National Weather Service Uses Storm Trackers, Radar To Detect Storms

While our meteorologists and trackers were working hard over the weekend, folks at the National Weather Service in Norman and Tulsa were doing the same.

The National Weather Service across the state has been evaluating damage reports since Sunday.

So far, around 25 tornados have been confirmed, and it takes many people to identify these storms as they occur.

"This is why we got into this business,” said meteorologist Karen Hatfield. “We trained for it. And, you know, we just try to make sure that people are aware so that the public can take the action that they need to."

Hatfield is with the National Weather Service in Tulsa. Her team, along with their counterparts in Norman, spent the weekend identifying storm warnings as quickly as possible.

They do that with teams of people that include our weather experts at News On 6.

"The information from a storm chaser, a storm spotter, you know, the local fire departments, police officers that will go out for their local communities, when they can provide us information that a certain storm is producing a funnel cloud or that they've seen damage in an area where we've seen rotation. That can really tip the scales toward issuing a warning or not issuing a warning or providing better details to get people to react," she said.

These relationships are crucial, especially in our state's rural areas, where storms are harder to see.

“The further you are from a radar, it makes it a lot more difficult to see signs of things like developing tornadoes, maybe signs that there might be damaging winds happening, especially extreme damaging winds,” said Hatfield. “The further you get from it, the higher in the storm that you're looking, and you can't necessarily see that low-level rotation that you need to know for sure that there's going to be a tornado.”

Durant Emergency Manager Richard Ezell lives in southeastern Oklahoma, where radar becomes spotty. That's why the city installed its own Doppler radar last year.

"So it can save lives and have more warning," said Ezell.

As storms approached this weekend, counties like his had at least 20 spotters keeping their eyes on the sky, showing it takes a team effort from across the state.

"This is why we got into this business,” Hatfield said. “We trained for it. And, you know, we just try to make sure that people are aware so that the public can take the action that they need to."