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"Boston Strong": Getting Stronger; Tornado Potential Growing In Oklahoma; Tornado Warning In Oklahoma

Aired May 30, 2013 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, there, and welcome back to our special CNN coverage live in Boston. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Huge tribute concert in the building behind me, this is the TD Garden. In terms of the timeline, it has been just about six weeks since those two bombs detonated at the finish line on Boylston Street of the Boston marathon, and the city, I mean, I was here for three weeks.

Pretty quickly you could tell these folks here were beginning to heal. It's a tough, tough city. And tonight, a star-studded affair to help in that healing and in that recovery process here at the TD Garden in town. If you have seen the line up, if you have not seen the line-up, these are huge names hitting the stage for this benefit concert benefitting the "One Fund," which is set up by Mayor Menino.

I am talking Aerosmith, New Kids On The Block, Carole King, Boston, James Taylor, just to name a few. We're also told there may be some special guests and a couple of comedians, as well, rocking out to the "One Fund" this evening. Now, I want to take you inside the arena where the countdown is on to this fundraising concert.

Moments ago, I was lucky enough to get an inside peek with a look ahead of what the venue looks like. Take a look.

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BALDWIN: Normally, this place sees lots of screaming hockey and basketball fans, but tonight is different. This is so special and exciting because this is the first time we've really gotten this inside look inside the TD Garden. We're walking here on the floor where tonight for the "Boston Strong" benefit show, this floor will be full of seats.

And on that stage, you will see regional favorites, ambassadors of Massachusetts, if you will, musical ambassadors, the likes of James Taylor and Aerosmith, comedians like Dane Cook, the Drop Kick Murphys, for example, and looking over here since this is special in seeing this ahead of the show look, people are beginning with the sound checks.

These are, obviously, the crews making sure the sound is OK. They just rolled it away, but I could tell one other band, this is part of the show why this show kicked off, NKOTB, anyone? New Kids On The Block, all happening tonight. This whole place will be packed 15,000 people. It sold out in 5 minutes and here we are, inside the TD Garden.

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BALDWIN: Let me just give you a little bit of color if you saw my James Taylor interview at the top of the show, before we talked to James we were told before he was walking down the hallway, imagine these bands getting a little cozy behind the scenes here, somebody from the New Kids On The Block was reaching out to James Taylor because they were big fans and wanted to meet them.

And we were talking to the TD Garden people and they were saying, think about it, you have the Bruins and the Celtics and you have visiting teams, that's basically a couple of locker rooms. Picture these 10 bands sharing locker rooms sort of just separated by curtains. That's the situation back stage. No one's getting paid for this.

This is absolutely free and voluntary for the city of Boston, so super special. The concert kicks off at 7:00 p.m. tonight and we'll be live streaming it on cnn.com if you'd like to watch.

Talking weather now, we have severe weather breaking out across parts of the southern plains. Let's go straight to our meteorologist, Chad Myers, who is out there for us. Chad, tell me exactly where you are and what you see.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST (via telephone): I'm in Norman, Oklahoma, which is just south of Moore, which, obviously, was the town that was hit so hard a couple of weeks ago. And we have developing thunderstorms to our southwest and also another one to my northwest up near Piedmont, Oklahoma.

Brooke, I'm very concerned about today. We have storms that are already rotating. It's a little past 1:30 in the afternoon here. It's very hot today, much warmer than it was yesterday. We have single-cell thunderstorms, super cell all by themselves, not in a line, thunderstorms developing along the line to the west heading into Oklahoma City metro area.

If you are in the Oklahoma City metro area, anywhere Guthrie, Piedmont, Oklahoma City, Moore, and even down to Norman, you are in the way of storms that are developing and now beginning to rotate. I have no confirmation anything is on the ground yet, but trust me, Brooke, tornados will touch down today.

Tornados will make damage today and people are in the way. I will keep you advised as much as we can. We're going to be out with professional storm chasers actually bringing a Doppler radar with us to look at these storms on the inside-out, as well. We'll keep you advised.

