AMS honors OKC meteorologists, public safety officials for May 1999

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- The American Meteorological Society has bestowed a special award upon Oklahoma meteorologists, public safety officials and others for their work during the deadly May 3, 1999, tornado outbreak.

The National Weather Service Forecast Office in Norman, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety, the Southwest Independent Repeater Association, the Oklahoma Climatological Survey and Oklahoma City television stations, KFOR, KOCO and KWTV, were presented the award Wednesday at the society's 81st annual meeting in Albuquerque, N.M.

The organizations were honored "for outstanding and well-coordinated actions before, during and after the historic (May 3), 1999 tornado outbreak in central Oklahoma, which prevented untold deaths and minimized the impact of the devastating storms,"

the society said in a news release.

Forty-four people were killed and thousands of homes and structures were either damaged or destroyed when tornadoes, one with winds clocked at more than 300 mph, ripped through southwestern and central Oklahoma May 3, 1999.