Does All Severe Weather Come Through Vici, Oklahoma?
Since spring's severe weather season is going to come early this year in Oklahoma, I was reminded of the tiny NWOK town that seems to constantly find itself at the birth of big weather in the Sooner State.
Welcome to Vici, Oklahoma. (pronounced Vye-Sigh)
Depending on where you grew up in Oklahoma, odds are you've heard the legendary Gary England talk about Vici about a million times.
Vici is located out in the middle of nowhere, but it seems to be ground zero for more than its fair share of severe weather in Northwest and Northcentral Oklahoma.
That's not to say it gets more tornadoes than anywhere else, but when the weather channels start talking about developing storms, they have a tendency to do so near Vici. Even this last hurrah of winter and early spring snow popped up around the tiny little town.
I can't tell you how many times I've heard Gary England say "Val's out near Vici, let's get him on the Getner!" to talk about whatever mother nature had in store for Oklahoma that day, but it seems the relationship to Vici goes deeper than just the habits of thunderstorms. The town even renamed a street after him... Gary England Avenue.
If you're curious, Vici doesn't get a whole lot of severe weather, but it's one of those unforgettable references after you've heard it called out for the millionth time. Gary England grew up in a town just down the road from Vici, so when he had to pinpoint weather, Vici seemed to be the go-to out in Western Oklahoma.
While Vici doesn't seem to get more severe weather than any other Oklahoma town, it turns out it's just in a weird location. Growing up in Ponca City, if Gary England said "Vici," we knew we were in for a long night in the same way storms that go through Vernon, Texas tend to come up to Lawton.
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