It's FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another busy week is coming to an end.

Yesterday, we had some severe storms come through the city, so our REACT team was on alert. They were not severe enough for us to be activated, so there were just a few of us out early in the morning giving hail and flooding reports. I decided to request the day off because the word was…there was going to be more severe weather happening during the day and I wanted to be out in the midst of it. Once the storms made it through the OKC area, the threat was over for the metro. Myself and two other REACT members were ready to do some storm chasing, but the only place left to chase any storms was in eastern Oklahoma. So, I left my truck at a REACT member’s house (who is also a storm chaser) and rode with him…and the other chaser followed us. I brought my reflective vest, my hard hat, my briefcase, my camera, my cell phone (but forgot my charger) and my REACT radio with me.

As we headed east on I-40, I watched the laptop as it showed the radar and it showed our GPS, which helped me know exactly where we were at and where the storms were at. Several times we drove in very heavy rain, but we kept going east to intercept any severe storms that developed along the dry line. We made it to McAlester and decided to eat lunch and then wait for something to develop. The more we watched the radar and studied the data that was coming in from the National Weather Service, the more we knew that all the severe storms would actually develop east of us and become severe in Arkansas. Once we determined that our chances of severe weather in eastern Oklahoma was very low, we decided to head back to the city. Mike, the storm chaser and REACT member I was with, started having some problems with his side and shoulder, so he asked me to drive back to OKC.

Mike has a cool truck. It is equipped with all kinds of severe weather equipment, lights, radios, scanners, laptop, etc…..all kinds of neat buttons in Mike’s truck. Plus, his truck is bright yellow, so we call it the “bumblebee.” Everywhere he drives, people stare at him because of his unique truck. It has all types of storm chasing and REACT lettering on it, so you can’t miss it. It drives really well and I enjoyed driving it back to the city. While I drove, he continued monitor his laptop and watch storms develop on radar in Arkansas. While driving, we intercepted the cold front as it moved across Oklahoma. The wind picked up and the temperatures dropped about 20 degrees. The winds made it a little difficult to drive the truck because we were heading west bound and the wind was coming from the north.

We finally made it back to OKC at 4:30 pm and I headed home. I dropped our taxes off at the tax place, went by Wal-Mart, went by KFC and then went home for the evening. I was so tired from all the riding and driving, I was ready to go to bed by 8 pm. I knew if I did, though, I would wake up too early, so I toughed it out and stayed up until 10 pm.

Today, my boss is gone and so is the second in charge. That means I am in charge today….not that it really matters. Today, the director of our division presented me with a letter from the City Manager and my 20 year pin. I celebrated 20 years of employment with the city on February 21st. This weekend will be busy. I have the Pinewood Derby races in the morning, along with prayer breakfast….and we have the Winter Jam Concert at the Oklahoma City Arena at 5 pm.

http://www.okcentralreact.org/

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