Word: chickasha
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...supercell thunderstorms that spawn whirlwinds. By 4:45 they had issued their first tornado warning. Starting at 5:00 and continuing for 20 hours, a legion of twisters--more than 40, coming so fast that the exact count is uncertain--scourged the region. One, a behemoth originating near Chickasha, may be historic. Not for the width of its funnel--although at nearly a mile across, that was extraordinary--but a mobile Doppler radar from the University of Oklahoma clocked its peak wind speed at 318 m.p.h., which would make it the strongest wind recorded on Earth...
Even more ominous for those on the ground, however, was its demonic persistence. The average tornado logs mere minutes on the ground. The Chickasha twister settled in like a plow, ripping an 80-mile gash northeast through a corner of Oklahoma City and several suburbs over an endless four hours. Thousands of Oklahomans heard the shriek of the warning sirens gradually overwhelmed by a sound variously described as like a locomotive, or a screaming jet engine, or nothing on Earth. The worst fear, said Moore resident Delee MacAlister, "is the terror of knowing you are going to die. We prayed...