THURSDAY

 Its official, we had 6 confirmed tornadoes the night of May 1st and morning of May 2nd. 2 touched down in Pawnee county, 2 in Osage county, 1 in Creek county and 1 on the Rogers/Mays county line. The tornadoes were reported to be EF0 to EF1. The tornado caused tree, power line and home damage. 2 people were injured, and 1 person died (in Siloam Springs, Arkansas). This is why when tornadoes are issued we stay on the air so that anyone in the path of the deadly storm will get the warning and take cover.

  It was our 1st major tornado outbreak of the year. As we forecasted, we had 2 rounds of severe weather. The first round hit around 7pm as a series of supercell thunderstorms moved southwest to northeast across areas west of Tulsa. There were tornado warnings for each storm. Not only were the tornadoes detected by our Enhanced Doppler 8000, Live Doppler 8000, and Viper Tornado Tracker, but our storm chasers in their mobile storm centers confirmed tornadoes on the ground with their phone reports and videos. We were the first station to confirm those tornadoes as we stayed on the air to warn thousands of our viewers of those life threatening storms. Many reported taking cover after watching NewsChannel 8. These storms also packed up to baseball sized hail and wind gusts over 60 miles per hour. 

  The second round came through early Friday morning. This round was a unbroken line of severe storms moving west to east. Winds ahead and along the line were up to 70 miles per hour. The line was also producing brief tornado touchdowns. Once the tornado warnings were issued we stayed on the air to make sure people knew to take cover. Tornadoes touched down west and north of Pryor and in Siloam Springs where one person died. This was the most dangerous time for tornadoes because it's dark and most people are asleep. That's another reason to get our exclusive WeatherCall service. After coming to work at 2pm Thursday, I didn't go home until 5am Friday for the 3rd time this year. That just goes to show how much severe weather we've had already.

    May is our biggest month for tornadoes. So it's already off to a bad start! Hopefully things will quiet down. Our storm chaser video of the tornadoes are posted on our website and have been running on many of the television network news and programs. I surveyed the tornado damage from Ranger 8. You could easily see where the tornadoes cut a path through trees and across fields as well as through rural home and barns.

   We had our entire First Alert Storm Team covering these storms. Myself and the rest of our meteorologists were in the storm center while our storm chasers were out in their mobile storm centers. Ranger 8 was up, and our entire news team were ready. Don't forget that KTUL.COM is always on while our 24 hour local weather channel, First Alert Weather 24/7, always has the latest forecast.

   Before our next round of wicked weather, this is a good time to sign up for our exclusive WeatherCall so that you will be getting any severe weather warnings that are issued for your house straight through your telephones. You won't have to worry unless your phone rings when you will be told exactly what warning your home is under and what action you should take. Just go to KTUL.COM and look for the Frank's WeatherCall link. It takes less than 5 minutes to sign up and only costs $6 per year. Well worth it if its a phone call that could save your life. As always, rely on NewsChannel 8 to keep you covered.

    One part about radio I really like is that you don't have to worry about how you look! And at 5:30am who wants to do that!  Of course I did the morning show for 10 years here at NewsChannel 8 when I had to wake up at 3am and get all cleaned up and dressed up. By the way, my infamous proposal to Teri is now on our main website page (KTUL.COM). So if you haven't seen it in the last 13 years, here's your chance.

     Anyway, Greg is a westsider like those of us who work at NewsChannel 8 and I've known him for years. I met him at one of the original Edgefests, and from time to time he still hooks me up with some backstage passes. He's a lot of fun to talk to because he's a weather buff and I'm a music buff so we can trade a lot of great stories. We even called my wife Teri live on the air after she had taken our kids to school and interviewed her on the air. I also liked talking to the callers who phoned in to win prizes that Greg wouldn't let them have until they can prove they were paying attention to our conversations!

    As always, Greg made sure I went home with some brand new cds. He always turns me on to brand new music which is hard to come by these days.  You can still hear me every morning on The Edge and their sister station The Sound when they air my weather forecasts!

   Thanks Greg!!!!

        The response has been tremendous across Green Country, so much so that it has been tough to keep up with the demand. Since we launched the program a few weeks ago, we have pushed the computers that send out the warnings a bit beyond their optimum workload, and it didn't help that we've had so many stormy days. Each one of those days included hundreds of phone calls that were sent to addresses that were within warning areas.

         Therefore, to make sure that phone calls go out as quickly as possible, the hardware has been doubled. These are the computers that push the messages out to you hundreds at a time. We are confident that the warnings will be delivered much faster from now on.

          Frank's WeatherCall remains an exclusively new cutting edge technology, and we are thankful for your feedback, your understanding, and your continued support. Our goal is to make this a superior program you can depend on to help save your life.

   At the same time, some of you may have questions regarding why you may not have received a call even though a warning was issued for your county or the sirens were going off near you. Remember, what makes this system so unique and valueable is because it only warns you when your address is in the path of the severe storm. The National Weather Service now uses a polygon system for warnings and not counties. Therefore, if a storm is on the othe side of the county from where you live, you will NOT receive a call because at the time you will NOT be in the path of the storm. However, if your address falls within the warning polygon, then a Weathercall will be placed to you. Some counties sound the sirens when a warning is issued anywhere in the county, but just because you hear the sirens doesn't mean the storm is headed towards you. The sirens are there tell you that a warning is issued for somewhere in your county, but a Weathercall will be placed to the phone numbers you have chosen only if you are in the part of the county where the storm is located.

  Also, Weathercalls are placed for warnings only, not watches. Watches are issued to alert you to the possibility of severe weather, warnings are when it is already occurring. But don't worry, we always have all watches and warnings on Newschannel 8.

   If you get your first call you must say something when you answer it in order to activate the message. If you pick it up and wait for a warning without saying something the system won't be activated for your address.

   All addresses receive Weathercalls even if you live in a rural area or the corner of a county, however p.o. boxes don't count.

   If you know someone who wants Weathercall, but doesn't have a computer, you can have them contact us via voicemail and we will send them an application and address to sign up.

   Only the telephone numbers and warnings that you chose will receive Weathercalls. There must be a severe thunderstorm, tornado warning or flash flood warning for your address in order to receive a call. You may hear thunder, heavy rain, gusty winds and even small hail, but unless there is a threat to your life or property as in a severe storm, tornado or flooding, you will not receive a call.

   What makes this service so unique is it's precision. You will have peace of mind and maybe even a good night's sleep in knowning that your phone will ring ONLY if you have severe weather headed towards your home.

   I hope this answers some of your questions.

How often am I called?
You are called whenever the National Weather Service issues a Tornado Alert, A Severe Thunderstorm Warning or a Flash Flood Warning that includes your registered street address. This could be anytime of the day or night. You may choose to receive alerts for only Tornado Warnings or only Severe Storms or only Flash Floods or any combination.


How quickly will I be called?
The system will begin notifying within 1 minute of receiving the alert from NWS. However, if several thousand people need to be notified it could be as long 5 minutes before everyone is called.