BALDWIN: I was just, Chad, as you know, in Norman last week because Norman's not too far from Moore, which as you well know was hit by that EF-5 tornado in Oklahoma. OU is where a place where that the president offered up a lot of the dorms for many of the home owners displaced because their homes were levelled. I'm just curious if you've had a chance being out there, these are people -- and we don't know what will happen tonight. These are people who have lost their homes, many of whom don't have storm shelters. I know the sirens went off, gave them about 16 minutes heads up that will presumably happen again, correct?

MYERS: I believe it will. I believe we'll hear sirens. There will be tornado warnings. We spent the night just west of Oklahoma City in the western part of the town. The entire town was sold out. The hotel rooms, nothing in Oklahoma City at all simply because of the concert and because the people still don't have places to live where their houses were knocked down in Moore and they are still not structurally sound.

We talked to these people yesterday and they said we're shell shocked, we don't need more storms. How can there be three more days of this coming? And that's what we have, today, tomorrow, and likely even the end of the weekend. Once this system sets up where there's a big low pressure in the west, a trough of the jet stream dipping down over the rocky mountains and east, the rocky mountains go up and so does the jet stream, up and over into the great lakes.

This is a setup and it takes days for the setup to go away, takes days to happen, but once it's there, day after day after day of severe weather and today, Brooke, is going to be a bad one. You need to have your weather radio on and take every precaution that you can. This is a serious day in Oklahoma City and all of the surrounding counties.

BALDWIN: Chad Myers, you know the area very well, you were a meteorologist in Oklahoma City for a couple of years. We will check back in with you momentarily. Let's hope nothing hits Oklahoma. Chad Myers, we'll be in touch, thank you.

MYERS: Brooke?

BALDWIN: In other news -- yes, go ahead, Chad, quickly, yes.

MYERS: We just have a brand new tornado warning for a tornado northwest of Oklahoma City, northwest of Piedmont heading towards the Guthrie area, and I'm sure the sirens are already going out. Our meteorologists back at the station, at CNN, will keep you advised on that one, as well, as they can see the radar better than I can on the laptop that I have in my car.

BALDWIN: Chad, let me keep you now. If you're saying tornado warning, how much time do people have, what should people in this area of the country be doing right now?

MYERS: Well, we listened to the National Weather Service yesterday say that they were going to be very discreet putting out tornado warnings. They were going to make sure it was a valid storm for a tornado warning and not try to really freak people out, you know, they don't want to over warn at this point in time.

People are already shocked and you don't want to be crying wolf with this. They are going to be very judicious, and I'm telling you, if they put the warning out, they mean it. You're going to get 10 to 15 minutes' notice of the tornado being on the ground if you are in the beginning of the storm.

If you're to the east of the polygon or square, you could be talking about 30 minutes' notice, that's about what they had in Moore, but it's going to be one of those days where a tornado could come down and literally you could get 10 minutes' notice and these could be very large tornados today.

BALDWIN: And I know with the tornado in Moore, it was absolutely huge and in parts was incredibly wide, was on the ground for quite a bit of time. As you know, these tornados, they hit, they move, they hit again, they move. It's absolutely difficult to predict the trajectory of any of these, correct?

MYERS: A little bit, although we do know these are going to be coming in just to the north of due east today, and if you look off to your west and you see a storm coming, if you see gray clouds today, even if you don't get a warning and a storm is coming to you, know that the potential is there.

The potential is there enough that you need to be taking cover with any approaching storm. Only right now because, Brooke, they are not lined up. They are not in a line and in fighting each other. They are all by themselves and those storms that are all by themselves, those are the ones that are the most dangerous.

And I'm reading the warning now out of Norman. I do want you to be taking coverage for Guthrie, Crescent, Cedar Valley, to the northeast of Piedmont, that's the direction of movement. These storms are moving to the northeast at 30 miles per hour. Don't try to outrun this storm.

It's taking across these roads. You can go o 40 miles or 50 miles to the north or to the east, roads in Oklahoma don't go diagonal, they go north, south, east, west. You need to take cover right now if you hear the sirens or if your NOAA weather radio is going off.

