Good morning. Thank you all for caring. I am glad you weren't hit by any of it Pam. I could tell you lived west of me by your photos, but didn't know precisely where you are located. Now I will have an exact location to watch and worry about you. :) Those things were popping up here and there all over yesterday afternoon and night. The news guys were out of breath and unable to keep up with all the reports because it was a fast moving storm and things kept happening in different areas of the state. It was a wild ride. Five people now reported killed. Of course they never, if ever, report about killed animals. Poor things. The authorities and rescue teams are still going through the debris, so the deaths number may go still rise. Several 18-wheelers were flipped or rolled. This time there were so many vehicles getting flipped and rolled or thrown. Jeez! Don't know if it was shown on the news where you are or not, but one big tornado hit a floating marina on one of our big lakes, and man oh man, it looks like the aftermath of a hurricane! So much damage and so many boats and yachts destroyed. Power lines and flying debris are most often the cause of deaths in tornadoes. When a tornado can force wheat straws through telephone poles, you can imagine that all kinds of debris could easily be driven through someones body. Sometimes there is no opening in the body to be found and it is only upon autopsy that they find debris deep inside. That is some kind of powerful and strange winds! And that my friends is precisely why you need to take shelter! Softball and grapefruit sized hail in some areas. If that hits you, your head is gone! We just got those 65 MPH swirling winds and some heavy rain, but no hail (this time). No damage to my pets, gardens, buildings or house that I have seen. I haven't gone out this morning yet to check out the peach trees and tomato plants for damage or loss. If it is...it is, and we start over. All the tornadoes went around us on all sides. Always do. They split just southwest of here - half goes north of us into Payne county and the rest goes south of us into the farthest south part of our county and through Cleveland and Pottawatomie counties. We couldn't have chosen a better place to live in the whole state than right here on this ridge. That doesn't mean I don't stay vigilant. There could always be that one exceptional storm. No word from my sister yet. Hope everyone is the other affected states fared better. Thanks again for checking up on us. ~Annie

It was very cold here and we had a very hard frost....the kind that looks like white snow on the grass. It was 34 degrees here at 2:00 a.m., and I didn't check the temperatures any more after that because I knew it was going to be worse than expected.....and, at that point, the only issue was how much worse than expected. (G.M., When I saw our temps. at 2 a.m., I checked Carter County's on the internet and y'all were showing 38 degrees at that point, so I'm betting y'all ultimately went down to at least 34 to 36.) Pretty much everything in the garden survived and most were not damaged. I have two tomato plants that probably won't make it, but that's not bad considering I had 58 in the ground. There's about another 10 that show some damage. I probably could leave them alone and they'd bounce back, but I might replace them anyway. I have back-up plants to replace them with, so it isn't a big deal. The damage to the tomatoes was hit or miss, and might have been worse on those whose flower pot/bucket was smaller or more lightweight than those on the other plants. Everything else tender was in the house, the garage or the screened-in back porch so they all are fine. All the perennials are fine. The roses that were blooming look fine. The iris flowers look kind of pitiful. The water lilies are unharmed. Depending on how cold it actually got, and how long it stayed there, the fruit on the fruit trees may not survive. We have one more cold night tonight here in southern OK, with "patchy frost" expected. If you believe the data from the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, the "average" last frost in Love County occurs in the March 22 thru March 31st timeframe. However, we ALWAYS have at least one freezing night significantly later than that, and usually more than one. Here's the last frost date for the years we've lived here: 2007: 32 degrees on 4-15-07 2006: 23 degrees on 4-23-06 2005: 32 degrees on 4-24-05 2004: 32 degrees on 3-31-04 2003: 28 degrees on 4-10-03 2002: 27 degrees on 4-05-02 2001: 32 degrees on 4-24-01 2000: 31 degrees on 4-17-00 1999: 31 degrees on 4-18-99 So, the OCS data doesn't seem reliable for us, but it is based on 30-year averages, and we've only been here and watching the weather here for 9 years. One frustrating thing about the "late" freezes is that, even though they predictably occur in mid- to late-April, they often follow anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks where we've had really nice warm weather and only a couple of cold nights. Randy, I think your wind will be worse than ours. We're only expecting winds of 15 to 25, which seems mild compared to the last few days. It is relatively wind-free here today, and that is nice. Kirts, I hope your ground dries up soon so you can rototill and prepare to plant. We have another round of rain forecast beginning around Thursday. I hope to get the rest of the veggie garden planted this week, except for the real heat lovers like okra and melons. My soil is still pretty wet just a couple of inches below the soil surface, but it is getting better every day. Dawn

