Altus, OK was our initial target. As I merged onto I-44 W from Hwy. 9 with Dan D., Jana H., Jeff S., and Howie B., we saw a disorganized storm roiling over Chickasha, OK. Thinking little of it, we blew on past, targeting the a much better-looking storm down the line near Snyder, OK, and later, yet another storm west of Altus. As we approached Altus on U.S. Hwy. 62, our phones began beeping with robotexts from OU: “Emergency: Tornado approaching. Seek immediate shelter indoors.” Pulling up the radar, we saw that the storm we had blown off earlier had developed a healthy hook echo as it approached Blanchard, and tornado reports were popping up across Norman from credible Spotter Network witnesses.
Daylight quickly faded, and we headed back to Norman just ahead of an MCS. I had forgotten to affix my new Pikepass sticker to my windshield, and the resulting 30-second delays while we aggregated quarters at each toll booth enabled the MCS to catch up, engulfing our car in blinding rain and dime-sized hail. Once back in Norman, we found large sections of town dark and surrounded by blinking Saf-T-Flares. The earlier tornado initially touched down near I-35 and Lindsey, then scraped northeast across downtown Norman, splitting trees, tossing sheet metal and demolishing a warehouse on Porter St. near the hospital. It was eventually rated EF-1 by the NWS.