BALDWIN: Chad Myers, we're going to check back in with you, do me a favor and stay on the phone with me as you're pointing out tornado warnings in and around the Oklahoma City area. We are getting new pictures. This is tornado chaser pictures and video. We're going to share more of this and talk more with Chad here right after this quick break, breaking news on CNN.

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BALDWIN: Welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin live here in Boston in front of the TD Garden, huge night tonight, a night of healing for a city that was hit so hard by terrorists just about six weeks ago. We're going to get back to that special coverage in a moment and some of these artists who are here to help.

But first, breaking news here as there are now tornado warnings in and around the Oklahoma City area, to be exact, northwest of Oklahoma City. Our meteorologist Chad Myers is in Norman, Oklahoma, chasing some of these storms with some storm chaser teams. Chad, tell me, are you leaving Norman, where are you headed, what more do you know?

MYERS: We are with the chase team out of the University of Oklahoma. We actually are bringing with us, they are, a Doppler radar to look inside the storm to be able to identify where the tornado might be, what storm might be the strongest coming so which one that we want to chase.

The problem is, this is not even so much a chase day. This is a day that I need you to be on your guard in Oklahoma County, Canadian County, Anardarko, across the I-35. Brooke, where you spent so much time, there are storms headed right for the same areas that have been hit so very hard.

Now, the only tornado warning that we have now has moved away from Piedmont up towards Guthrie. Guthrie, Oklahoma, you can see the storm to your west, have a few minutes' notice right now, but you need to take cover. This is a serious rotating storm. Brooke, the tops of the storms are up to about 50,000 feet tall. That's 10 miles high.

So, the severe hail that can come out, the wind that can come out, and, of course, the tornado damage, as well. Sometimes hail and wind can do as much damage to a house, not EF-5 damage, but certainly significant damage to a home and, obviously, to your health, as well. You need to take cover.

These storms mean business today. Wouldn't be here if I didn't think that this could be a significant day here. This could be a day where we have big tornados again on the ground. We're talking EF-3s or greater tornados on the ground possibly running into populated places, so pay attention today.

BALDWIN: So, just so I'm hearing you correctly, Chad, you are saying a possibility of multiple, multiple tornados.

MYERS: I think without a doubt there will be more than one tornado on the ground at the same time in different locations, but that's because the storms have not made a line yet. We call that a squall line. When a squall line of storms, all the little storms all line up in a row, you'll get some wind damage, but when the storms are out by themselves, when they are called super cells, that's when they rotate and that's when they make that EF-3, 4, and 5 possible damage.

And we have that much humidity, moisture, buoyancy, sheer, everything is coming together, all the ingredients are here today, and right now because we have a couple of those storms that are all by themselves, completely by themselves, they are rotating now and they will put down tornados today.

BALDWIN: Chad Myers, don't go too far from that phone. We have to sneak a quick break in.

But before we do, are these pictures on the right-hand side of the screen, the KFOR picks, are those live pictures of those clouds? Yes, those are live pictures here. Once again, Chad Myers saying there could be at least more than one tornado forming very, very ominous looking here. Got to get a break in, breaking news here as we're watching severe storms and the possibility of tornados in Oklahoma.

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BALDWIN: And welcome back. I'm Brooke Baldwin live here in Boston for the "Boston Strong" relief concert tonight at the TD Garden. We have much more coverage, little more from my interview with James Taylor and other artists who will be performing tonight. Packed crowd, 15,000 or so people honoring those in this city, who have survived what happened here six weeks ago. We're going to talk about that in just a moment.

But I want to get back to our breaking news here, severe weather in the plains, specifically Oklahoma. We, of course, remember what happened in Moore, Oklahoma, and several communities around Oklahoma City last week. EF-4, EF-5 tornado, neighborhood after neighborhood absolutely levelled.

