for essentialy saving our dogs and giving them 7 more years with us.

Yesterday was the 25th. I came from the Emplemon video about the tornado

I think they won an Emmy award for this coverage

Well said

I know. There other videos get like 19 views. Haha

They are. They are regarded as some of if not the best outside abc in Alabama for severe coverage and tornado coverage. Although, Gary has now retired this footage and coverage is historic for this kind of an event.

did this one kill anyone? i hope not. this must've been so scary for even the news people

@@ASLLover666 36 direct deaths, +5 indirect deaths. This tornado sadly had a very high casualty count. This thing has an eerie resemblance to the Phil-Campbell EF5 of 2011, it's even heavily rain wrapped with a very low-hanging wall cloud like that monster was.

@@dannyllerenatv8635 oh damn. poor people

@@ASLLover666 This one was very long-tracked at 38 miles and was on the ground for almost 1 hour and 30 minutes. Not only did it destroy parts of Moore, but it also nearly wiped out amber and bridge-creek. This is one of the worst tornadoes recorded in modern history.

It would be 24 years right?

Oh my! At least you guys had the firm but comforting voice of Gary England. I'm from Ohio and I have a lot of respect for Gary because he has been a guiding light for many people in Oklahoma during many violent and destructive tornadoes. If there's anything I wish; I wish that Gary England and James Spann were covering the EF5 tornado that tore through Joplin, Missouri on May 22, 2011. If James and Gary were covering the Joplin tornado there is no doubt in my mind that they would have been able to save many lives.

@@michaellovely6601 RU-vid search first person video Joplin tornado. It is video from people who took shelter in a gas station store freezer and is some of the most terrifying tornado videos you will see/hear. There is an aftermath one too where they show the destroyed building. The freezer was the only thing that “partially” made it. Everyone in the freezer survived.

@@fitfogey I remember seeing this video in an episode of a show on The Weather Channel called "Real Time Tornado" which profiled the Joplin, Missouri tornado. It was shot inside the FasTrip gas station by a guy named Isaac Duncan.

@@michaellovely6601 Never knew that. Thanks for your input here. Crazy stuff for sure!

@@fitfogey That it was. I have not only seen the episode of "Real Time Tornado" which profiled the Joplin, Missouri EF5 tornado; but I have also seen the episodes which profiled the tornadoes that struck Tuscaloosa Alabama, Henryville Indiana, Hattiesburg Mississippi, Moore Oklahoma, and Washington, Illinois. A truly inspiring story from the Henryville, IN tornado on March 2nd, 2012 is that of a school bus driver named Angel Perry. Angel was just a few miles away from the Henryville school complex when she spotted the tornado and immediately fell back on her training to ensure the safety of the children in her care. Angel knew that the safest place for her and her students was the Henryville school complex; so she turned around and hurried back to the school. After counting off the students as they ran for their lives into the office area of Henryville Elementary School; Angel hurried into the building herself. Her bus was the one that got hurled into a diner across the street from the school. In the episode on the Moore, Oklahoma tornado on May 20th, 2013; a truly inspiring story is that of a man named Sam Peña. Sam displayed nearly superhuman abilities to keep his son Benji along with several of Benji's friends and classmates safe by using all of his physical strength to hold up a cinder block wall as they took shelter from the storm in a boys bathroom of Briarwood Elementary School. Watching the episode on the Washington, Illinois tornado left me feeling shocked because of the day the tornado occurred: November 17th, 2013. You really don't expect a tornado to strike in late November; and as a result the residents of Washington had gone from being excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas to a sense of heartbreak and helplessness. To add to their misery it snowed a week after the tornado; which as you can imagine hindered cleanup efforts. What is so surprising about the EF4 tornado which struck Hattiesburg, Mississippi on February 10th, 2013 is that no fatalities occurred and only eighty-two people were injured. This tornado badly damaged or destroyed many businesses and vehicles on Hardy Street and Oak Grove Road in downtown Hattiesburg along with numerous homes and damaging residence halls on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. Not many students or faculty members of USM were on campus because they had gone down to New Orleans, Louisiana for Mardi Gras weekend as Hattiesburg isn't too far from New Orleans.

NEVER hide under the stairs. Those things can collapse easily

@@Nwsthe2ndweatheeforecaster It was 1999, back when the overpass myth was still a thing.

@@Nwsthe2ndweatheeforecaster She is still here to type what she did, so it worked. Not trying to be a smart a$$, just saying sometimes you do the best you can with what you have.

@@dcrggreensheep Intresting, thanks for telling me that

I was 13 years old when this happened .I didn't live in Oklahoma but I was a big weather buff as a kid and I remember this event live from watching the weather channel.

