Storm chasers rolled out across central and southern Oklahoma on Saturday night as a line of severe thunderstorms marched through the region, pounding communities with large hail, damaging wind gusts and a series of tornado warnings. Radar and chase video showed storms firing off frequent lightning and rapidly growing hail, while local crews reported widespread power outages across the Oklahoma City metro and surrounding towns. KOCO 5’s live coverage followed the storms from the open plains into more populated areas, giving viewers a close, sometimes unnervingly intimate look at the night’s most dangerous cells.
As reported by First Alert Ride-Along coverage, the station’s storm-chase streams featured field crews working hand in hand with meteorologists in Storm Command and Sky 5, while chasers Amanda Benton, Jason Hill and Shane Helton zeroed in on the strongest parts of the line. KOCO’s coverage noted that the team was tracking rotation and watching hail rapidly intensify even when the main threats early on were big hailstones and wind gusts in the 60 to 70 mph range.
Watches, Warnings and Impacts
The National Weather Service issued multiple tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings for counties across central Oklahoma as the squall line pushed east. Forecasters also posted flash flood warnings where storms repeatedly moved over the same saturated areas. The official warning texts and lists of affected counties are available from the National Weather Service…