And you're looking at live pictures. Let me just walk through this, left-hand side of the screen, both are live, these are storm chaser pictures coming, obviously, from inside of a car as they are chasing this thing. On the right-hand side, aerial pictures, very, very dark clouds in and around the Oklahoma City area thanks to our affiliate KOCO.

Chad Myers, meteorologist Chad Myers, is with the chase team out of OU, University of Oklahoma out of Norman. He is on the phone with me right now. Chad, I think as we talk about this tornado warning for this part of Oklahoma, part outside of Oklahoma City, remind people, if you live in this area, and I know you're telling people to take cover, where do they take cover, and when do they get the heads up? When do the sirens scream?

MYERS: You know what? Everybody should already have a plan in place. The day the storm hits is a little bit too late, but let's say you don't, you just moved here or you're at a conference, whatever it is, you do need to listen to the authorities that you're with, the conference centers, the hotels, all know where the strongest part of their buildings are.

If you're in your own home, you want to be inside the home as close to the middle of the home as possible, getting as many walls between you and the outside as possible. Of course, the outside wall, there's glass there, windows, stay away from that wall, into a bedroom, maybe into that bedroom's closet.

You also want to make sure there's nothing heavy above your head. You don't want to be putting bowling balls above you as the home possibly starts to get compromised by the tornado. We do know that right now the sirens are going off, there's a large hook echo, which means it looks just like the storm that moved through Moore.

I do not believe we have a big tornado on the ground yet. I'm watching some of the pictures streaming from our affiliates, and so far all I'm seeing is rain. The storms will be visible for awhile. There's a lot of humidity in the air. We will see the tornados on the ground. Later today, later tonight, the tornados will be wrapped in so much rain that will be falling. If it's coming your way, you hear your siren, if you know your neighbor has a strong place, if they use, you know, $5,000, whatever it might cost, to build that safe house inside, knock on the door if you know it's coming to your house and say can we come in for 30 minutes just to be safe?

Now I think you could see from the damage in Moore, what the potential is in a city. For so many years it was said there's a bubble, there's a bubble over the city. It will never get hit. That, certainly, isn't true.

BALDWIN: We know it isn't true. You know that, as well. You're a meteorologist in Oklahoma City, I know, for a number of years. Chad Myers, stay with me. I want to stay on these live pictures, as well, guys, as I bring in Samantha Moore, our CNN meteorologist in the weather center.

Samantha, give us the bigger picture. We're looking at these pictures and I don't specifically know where these clouds are that we're looking at, but as we talk about tornado warnings, how huge of an area in Oklahoma are we talking?

SAMANTHA MOORE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, the watch area right now really encompasses about half of the state here, so we're talking about north eastern Oklahoma, down towards interstate 44 here, so this whole stretch. And you can see these watches extend all the way across parts of Missouri, in through Illinois, and even parts of Arkansas here.

So this is the broad area with these watches now extending, as well, up to Wisconsin. It is a huge area for -- which will affect millions of people. Let's go ahead here, go in closer and take a look at some of these warnings that Chad was talking about, as well.

Of course, this is the radar out of Oklahoma City. And you can see we do have this cell that shows an incredible amount of rotation moving towards Guthrie, to the northeast at around 25 miles per hour. So you do need to take cover in this area, as Chad was talking about, get those helmets out and shoes on the kids.

Also, this cell, as well, you can see that hook echo here. This is also moving to the northeast around 25 miles per hour. This is the one that's expected to move into the Moore area by about 3:15. So very -- we're going to keep our eye on this one intently as we head towards 3:00 as it will be approaching Moore.

You do need to take cover in this area, as well. At least have your plan ready to go, where you will go to stay safe, you and the kids and everyone you know. Chad was right, knock on the neighbor's door if that's what you need to do if they have a shelter.

BALDWIN: Yes. Chilling, Sam, to hear you say it's heading towards Moore, as we know, Moore smacked last week, levelled, many of the neighborhoods by that EF-5. Samantha Moore, thank you so much. We're going to pull away. We have to sneak a quick break in. We have Chad Myers in Oklahoma watching these storms. Tornado warnings in Oklahoma, again, we'll be right back.

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