Book Review: Storm Warning: The Story of a Killer Tornado

I just finished reading “Storm Warning: The Story of a Killer Tornado,” by Nancy Mathis. The book is about the May 3, 1999 tornado outbreak that included the Oklahoma City F5. Mathis is a journalist from Oklahoma that has spent time as a White House Correspondent.

Mathis does a superb job weaving a lot of information about tornadoes and the history of tornado forecasting around the story of the May 3rd outbreak. She includes a mini-autobiography of Dr. Theodore Fujita, a vivid account of the Woodward, Oklahoma tornado from 1947 and a great deal of background on Gary England and the competition between television stations in the OKC market over severe weather coverage. She tells the familiar stories of the travails of John Park Finley and the luck of the first tornado forecast by Fawbush and Miller.

She does a good job describing the Storm Prediction Center and the NWS in Norman. She does a great job profiling Val Castor, who is a storm chaser for Channel 9 (England’s station.) As the tornadoes roar across Bridge Creek and into the Oklahoma City Metro, Mathis tells the story of horror and devastation with gripping intensity. You will find yourself spellbound, turning page after page. The heartbreaking story of Kathleen and Levi Walton comes to life as they huddle under an overpass on I-44. Kathleen, the mother of Levi, was tragically sucked to her death in an object lesson about why underpasses do not provide safe haven from tornado winds.

Mathis presents the chaos of the tornado’s aftermath well, drawing you into the disaster as it unfolds. She gives courageous stories of heroic Oklahomans reaching out to help neighbors in need.

The book is a thorough account of the outbreak interspersed with excellently written threads about the science of tornado forecasting. I recommend it heartily to any interested in weather and tornadoes.

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