And it doesn’t help that about 14 years later pretty much the same storm happened again

Thank you for the explanation! I didn't know the difference between isolated cells and the QLCS you described. I live in Minnesota, and I mostly see the type of thunderstorms that form a squall line.

i don't get it

It all came together after 200 pm. In the early morning hours the set up wasn't very apparent. What really sealed the deal was some breaks in the clouds and an approaching jet streak that wasn't known until it was samples by Doppler profiler (upward facing radars) networks. And that didn't occur until around 1 in the afternoon. I'm not even sure computer modeling in this day and age would have done much better with that rather anomalous set up.

I didn't know channel nine had so much live coverage of the tornado. I was really surprised that kept cutting away from it as well.

I grew up in NW Oklahoma we usually only watch KWTV out there because they are the ones that will keep us covered. As an adult we actually have a KWTV storm chaser that lives out near Woodward and keeps them covered and updates his Facebook page with it. He also keeps our wildfires covered. Everyone in the NW knows Marty Logan.

@@tawnyprovince-ward2353 Bless Marty Logan

That was awful - she’d just had her baby a month prior - terribly sad

Yes, but then they cut away from it.. I was Screaming, why are you cutting away from that incredible shot

Same here. I live in Moore off 19th street. My house was in the 2013 path, and barely missed this one in 99.

I really don't understand why people rebuild in the same spot or why anyone would move into an area 2 massive tornadoes have leveled in the past. Seems like a pretty bad idea.

@@Douglas_I There’s an obvious reason to be hesitant and aware of that. But I wouldn’t let fear of natural disasters be what dictates where I’m gonna live. If we all lived like that, coastal cities would be empty. California would be empty. Earthquakes, hurricanes, & tornadoes can’t be your reason for where you choose to live and plant your roots.

He was pretty cool back then. But... lol. Do yourself a favor and don't look up what he's been up to lately. I'll spare your feelings and not spell it out here. Maybe old age is just a curse.

@@Asterra2 huh? I don’t see that he’s been up to anything controversial. The only thing remotely controversial I can find that he’s ever done was back in like 2007, saying that climate change was natural (as opposed to man-made), but remember that at the time many people did not believe that climate change was occurring at all… so by comparison, Gary’s position is quite reasonable.

@@TheLocalLt He spends his time on Twitter mirroring tweets with anti-vax, anti-mask, and yes, climate denial messages. I just shrug when one senile old man howls at the moon that he knows better than the scientific body about the climate (even if, fundamentally, he is just aping the horseshit his conservative bubble is feeding him), but when a person with a lot of followers says dangerous things about public health, he causes deaths. That's pretty damn inexcusable.

Unlike David Payne, who will make you need to change your pants.

David payne couldn't carry Gary's jock strap, weather predictions have fallen off since the old guys have retired and the just regurgitate computer models

never thought about this. thank you for this perspective!

Walking outside into the darkness, like darker than ever and seeing ambient light showing me snapped power lines what comes to my mind. Then comes firefighters with flashlights from a distance while you watch h their lights get closer. I was also next to the tornado west of El Reno during this broadcast. Went to check on my parents and nobody was there. I had a 79 Camaro doing 100 behind a cop with his lights blaring I was one of few on the road getting back to my apartment that was very close to this.

Your description is hauntingly accurate .. and whew .. bring s total recall. Thank you. My goodness. Shaking my head.

What was always eerie to me is how silent everything gets after it's all over. That's what I remember when my dad's house was hit in the 2013 Moore tornado. The silence afterwards

You could have said that in 6-8 words

That's awful 😢

I've been waiting 24 years for this... The twist is that I'm 20

Radar indicated 316mph winds, from dopplar on wheels

That's Jim Gardner. Gary England has retired, but Jim is still flying that chopper helping his fellow citizens. I can't imagine who could carry the mantle once he steps down. All the storm coverage I've seen with him flying around tracking everything for so long & just how well he does it. It is certainly a tall order for anyone to follow in his flight path.

@@NoNames-vw3bq Leroy Tatom was News 9 for this day reportedly. Gardner flew for local competitor KFOR (Channel 4) until KWTV replaced their other pilot (not Tatom, but Mason Dunn) for... dubious reasons.

I grew up watching Gary England and nobody compares. He was always the best and my favorite meteorologist to go to when weather got bad.

Check out the Jarrell documentary. And look into the Phil Campbell tornado too if you haven't seen them. Tristate tornado. Woodward, Oklahoma got hit with an F5 in 1947 that killed 107 people - this was the 3rd tornado from the single storm cell that tracked from Texas, through Oklahoma & into Kansas before finally weakening enough about midway through Kansas to cease dropping tornadoes.

Thank you for your service. That said, how in any way is your being an atheist relevant to this? Are you under the impression Christian tornado chasers use their own scientific measurements, like from the Bible or something?

