Sunday night after the OU/Texas game, Oklahoma decided to welcome us back to Norman with some wild weather. After a rush to beat the storms to campus and a mad scramble to claim a spot in the parking garage, a bona fide tornado warning was issued for Cleveland County. There is a little rain, a lot of lightning, and a few hundred freshmen gathered in the black box theater on the first floor of Cross A.
Before the warning had officially been issued, I stepped outside to take a look at the sky, as any good Oklahoman would. Lucy D’Braunstin stood beside me admiring the purple bolts flashing across the sky.
Lucy is from Orange County in southern California, so this is her first tornado experience. I asked her what she knows about tornados.
“Just that they are really windy, they involve lightning, and you typically have to shelter.”
Somewhat correct. I really love the way tornadoes work – the perfect combination of warm and cold fronts, humidity, and good old Oklahoma wind. But Lucy knows all she needs for surviving Oklahoma weather. When people started sending messages about taking shelter in the GroupMe, Lucy followed the crowd and did not have to worry.
“I feel fine now just cause everyone else seems fine.”
She certainly does not look nervous.
“I think I feel fine cause I can’t see it,” she admitted. We are back inside the black box, and more students are starting to trickle in.
I asked Lucy about her thoughts on storm chasing, and she told me she has no interest in that.
“I think it’s cool and brave of [people], but that would not be me. I think lightning is pretty, but it’s the thunder…it scares me.”
While we were talking, everyone’s phone alarms started going off. We were officially in a warning. Lucy looked around, then we just looked at each other and laughed. The whole situation is surprisingly calm.
Next Lucy told me how tornado warnings compare to the severe weather she is used to in California. Earthquakes are the main threat from her home town.
“I enjoy that there are [tornado] warnings. There’s sort of warnings for earthquakes,” she explains, but it is not the same. I pulled up the radar for her to look at. That’s one thing I like about tornadoes; you can see where they are going and when they are gone.
The threat of tornadoes died down before the 8:30 end time of the official warning. All that remained was a severe thunderstorm warning and a flood watch. My car is safe in the parking garage, so I am not worried. Lucy and I both hung out in the black box a little longer after the warning ended. People are slowly trickling out, but mostly happy to sit around with blankets and laptops with Netflix and NFL football showing on the room’s two tvs.
I did not expect to be taking shelter at college until the spring, but Oklahoma likes to keep us on our toes. Here’s to an exciting end to an even more exciting weekend. Wherever you are, stay safe and stay dry! And maybe go rewatch a few more highlights from OU’s comeback victory over the Texas longhorns.