The latest Tornado Warning is for Kay, Noble and Garfield counties. It is in effect until 5 p.m. A very large tornado is on the ground near Fairmont and is moving east at 55 mph. Softball sized hail has been reported with this storm cell. If in warned area, seek shelter. The warned area includes I35 between mile markers 188 and 210. Linked below. Here is a link that might be useful: Most Recent Warning

Ilene, I don't know if you visit the NWS website like I do. Here's their latest warning for the Caney creek. Actually, there are three back to back warnings . I included all three in case there is info in there that is helpful. I am positive something good will come of all of this, even if we lack the wisdom right now to understand what the good may be. Keeping a positive thought in my head, and a prayer in my heart for all affected by this weather. :) Dawn WGUS84 KTSA 011913 FLSTSA FLOOD STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 212 PM CDT SUN JUL 01 2007 ...MAJOR FLOODING CONTINUES TO BE FORECAST ALONG THE CANEY RIVER AT BARTLESVILLE AND NEAR COLLINSVILLE... OKC147-020312- 212 PM CDT SUN JUL 01 2007 THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE CANEY RIVER AT BARTLESVILLE * UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. * AT 1 PM SUNDAY THE STAGE WAS 16.3 FEET. * MODERATE FLOODING IS OCCURRING AND MAJOR FLOODING IS FORECAST. * FLOOD STAGE IS 13.0 FEET. * FORECAST...THE CANEY RIVER AT BARTLESVILLE WILL CONTINUE RISING... CREST NEAR 21.7 FEET TUESDAY MORNING AND THEN BEGIN FALLING. * WHEN THE CANEY RIVER REACHES 21 FEET AT BARTLESVILLE...VERY SEVERE FLOODING WILL OCCUR FROM DEWEY TO OCHELATA. SOME HOMES AND BUSINESSES IN BARTLESVILLE AND SUBURBAN AREAS WILL BE FLOODED. OLD HIGHWAY 75 WILL BE CLOSED. THIS WILL COMPARE WITH THE FLOOD WHICH OCCURRED ON MARCH 3 1975 WHEN THE CANEY RIVER CRESTED AT 20.90 FEET. $$ OKC147-020312- 212 PM CDT SUN JUL 01 2007 THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE CANEY RIVER NEAR RAMONA * UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. * AT 12 PM SUNDAY THE STAGE WAS 27.8 FEET. * MINOR FLOODING IS OCCURRING AND MODERATE FLOODING IS FORECAST. * FLOOD STAGE IS 26.0 FEET. * FORECAST...THE CANEY RIVER NEAR RAMONA WILL CONTINUE RISING...CREST NEAR 28.9 FEET THURSDAY EVENING AND THEN BEGIN FALLING. * WHEN THE CANEY RIVER REACHES 28 FEET NEAR RAMONA...MODERATE AGRICULTURAL FLOODING WILL OCCUR FROM OCHELATA TO THE NORTHEASTERN TIP OF TULSA COUNTY. SOME RURAL ROADS WILL BE IMPASSABLE INCLUDING THE ROAD BETWEEN RAMONA AND TALALA. $$ OKC131-143-020312- 212 PM CDT SUN JUL 01 2007 THE FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES FOR THE CANEY RIVER NEAR COLLINSVILLE * UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. * AT 1 PM SUNDAY THE STAGE WAS 28.0 FEET. * MINOR FLOODING IS OCCURRING AND MAJOR FLOODING IS FORECAST. * FLOOD STAGE IS 26.0 FEET. * FORECAST...THE CANEY RIVER NEAR COLLINSVILLE ROSE ABOVE FLOOD STAGE YESTERDAY EARLY AFTERNOON AND WILL CONTINUE RISING TO NEAR 35.4 FEET FRIDAY BEFORE DAWN. * WHEN THE CANEY RIVER REACHES 35 FEET NEAR COLLINSVILLE...VERY SEVERE FLOODING WILL OCCUR FROM COLLINSVILLE TO POINTS DOWNSTREAM. CONSIDERABLE FARMLAND WILL BE FLOODED. RURAL ROADS NEAR THE RIVER WILL BECOME IMPASSABLE. THIS WILL EXCEED A FLOOD WHICH OCCURRED ON MAY 11 1993 WHEN THE CANEY RIVER CESTED AT 34.40 FEET. $$