@@TheLocalLt No I mention it because you ALWAYS hear “christians” talking about their “god’s plan” and whenever a tornado strikes somewhere and kills people you’ll still hear people saying “god saved them” and the tornado missed a certain house or building and they thank god, meanwhile a block up the road an infant just died after being sucked out of their mother’s arms….so I am simply pointing out that I realize those things happen due to atmospheric conditions and different factors, and NOT because one person “prayed harder” or because they prayed to the “right god”.

@@TheLocalLt They never waste an opportunity to attempt to project their “superiority”; never knowing that the foundation of science is rooted within religion. Roger Bacon and Pope Clement IV come to mind.

@@BlatsteinHAHAHAHA the foundation of science is “rooted in religion” well goddamn, now I think I have actually HEARD IT ALL!!

An Oklahoma tornado located in Woodward in 1947 that killed over 100 people was the tornado that prompted the beginning of the storm warning system to provide for time to get to safety. If that event hadn’t have happened I cannot imagine how many deaths OKC would’ve had. With as terrible as this tornado was the death toll was low.

It really is probably the most incredible footage ever.

Holy crap I've watched this video before but I don't remember seeing that crazy footage! The person filming that must have nerves of steel! The violence we're seeing there is just unbelievable!

OMG, poor Newcastle and Moore! And from what I've read, not many homes there were built with basements. And that's something that shouldn't be acceptable given the area's history. I can't imagine anything above ground-even a safe room being able to stand up to a tornado like this EF-5 monster!

@@jonathanbecker8935 you can’t affordably build basements in Texas and Oklahoma because the soil is shallow and bedrock is right underneath. Storm shelters are about the best you can do without using TNT

I've seen that in a lot of documentaries on this outbreak. I've always been fascinated by tornadoes since the movie Twister came out... but this tornado, and the others that cropped up looked vicious

Incredible indeed. Gotta be on top of your chasing game AND have balls of steel to be filming that.

Thank you Horse Helmet!

@@Dahn.Baern. Hope you have a good New Year Dahn.

Oh, Wow!!! 😳 So scary 😱!!!

source?

@@uuuultra I honestly don’t know. Maybe it was the door locking mechanisms that failed and that made it seem like the shelter was being extracted. I can’t post a link here because the post will surely be removed but there is a study out there noting that. I could not find the original article about extraction but I did read that at some point.

Honestly as serious as this beast was it wouldn't surprise me

One of my aunt's friends had her home blown away twice, first on May 3rd 1999, and second on May 20th 2013. I know of many other people who have the same story, and I have a lot of respect for folks who are strong enough to rebuild like that.

the event of a tornado but like having to replace simple things like tooth brush, hair brush, underwear, I won't continue that list by no means bc I think ya got the jist of it....

@@tonyacutrell626 gist

I doubt he was eating he was trying to see the ground but the wind was very intense and horses can’t see right under their nose. He was trying to figure out how to escape the paddock or where to run. He kept his butt in the wind so he can see better as well as watch where the tornado was going. Poor thing. 😢 Hopefully he stayed were he was because that was the safest spot in his situation.

I was just thinking about this comment

Ironic he missed the second OKC tornado by leaving the city chasing a non existing tornado. I think he always regrets that one

I’m not a big fan Reed.

​@@GR-bn3xjthat was the 2013 one

This. I've seen almost every bit of available footage and news broadcasts from this event and never saw this piece until now. It angers me so much.

I had one of those develop above my house in the super early stages tornado dropped in KS but watching a swirl of clouds looking above your house and I could see the sky it was insane.

I’d love to see May 24 coverage too! No one has it on RU-vid! Only small clips.

I was bout to say that. I lived by falcon lake, in kingfisher county on the 4 corners. Went right thru my lil neighborhood. There was a couple other big ones that day too

Yes! El Reno 2011 is like a white whale at this point.

@@brettcarlson9636 yes Joplin overshadowed how Big that one is and I only recall the storm chaser footage that the dudes passed as it was about to get drawn in like Mike from the weather channel during El Reno only it was moving slower but the 2011 footage I have seen has left me wanting more like even the reflectivity if nothing else because that had to be a heck of a radar presentation but interested anyway.

That would be interesting to see. Not many people outside of Oklahoma know about the May 24th, 2011 tornado outbreak because it occurred just two days after the devastating EF5 tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri.

You were right next to me! I wasn’t in a hotel, I was in a neighborhood across from that hotel. I was across the street!

Wow which hotel was it? My fam lived just a couple hundred feet due north of the 3 hotels off of I-40 that were heavily damaged. Still don't understand how our home stayed standing. My dad watched the roof start to go off of the hotels before he came to shelter inside with us.