Very Violent Situation About to Unfold

First, we'll start with that there is two watches in effect, Tornado Watch #260 is in effect, including Columbia, Joplin, and Springfield, MO and Pittsburg and Chanute, KS.

\A new, PDS Tornado Watch will be issued over much of Oklahoma by 21Z. A PDS Tornado Watch has not been issued for the OKC metro since May 2011.

Additionally, the SPC is considering issuing the first High Risk area of the year momentarily.

Some advice for the area of greatest concern: First, consider postponing outdoor activities after about 4:00 or so if at all possible, and if you can't make sure that there is a nearby shelter. Unfortunately, most towns don't have public shelters, but if the venue you are at has a designated shelter, go there if you fall under a warning. I know that the NCAA Softball World Series is going on in OKC as we speak, and I would hope that ASA Hall of Fame Stadium has a tornado emergency action plan, ready to activate.

Update: The SPC has not opted to go with a high risk, and will stick with the moderate risk for now. I will note though, that they bumped the hail probability in central Oklahoma to 60%, which is as high as it goes, so even if you don't get hit by a tornado, large hail is almost a guarantee. YOU HAVE TO EVEN TAKE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNINGS SERIOUSLY. It doesn't get mentioned enough, but those severe non-tornadic storms can cause the same amount of damage as an EF0 to, in some extreme cases, EF2 type damage. And obviously, if they're forecasting the possibility of softball size hail, you definitely do not want to be outside.

Tornado probability:

Straight Line Wind:

Large Hail:

I'll post some good Twitter pages to follow for info, and then links for live streams in this area.

On Twitter:

Storm Prediction Center (@NWSSPC)
NWS Norman (@NWSNorman)
NWS Wichita (@NWSWichita)
Severe Studios (@SevereStudios)

There are also various chasers you can follow such as Reed Timmer (@ReedTimmerTVN), but because they will be out in the field today, they will likely put out far less information than if they weren't out.

Live Streams for local TV coverage:
KFOR-TV Oklahoma City
KJRH_TV Tulsa
KSN-TV Wichita
KOMU-TV Columbia
KFSM-TV Fort Smith


I'll post coverage for the Joplin and Springfield area TV stations if I can find it.