Oklahoma City, OK Tornado June 13, 1998 by Val and Amy Castor 

On this hot, sunny day my fiancee and i ran outside to see why the sirens were blaring. Nothing too crazy, but we noticed a strange looking, pancaked cloud. He then pointed out that one edge of the cloud was blowing east and the other edge was blowing west. The entire cloud itself was moving so slowly that i walked beneath it through the neighborhood. Just as the neighborhood dead ended into lake Hefner, a powerful, cold gust of wind whipped up behind me. I screamed with glee! I watched as the cloud slowly traveled away from me over the lake. It quickly turned black. A bit later i called my dad to brag that i saw the beginnings of a tornado. His response, " IIIIiI was IN it!" Dang it!! He was so proud, lol. And here we are 19 years later, and I'm finally getting to see footage of that very tornado. Thanks Val, Amy, and Gary!!

These old school camcorder tornado videos are so wicked when you watch them!

This tornado was significant to our family for two reasons. We all grew up in OKC so this isn't the first time we've been in a tornado but, my niece was just getting onto a ride at Frontier City, she changed her mind got off the ride and ran for her car, she made a beeline for a gas station bathroom and just barely got in when it hit. It totaled her car. My grandmother lived in the Village just off of May Ave. This tornado hit the little strip mall just up from her house. I remember being on the phone with her and telling her to get off the phone and go shelter! The next day we found out she had lung cancer, by August of that year she was gone. We both loved storms, this was her last one.

You don't hear Amy scared like this anymore. Made me sad....That was the "Pure Terror" sound of a woman that no man likes to hear from a loved one.

This storm sparked my love affair with tornadoes. I have since been in 3 more (all accidental) smaller ones. Even when i moved out of state, i would come home to OKC every May in hopes of getting in on some action. I was in a May 3rd tornado (not the big one, but a tiny one west of Yukon), one in MWC about 12 years ago, and one while traveling thru Kansas about 10 years ago.

I love watching this old school video. Thanks for sharing!

Amy,. you are a real trooper! if you didn't get scared, then you'd be crazy! great job!

You guys are legends, thank you for all you do!!

Val and Amy you guys are the best.

OKC my home town with family still in Midwest and Del City

This is amazing video, but that storm structure is just jaw-dropping!!

This was the last tornado before I moved from Oklahoma. Will never forget it.

glad you two survived!

Poor Amy. You could tell she was definitely early on in her career.

First tornado outbreak I remember. It skipped across Hefner and eventually hit Frontier City

Beautiful meso

Edit in right at that nose blow! LOL Perfect timing.

On the water it’s a water spout on land it’s a tornado.🌪

Whooooooooooowie! Nail biting, scary stuff! And to think that May 3, 1999 was less than a year later. When you look back on this one, do you still get butterflies? This is why I don't like the EF scale, because you can still get winds of 295 MPH and have EF3 damage. Too many people get too close to these storms, and they're paying for it. I can't help but wonder if El Reno taught us anything? The idea that the damage or aftermath is more important than the immediate wind speed of tornadoes is just far too presumptuous to keep getting closer and closer to these storms. I know we're trying to find ways to improve warning times, but at what cost? We've come a long way since then, and I hope that sattalite that was launched by the Weather Channel will prove to really be an asset in helping us really "see" these tornadoes without having to get so close and risk the lives of anymore chasers.

We got like 2 of them tuch down 162 days ago

That supercell tho. 0.519

Val always gets his woman in the tornado 🌪️🤣

That is my birthday

Gets way to close, takes too many risks

Nos tenemos que preocuparnos

hoe is het

Who is Gary?

Insan

Tornado on Lake Keffner, yes! ... Tornado on Lake Keffner, Gary! Yes, Tornado on Lake Keffner, Gary! Gary Gary Gary ... this guy's voice is so annoying

First tornado outbreak I remember. It skipped across Hefner and eventually hit Frontier City

First tornado outbreak I remember. It skipped across Hefner and eventually hit Frontier City