chickasha storm. this is going to be a big deal for people in oklahoma and oklahoma city and moore and possibly even norman if this travels just off to the east rather than to the northeast. that would take it towards the norman area, more than the moore area. we ll keep watching the direction because it s still developing right now, brooke. norman, not too far from moore, not at all, just mere minutes away. that is where so many of those folks who lost their homes have been living in the dorms, because that s the home of the university of oklahoma and o.u. has been generous enough to put roofs over these peoples heads. chad, again, as we ve been looking at these live pictures, we have seen helicopters flying for now near oklahoma city. let me take it back, super simple question as we re looking at these ominous clouds, how do tornados form? wow.
almost a square box hanging down. it s round, but you get it from afar, it just looks like a part that lowers to the ground. somewhere out of that is where the tornado would form. right now, the weather service still does not have a tornado warning on that chickasha storm. 10,000, 15,000 feet high, but because no one lives up there, they are not warning people because of that. they do not believe the tornado is touching or reaching for the ground just yet. that s what s called the low-level circulation. when that low-level circulation tightens up or becomes a spin, that s when the warning will go out. we re going to watch it all by itself, there s nothing to fight it. i still do believe it s going to get stronger before it gets weaker. also watching the storm up near guthrie, the hook echo, the couplet, did miss guthrie and is moving across i-35. so far, so good on both of these storms. tornado warning on the guthrie storm, severe warning on the
side of the metro. back to you. chad, if this current tornado moves towards oklahoma city, that s a major, major urban area, much bigger than joplin, missouri, for example. folks have to start preparing right now. could be within the next few hours. is that right? it is. and oklahoma city proper, all the way from guthrie to edmund and down to norman kind of stretches out in a north-south fashion. not so much east and west, but north and south along i-35. and so as the tornado comes up he here, it s certain to hit on the ground. it s certain to hit some, either moore, norman, oklahoma city, or maybe even down towards midwest city and then across. this could be right into downtown for that matter. as it moves to the north and northeast right along the turner turnpike, right along the turnpike itself here. and there s another storm heading into guthrie. that s the big storm that i m very worried about. is that the storm? is that truly? that is live. this is the chickasha storm?
relations. are the tensions of recent days any worse? any better? i m wolf blitzer and you re in the situation room. first, breaking news this hour. a large tornado has been spotted on the ground in oklahoma and storm-ravaged missouri is being hit by severe weather and possible in the coming hours, searchers in joplin have been taking advantage of the break in the bad weather for a few hours now. 17 people have been pulled alive from the rubble as of last night. but the death toll is far greater. up to 118 right now and that makes this the deadliest single tornado on record in the united states since the weather service began keeping records 60 years ago. almost 500 people have been killed by tornadoes in this country so far this year, including one in that storm and a security camera gives another look at the power of the twisters and how much damage they can do literally in an instant. now more on the twister reported on the ground in oklahoma just minutes ago. the danger