I remember back in 1982 when the family discovered a weatherman named Gary Shore on Channel 2. Gary was the type of forecaster who stated the facts and when he said to take cover he meant take cover.
I remember that Sunday morning in April 1984 when Gary with Doppler radar warned Mannford to take cover as the tornado was bearing down on the town. His actions saved a lot of lifes that day. I next remember the October 1986 floods as Gary stated the night before that the Corps would have to open all the gates of Keystone dam in order to relieve all the flood waters that had came down from Kansas during the week. I think Gary was on all weekend giving updates as the corps kept raising and raising the output of the damn.
I think Garys best moment was that April day in 1991 as he went out in the field and filmed that record tornado and we watched as the wind tried to blow away his glasses. After Gary had finished that project he was on his way back to Tulsa after Preston had been hit by the tornado that eventually hit Skiatook and then proceeded to Oolagah where it proceeded to twist the power lines down to the grownd like tinker toys and toss all the Oolagah buses around like toys.
I got involved with Gary when in 1989 he asked for people living in local towns to call in the temperatures for the 6 and 10 weathercast and any precipitation. I did this for 6 years until Gary left Channel 2 and mesonet and more precise equipment was put in the field.
I believe Gary taught all of us about weather and the hows and whys as to why it did what it di at the time. I do remember Gary was the first in the Tulsa market to get Dopler radar to help better predict and pinpoint when tornados would happen and strike.
God Bless You Gary Shore
David Ikenberry, Collinsville