I live in OKC. I can't speak for hunting/fishing, but I really like OKC. I grew up just outside of Denver. I have to say I prefer OKC over Denver :) The city is pretty slow paced, the people are friendly and the weather is definitely warmer than zone 4 :) I've only had one real brush with a tornado in the 20 plus years I have lived here. I have friends that were in the Moore tornado though. Honestly, this is the best place to live in regards to tornados, we have wall to wall coverage...forever and ever! I can't remember a single tornado that took anyone by surprise here. Also, I understand we have never (maybe I should say rarely) had a tornado during the overnight hours...those are the most deadly. When sun goes down, so does tornado threat OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) Â The atmosphere across Oklahoma makes it less likely for tornadoes to occur in the overnight hours than in the Midwest and eastern United States, a national weather expert said. (snip) In Oklahoma, 75% of all tornadoes occur between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m., said Harold Brooks, a meteorologist with the National Severe Storms Laboratory in Norman. "We have this very strong peak in the late afternoon and evening and very low numbers overnight," Brooks said. The lower and middle levels of the atmosphere in the Great Plains don't communicate with each other as much at night, which is necessary to form a tornado, Brooks said. The result is a calmer atmosphere after sunset. Lisa Here is a link that might be useful: Nocturnal Tornadoes.

I would not suggest the turnpike to Tulsa in the next 2 hours. Right now the rain is extremely heavy the entire first half, with some strong winds, and I don't think he will ever get ahead of it. The turnpike could get 2 or 3 inches in the next 2 hours. So many OKC streets are flooded that people are struggling to get where they want to go. 8 inches the entire area during the last 8 hrs.

Being a 61 year old born and raised Okie, from my view, I've seen the interest in storm cellars change over my lifetime. Growing up in the 50's and 60's, our family always had a cellar ( or a " fraidy hole " ) as my Grandmother called them. And we spent a lot of time in the cellar. My Grandfather worked for the Carter Oil company in Seminole ( which eventually became Exxon ) . He moved there around 1930 when the Seminole oil field was booming. Back then, the oil companies would build camps for their employees to live, because there was no housing, and the Carter Oil camp had two big concrete cellars installed by the company. One of them right next to my Grandad's house. But everybody had access. Then when he retired and moved into Seminole, he had a cellar built . On stormy evenings, my parents would take us to Grandad's and we spent the entire evening there, with my Grandad watching the clouds. Our warning system consisted of the men of the Seminole Civil Defense, who would take positions out on the outskirts of town and watch for tornados and would give word to blow the sirens. Some neighbors would show up and it became a social event as everyone chatted and passed the time. Around late 70's , my parents built their own cellar, but also that was the time when TV warnings were getting much better. They started using radar. And in my adult life, up till now, I'd never thought a cellar was a good investment because the warnings kept getting better and better. From other people I've talked with, they did the same, and houses with cellars become fewer than back in the 1940's and 1950's. My plan had always been to leave the house and go to a sheltered place, like Crossroads Mall. But after the debacle last May 31, when I got caught in traffic because everyone else had decided to get out of the storm's path, I then decided I needed a shelter. Its like we've come full circle, from a time that lack of any warning made a cellar almost a necessity, to warnings making cellars less important, to a time when the warnings are so good, we need a shelter again. This post was edited by LCDollar on Thu, Jan 23, 14 at 20:16

Oh my gosh Allan, what a horrible sight to see out your front door and not knowing if it is coming toward you or will it miss you. I am so glad to hear that all of you in OK made it through this one okay. My heart just breaks for the ones that lost everything. We have friends that live a little north of Fredricksburg here in Texas and they had a tornado come by their house. Picked up two trash cans and left the third standing where it was. I think they only found one of the trash cans. Some houses were destroyed but the houses built out of stone survived! Hope y'all don't have to go thru this again any time soon. Take care. Joan