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[TowerTalk] WKY Tower comes down, 6/13/98

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Subject: [TowerTalk] WKY Tower comes down, 6/13/98
From: w6go@quiknet.com (Jay O'Brien)
Date: Mon, 15 Jun 1998 22:01:17 -0700
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//SQ//DTD HTML 2.0 HoTMetaL + extensions//EN">
<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>Storm  Chasing</TITLE></HEAD>
<BODY><H1 ALIGN="CENTER">Welcome to June 13, 1998</H1> 
<H4>Like June 8 a dry line moves into western Oklahoma. Once again Oklahoma
City is the target of a massive rotating thunderstorm. Before the tornado hit
Oklahoma City we had a tornadic thunderstorm develope about an hour earlier in
Logan County producing a tornado near Guthrie moving northeast into the
Coyle-Langston area.</H4>
<H4>  The Tornado that hit Oklahoma City actually started as a small storm near
Hinton,OK. The storm grew larger and began to rotate as it approached the El
Reno area. A few funnel clouds were sighted around El Reno and Yukon but they
dissipated as the mesocyclone moved into Western Oklahoma County. The storm
moved right over my house at Council and Hefner Roads. The storm consisted
mainly of violent updrafts and very little rotation. As the storm approached
Rockwell and Britton Rd it became evident that this storm meant business.
Rotation became violent as the storm moved across McArthur Dr and a funnel
formed touching down in Lake Hefner. WOW!!! A waterspout right here in Oklahoma
City. The storm tore a damage path of about 1-2 miles wide across the Village
and Nicholls Hills. The storm moved 1 mile north of KWTV ripping up WKY's tower
(Pictured below) and knocked KOCO off the air for much of the evening. Ranger 9 
(our company owned helicopter) also got in on the chase and had some very
interesting shots from the air.</H4>
<H4></H4>
<H2><B>WKY's Tower comes down!!!</B></H2>
<H2></H2>
<CENTER><H2><IMG SRC="Wky1a.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"><IMG
SRC="Wky1.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"><IMG SRC="Wky2.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"></H2></CENTER>
<P><B>The storm approaches the Broadway Extension. Debris cloud can be seen
just to the left of the tower lines. Approximate location is Britton Rd. and
Western. 100mph winds hit the WKY tower which had withstood Oklahoma weather for
over 70 years!! Notice that it crumples in the  middle.</B></P>    
<CENTER><H2><IMG SRC="Wky3.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"><IMG
SRC="Wky4.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"><IMG SRC="Wky5.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"></H2></CENTER>
<P><B>The tower continues to fall and impacts on the right.</B></P>
<CENTER><H2><IMG SRC="Wky6.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"><IMG
SRC="Wky7.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"></H2></CENTER>
<P><B>Power flashes continue as power lines are snapped. The tower is nothing
more than a crumpled mess!! How did we get these incredible pictures. It was by
luck that Brady wanted to see if he could see anything on the tower and as he
moved the camera he noticed some weird contortions by the tower to our 
north.</B></P>
<P></P>
<P></P>
<P><B>The storm forms near El Reno, These pictures taken by photojournalist
Rich Kriegel.</B></P>
<CENTER><P><IMG SRC="Jun13rker1.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"><IMG
SRC="Jun13rker2.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"><IMG SRC="Jun13rker3.gif" 
ALIGN="BOTTOM"></P></CENTER>
<P><B>The storm has a well defined meso cyclone striations and a rainfree
base. The rainfree base is where the storm's updraft is located. At this time
there was massive upward vertical motion but little rotation but that would
change!!</B></P>
<P></P>
<CENTER><P><IMG SRC="Jun13rker4.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"><IMG
SRC="Jun13rker5.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"><IMG SRC="Jun13rker7.gif" 
ALIGN="BOTTOM"></P></CENTER>
<P><B>Rotation now kicks in and a definite wall cloud begins to form and this
storms threatens El Reno, Concho, Calumet, Yukon and Piedmont. In the right
photo a large funnel forms and stormchasers  report violent rotation as the
storm moves North Norteast at 30 mph. Golfball size hail reported across much of
northern Canadian County.</B></P> 
<P></P>
<CENTER><P><IMG SRC="June13rker8.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"><IMG
SRC="June13rker9.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"><IMG SRC="June13rker10.gif" 
ALIGN="BOTTOM"></P></CENTER>
 
<P><B>The storm produces what looks to be a large funnel but the middle photo
shows the small funnel that would eventually get larger, but in these photos you
can see the trend as the funnel heads for the ground.</B></P> 
<P></P>
<CENTER><P><IMG SRC="June13rker11.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"><IMG
SRC="June13rker12.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"><IMG
SRC="June13rker13.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"></P></CENTER> 
<P><B>A rope tornado evolves and then you see the entire tornado a rather
impressive horizontal tornado.</B></P>   
<P></P>
<CENTER><P><IMG SRC="June13rker14.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"><IMG
SRC="June13rker15.gif" ALIGN="BOTTOM"></P></CENTER> 
<P><B>The Tornado/Funnel Cloud dissipates into a mean looking wall cloud as it
leaves El Reno and heads for Yukon and Oklahoma City.</B></P>
<H1>More to Follow!!</H1>
<P></P>        
<P>Questions? <A HREF="mailto:bouchereau@kwtv.com";>E-mail me....</A></P>
<P>Go back to <A HREF="stormtrk.htm">STORMTRACKER PAGE</A></P></BODY></HTML>

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