22 C22
created: 2023-06-04T10:39 updated: 2023-06-04T10:
By Wednesday morning, the forecast had gotten progressively worse. The Storm Prediction Center had changed the outlook from moderate to high. The TV was displaying a constant loop of the radar. The kitchen table had both Hannah's and Emily's laptops open displaying an almost live stream of data coming out of the forecast office. John had staged his team about sixty miles west of Norman. The shelter had been stocked with food and several changes of clothes as well as the cases of diapers that had arrived on Monday. Hannah had even forgone a dress in favor of jeans, somewhat heavy button down shirt, a tank top and her boots. She wanted to be ready. The family had lost the house in the May 3rd tornado. Emily's phone rang and she put it on speaker.
"What's up?" she asked, watching Hannah spin in the chair.
"Watch the triple point, We're up near Calumet and we can see the towers forming." The All Hazards radios went off in the truck and in the house. They both got shut off before they got a chance to provide what ever information they were trying to give out. "I was talking to Greg at the SPC and even he said he thinks that this one is going to go in the history books." That phrase wasn't a good one in this business.
"What does he think we're looking at?" Emily said.
"He thinks at least two EF-5's several 3 and 4's" John sighed. "Tina and Olivia there yet?
"Olivia is," Emily said. "Lexie and her are out playing in the pool. Tina couldn't get off work. She's at the Hospital now."
"She should be safe there; that building is on the same level as the NWC." John said. "The alert was a severe thunderstorm and tornado watch. We have three MD's out on this line that's approaching already and it's not even noon..."
"Mom," Hannah said, glancing up from the screen on her laptop. Emily raised her eyebrows. "Tell dad those are Particularly Dangerous Situation watches."
"They were?" John's voice came through the phone.
"Yeah," Hannah said loud enough for the phone to pick up her voice. "They both were issued by Johnson"
"Those watches were PDS." John said to Eric.
Hannah had gone back to looking for the exact location of the triple point on the map. Once she found it she spoke again. "I think you guys need to head north west. Starting to get storm initiation up near Liberal Kansas. That's also the location of the triple point." The triple point was the location where the cool dry air came down from the Rockies and met the warm moist air coming up from the Gulf of Mexico. The dry line was the boundary between the dry and moist air masses. The point where the three lines met was where storms were born.
"Liberal, huh?" John said aloud. "Probe to all vehicles, we're moving toward Liberal Kansas. Let's go. Good work, babydoll. I'll let you know when we get there. If you see anything else, call. Love you guys." Hannah blushed.
"Love you too Daddy, be careful." Hannah said.
"I love you John." Emily said, hanging up the phone.
The house phone rang and Hannah went to go answer it. "Hello?" she said into the handset, carrying it with her back to the table.
"Hannah, It's Jim Hobson at WFO Norman; Are your mom or dad there?" Jim said, he sounded like he was out of breath.
"Mom is, hang on." Hannah said, holding the phone out to her mother. "It's Jim."
"Yeah." Emily said into the phone. "He's up near Calumet, now enroute to Liberal. Hannah recommended a move." She listened for a few seconds. "Ok. Let me get bags packed and the kids rounded up. I'll be there in half an hour." Emily hung up the phone and looked at her oldest daughter. "Go pack a bag with enough supplies for at least three days, clothes, diapers, everything. Jim wants my eyes down at the WFO, he figured yours wouldn't hurt either, but you're going to need to stay out of the way." Emily had done her Master's Thesis on bombogenesis. It dealt with the low pressure center of an cyclone that was not in the tropics dropping in pressure at a rapid rate. She was considered somewhat of an expert on the phenomenon... Her Doctoral Thesis had been based on Tornadogenesis. That was where her and John had met. They both were involved in obtaining their Doctorates and really never talked, but didn't lose contact with one another either. It was after they both had obtained their Doctorates that they started dating and were married shortly thereafter.
"Ok," Hannah said, jumping up and running up stairs to pack her bags.
Emily walked over to the back door and slid it open. "Girls, I need you to go pack bags. They want me down at forecast office. It's a safer building than here." Both girls jumped out of the pool and came in the house, wrapped in towels. They headed for Lexie's room. A few minutes later they were down stairs, suitcases in hand. Hannah was still upstairs. Emily took the stairs two at a time to get to her oldest daughters room. Hannah was struggling to get the pink suitcase that lay on the bed closed; it was close to overstuffed with diapers and clothes.
"Preparing for a long stay?" Emily said with a chuckle. The bag contained more than three days worth of supplies.
"I don't think my kind of supplies come in on normal disaster relief trucks..." Hannah said, with a smile in her voice. Her face didn't show the smile however, it showed the terror that she felt inside. Something felt wrong.
"Very true." Emily said. Applying pressure to allow the bag to allow Hannah to zip it, Emily picked the suitcase up and carried it down stairs for Hannah. "Can you get the laptop mount and put it in the car for me?"
"Yep." That told Hannah that she was riding up front so that she could watch the data stream while her mother drove. Hannah went out in the garage and pulled the mount from the shelf that it lived on and placed it on the plate that was always in the car. As the two pieces snapped together, there was a loud clap of thunder. The sudden sound scared Hannah so much that she wet her diaper. Emily came out the door dragging the suitcase, carrying the laptop bags and trying to usher the younger two girls behind her. The lights on the car flashed and the trunk opened a few inches.
"Put your bags in the trunk," Emily said, hefting the suitcase into the trunk. "Han, take my laptop and put it on the table." Hannah went and grabbed the laptop and placed it on the mount and booted it back up. After she connected it to the internet she examined the radar. Lexie and Olivia hopped in the back seat and Hannah hopped in the front seat and spun the laptop to be more in the middle.
"I can't drive with it there," Emily said. "Your father has better multitasking abilities than I do..." Hannah turned the laptop back toward herself. "Seat belts, everyone." Pushing the button to open the garage door, she put the car in gear and pulled out. The sky was dark grey, like it was during a normal thunderstorm, but this storm was not going to be like anything that anyone in the car had experienced.