I am in town for the weekend visiting my family in Pilot Point. It’s been 45 years since I was last in a tornado at the age of two, however, I remember it vividly. I kept getting the alerts and then checking Weather Bug last night, which showed the storm had already passed us so I was ignoring them. Suddenly, my mother came running in and said we have 2 mins before it hits and I am questioning that per what WeatherBug was reporting. I checked MyRadar and she was right, it was on our doorstep.

This may be one of the only times as a father, I was scared for our lives and felt as though I was helpless. It’s after midnight, with no where to go and not much I can do. You cant’t see a thing and all I can do is go off of memories from years again. I texted my 16 yo son who had stayed home in Midland and told him I loved him and that we were supposed to have impact by a tornado within minutes. My youngest daughter, 10, was hysterical. We emptied my father’s closest, one of the few interior spaces to hunker down in. I had everyone put on shoes, grab their cell phones and the adults to grab their car keys. I threw a mattress over them and my brother and I went around checking windows to see if we could see it coming before we would head for the closet as well. Dumb idea I know. Winds were insane. At one point a goat was felt so strong that it pushed me through the window and then felt like it was trying to suck it back out of the house. Reports I saw were 110 mph+ winds but I can’t confirm that.

What I remember from the prior tornado was we had initially brutal winds, hail etc, and then a complete pause/silence where it seemed like it was over and then the tornado made its presence known just like a freight train coming through the front door. I kept telling my younger brother this as we were watching and waiting, “if it goes quiet, we are in trouble”. Within minutes, it did, nothing was moving. I told him it’s time to go. We hunkered down, waited, waited, waited, MyRadar was showing a 10 min delay on their tracking map so we didn’t know what was happening. Eventually, the radar map updated and it had cleared. We were safe.

Fortunately we had no significant damage at my parents, minor cosmetic stuff to the house and trees down down. Hearing reports of the wreckage and lives lost on the West side of Ray Robert’s is devastating. Travelers just trying to get out of harms way, so sad to hear. I haven’t ventured out in town here in Pilot Point yet, and can only pray it’s not as bad as what the West side of the lake saw.

It’s a simple reminder to be prepared, have a plan, and make the best out of a terrible situation. I hope no one’s loved ones were affected by this and pray for those lives lost.

I am in town for the weekend visiting my family in Pilot Point. It’s been 45 years since I was last in a tornado at the age of two, however, I remember it vividly. I kept getting the alerts and then checking Weather Bug last night, which showed the storm had already passed us so I was ignoring them. Suddenly, my mother came running in and said we have 2 mins before it hits and I am questioning that per what WeatherBug was reporting. I checked MyRadar and she was right, it was on our doorstep.

This may be one of the only times as a father, I was scared for our lives and felt as though I was helpless. It’s after midnight, with no where to go and not much I can do. You cant’t see a thing and all I can do is go off of memories from years again. I texted my 16 yo son who had stayed home in Midland and told him I loved him and that we were supposed to have impact by a tornado within minutes. My youngest daughter, 10, was hysterical. We emptied my father’s closest, one of the few interior spaces to hunker down in. I had everyone put on shoes, grab their cell phones and the adults to grab their car keys. I threw a mattress over them and my brother and I went around checking windows to see if we could see it coming before we would head for the closet as well. Dumb idea I know. Winds were insane. At one point a gust of wind was felt so strong that it pushed me through the window and then felt like it was trying to suck it back out of the house. Reports I saw were 110 mph+ winds but I can’t confirm that.

What I remember from the prior tornado was we had initially brutal winds, hail etc, and then a complete pause/silence where it seemed like it was over and then the tornado made its presence known just like a freight train coming through the front door. I kept telling my younger brother this as we were watching and waiting, “if it goes quiet, we are in trouble”. Within minutes, it did, nothing was moving. I told him it’s time to go. We hunkered down, waited, waited, waited, MyRadar was showing a 10 min delay on their tracking map so we didn’t know what was happening. Eventually, the radar map updated and it had cleared. We were safe.

Fortunately we had no significant damage at my parents, minor cosmetic stuff to the house and trees down down. Hearing reports of the wreckage and lives lost on the West side of Ray Robert’s is devastating. Travelers just trying to get out of harms way, so sad to hear. I haven’t ventured out in town here in Pilot Point yet, and can only pray it’s not as bad as what the West side of the lake saw.

It’s a simple reminder to be prepared, have a plan, and make the best out of a terrible situation. I hope no one’s loved ones were affected by this and pray for those lives lost.

Anybody heard from Senior?

He said it just missed them and they’re good.

the 2 most accurate weather apps I have found, I monitor both when needed, are

https://www.windy.com/-Weather-radar-radar?radar,33.290,-97.098,9

and the fox 4 wapp on the phone, windy is on pc and phone, I suggest the yrly premium (20.00).

both of these are very accurate and good radar.

https://www.radaromega.com/ is another good one. It is about $10 and can use on the phone. With the higher dollar subscriptions you can add in more radar higher resolution and faster but the basic is pretty good.

I'm right here in Mountain Springs - closer to the Johnson Branch LRR entrance. power was out all night till just couple hours ago...

video of woman in car just on the West side of I35 when it hit the Gas Station on the East side, at that same intersection:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sf1jlmbMyV0

They're very lucky.

You just cost me $120, it looks like a solid purchase though so I appreciate you posting it

You just cost me $120, it looks like a solid purchase though so I appreciate you posting it

grew up in Okieland and Texas/15 yrs. as a kid then off and on later.

no telling how many funnel clouds I have seen, been IN 5 naders that did damage to where we were (nothing like this stuff), dodged naders 6-7 times in the semi and hid in a truck stop in far west Okieland while watching one go overhead and touch down a couple hundred yds. past the flying j on the north side, we were on the south side of 40.

anyone that tries to say this is "climate change" is a total loon, just go look up wichita falls 79 or any of the outbreaks that have happened over the yrs.

sad that folks die with the tech. we have now and the early warnings, I grew up with gary england as our go to weather man. before radar.

I grew up in OKC watching Gary England as well. I've still got a lot of family in OKC and Norman and watch David Payne on line. Their radar is much better than anything I've seen in DFW and with their network of live storm chasers makes for lively updates.