OPINION: FROM THE EDITOR | Good severe weather coverage is invaluable
We'd like to tip our cap today to the professional journalists who keep us safe during severe weather.
You're reading The Mercury, which is essentially now one and the same as Manhattan Broadcasting, so yeah, we're kind of bragging about ourselves. But radio is the front line when it comes to warnings for tornadoes, hail and other dangerous severe weather. The voices of the journalists at News Radio KMAN and our other stations go out to the whole region, providing minute-by-minute updates and keeping people informed while they huddle in their basements.
KMAN sports director Mitch Fortner was on the air broadcasting the show The Game on Thursday evening with Mercury sports editor Tim Everson, while production director Steven Shaffur monitored the weather. They were having a fun chat about ranking rock songs (hey, it's the offseason) when the predicted storm system turned into a tornado warning.
They seamlessly switched into serious news mode, giving detailed meteorology reports. Fortner calmly described the affected locations and the recommendations of the National Weather Service so people could stay safe.
Manhattan got off pretty easy in that storm - mostly rain and lightning.
However, the southern end of the same system caused a lot of damage in Enid, Oklahoma, which reported that a tornado had touched down Thursday night and destroyed at least 40 homes and other buildings as well as some equipment at nearby Vance Air Force Base. Meanwhile, the town of Marion, just over and hour south and west of here, had baseball- and mug-sized hail. Mug-sized!
We're fortunate to have missed some of that weather. And fortunate, too, to know that we have solid local weather coverage when we need it. That work lets listeners know where a storm is, when to take shelter and when it's safe to leave.
It's storm season, folks. Keep your radios handy and your basements ready. We'll be here.
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published April 24, 2026 at 5:24 PM.