Customer Reviews

Storm Warning: The Story of a Killer Tornado

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Oklahoma City is one of those places that was ripe for disaster. Sitting smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley, it was only waiting for the big one to hit and cause a lot of trouble. On May 3, 1999, that disaster happened. A tornado that traveled from Southwestern Oklahoma ended up crossing a major section of the OK City suburbs, leaving more than 40 dead and many more injured. Nancy Mathis reviews this American tragedy and helps to see how technology has made survival of even a major storm like this easier. This is a great account of how tornadoes in today's world are watched, tracked, and how the warnings are sent out. This book is a great read to all who have an interest in weather, science, and human interaction. I read it all in one sitting.

All disaster books in general follow a pretty set pattern: Immediately hook the reader, then spend the next 2/3 of the book on the events leading to the disaster (snore), finally conveying the actual disaster itself. This book is a large leap above so many others in that Mathis is able to provide a stunning narrative of the disaster, interspersed with a truly memorable cast of characters that straddle the periphery. Tied together the book is a pleasure. Never plodding, filled with fact, human interest, and technical information presented in a most readable manner that sweeps the reader along. From the basic misconception that a tornado funnel goes from the air to the ground, to a parade of quirky and obsessed weather professionals - Mr. Tornado, Roger Eedwards, Gary England, to name just a few - Storm Warning delivers a compelling read and a first rate job of research & reportage!

Just finished reading Nancy Mathis's Storm Warning in one sitting. Having grown up in Oklahoma and spent more than two decades as an airline pilot, I thought I knew a thing or two about hook echos, doppler radar and microbursts. Mathis nails these down--making the science interesting and easy to understand. But she also tells the story of this terrible twister in a way that puts the reader right in the middle of the action. And that is scary, especially if you happen to be reading Storm Warning during a blustery spring storm, as I did. I could picture the eerie green sky as the storm chasers sped across the plains and smell the dank culvert where victims perished. The blow-by-blow description of the destruction of a two story house in 20-25 seconds is as vivid and chilling as anything I've ever read. Do yourself a favor though: read it on a quiet sunny day with calm winds.

I just finished reading Storm Warning. What an enthralling mix of well-researched and presented technical information and history and heart-wrenching stories. I had no idea how devastating or powerful a tornado could be.

Having read a few books about tornadoes over the past few years, I was skeptical about this title. I've read a lot of the May 3, 1999 event, both in the mainstream media and and technical research.

So I was quite surprised when I found this to be an excellent book. The author did her research into the subject, and talked to the right people, which manifests into an excellent, almost you-are-there account of the most expensive tornado in the country's history.

It blends the right amount of eyewitness accounts between the survivors and the scientists, but doesn't get too technical, too preachy, or to bland. A perfect mis.

I grew up in the southwest, where tornadoes frequently tossed life around like laundry spin cycles. Mathis has wonderfully illuminated the magnificence of these natural agitators and those who experience them first hand. But more than that, she has provided a fascinating history and appreciation of the people, equipment and communications that shaped our current day awareness and understanding of - and reaction to - these powerful beasts. Well written and researched, this is a book that's easy to get caught up in from start to finish.

I purchased this book thinking that it was a chronicle of what happened on that day in May, 1999. I got some of that along with a plethora of forecasting history and yet another mini-biography of Ted Fujita. Don't get me wrong, Dr. Fujita was one of the most important scientists of the twentieth century, but this was all stuff I've already read in several other books. Additionally, it would have been nice to see some before/after photos of the areas or people affected. I did not feel an attachment to the people who suffered so greatly on that fateful day.

Ok, so who knew that a book about tornado forcasting could make me tearful at its ending. It is a tribute to the author's ability to thread the stories of the lives so affected by these events through, in and around the science that makes this book read like wonderful fiction while carrying the burden of informing like nonfiction. There are two layers of the human element here, the victims of the killer storms, some of whom heal and many who don't, but the other story is of the men who pursued the science of forcasting, both for the love of the science itself, and for the advancement of the common good. The people I came to know in this book will be with me for a long time. This is, simply stated, a great read.

I live in Norman OK and have lived in OK for quite a few years. OK is a different kind of place when it comes to severe weather. I fall asleep better to the rumble of thunder and flash of lightning; indeed I think I have not only become accustomed to thunderstorms, I actually enjoy them! As for tornados, I have always been amazed and curious rather than afraid. That was all before May 3rd 1999. This book conveys correctly just how horrible yet amazing A9 (as the F5 was named by storm chasers)was. It really was a rarity in the tornado world. As twister came closer to our city, none of us did anything; we were simply awestruck at the sheer size of it and for how long it was on the ground. It wasn't until later when the weather choppers swung around and broadcast the aftermath were we really shocked. We thought that nobody in the path survived what amounted to an atomic bomb in terms of total destruction! But people did survive and I think the writer is correct in reporting that if A9 happened anywhere else rather than OK, hundreds of people would have perished. This book stands out in a journalistic sense and on a personal level, bringing the reader to ground zero and outlining the history behind the study of severe weather. This book was an eye-opening account for me, a guy who actually saw the event! 5 stars!

I bought this book hoping for a light read on a historic tornado, but was filled with regret. I am now in my senior year on meteorology and there are errors that an observant English major with a wikipedia connection could see. The author also makes the situations over dramatic. Yes this was a dramatic event, but personally knowing some of the people mentioned in the book I feel they are poorly and inaccurately captured in the writing. Below are some notes:

Pg 116 - towards the bottom she has mixed the coloring for doppler velocities. Red is away from the radar and green is towards. Also an example of the over-drama by calling News 9 "a wartime submarine with cramped quarters and all hands at battle stations, with Gary as commander."

Pg 124 - a radar does not display rain and wind necessarily, this is a vast oversimplification of what radar does and how it does it. It is measuring reflected power from the sky, this includes droplets, dust, insects, birds, etc. The velocity is based on the doppler effect. Revision of this section would be nice.

Pg 134 - author states force is velocity squared. This is incorrect. Strictly it is mass time acceleration, but here we are interested in the force exerted on an object by the wind, so assuming velocity at the boundary is zero etc we can get close to this idea, but there should be a constant out in front. This might be a useful simplification so the lay person can see how much more powerful a 300mph wind is compared to a 100mph wind, but the correct wording would be 'force is proportional to velocity squared' not is equal to.

These were the 'biggies' but there were a few others also and the editor did not find many errors with 'an' and 'a'. Overall the idea of the book is nice, mix tornado history (from Miller and Fawbush to Bluestein) with the story of a terrible tornado. I wish this book had fulfilled that mission. Seek books such as 'Tornado Alley' by Bluestein and others for real, accurate, and unbiased/dramatized information.