Winter Weather Discussion - Jan/Feb 2011

[SoonerDave]

nm

[KFORMIKE]

Have time at 10:27PM, sure.....I'm not on again until 10:29PM. Besides, at 10:27PM, my day is hopefully almost done.

[ou48A]

Nope, no troller. It was me. Many might be surprised at what we can do just off camera....Esp. during 7 hours of SVR WX coverage....but having a nuff time to pee? Well, now that's when I need Jim G. to talk for a while! (and he can!)

Mike how does your voice not go horse when you’re on for hours at a time?
Do you ever feel like pulling up a chair while doing extended coverage?

[KFORMIKE]

Don't know....Imagine it will before long....On May 10th I was trying to eat french fries and cover (lingering) severe weather at exactly the same time and aspirated one of them. Sucked it right down.....Ha! Emily took over for 5 minutes so I could try to cough it back up....fortunately it did, but could sure feel the track it took in my right lung. My wife is a nurse, and she said it could have killed me. Joy.

[ou48A]

My biggest concern about a new snow storm is that we already so much snow in the bar ditches and in other places that it’s not going to take a very large amount of wind driven snow to make it worse for the roads than the most recent blizzard. it will make the snow even deeper on the roads

[michael]

true, nowhere to push the new snow to, that space is already occupied.

[SoonerDave]

true, nowhere to push the new snow to, that space is already occupied.

What's really bad are the parking lots where the snow has been plowed to the corners of the driveways, blocking the view of oncoming traffic for exiting vehicles. That's how they plowed the lot at my office, and with an eight-foot-high pile of semi-gray snow right in my line of sight, pulling onto the main road is going to be tricky pending some (significant) melting. Another round and its going to get really interesting...

[ou48A]

My experiences with blizzards while living on the high plains of western Kansas generally makes what we have in the OKC area look like child’s play. It was far more life threating. (Over the eves of your house.)

At least we don’t have tumble weeds packing the fences and acting like a snow fence. I hated winter out there.

[ou48A]

Don't know....Imagine it will before long....On May 10th I was trying to eat french fries and cover (lingering) severe weather at exactly the same time and aspirated one of them. Sucked it right down.....Ha! Emily took over for 5 minutes so I could try to cough it back up....fortunately it did, but could sure feel the track it took in my right lung. My wife is a nurse, and she said it could have killed me. Joy.

Your wife is correct. I hope you are very well insured.
You might get hit by one of your trains

[michael]

tell me how are the roads downtown?? ill be headed in tomorrow early afternoon. also anyone know how i-35 from stillwater to the city is?

[ou48A]

true, nowhere to push the new snow to, that space is already occupied.

The lack of space is not necessarily the biggest problem.

When you have old snow plowed high beside a road and then with enough new wind driven snow the new drift tends to be roughly the same depth or just a little higher than the old pile beside the road.
I have seen some 6 to 7 foot piles of snow beside some of our roads.

[adaniel]

tell me how are the roads downtown?? ill be headed in tomorrow early afternoon. also anyone know how i-35 from stillwater to the city is?

I live just north of downtown and for the most part roads are in very good condition. Most snow is trucked out of here which is nice.

I-35 (from what I've heard) is not so much, especially between Guthrie and Edmond. They were having a ton of wrecks tonight from people wiping out on black ice. If you are leaving in the afternoon hopefully it will be above freezing, but if not drive carefully.

[Thunder]

Look at KOCO for example, how all the reporters, employees at the station, and weather people have time to post on the LiveWire in between camera times. It can be done. I have seen them talking on there just minutes, or even seconds, from going live on the air.

Mike, I grew up watching you and really like how you do things, especially when it comes to severe and major storms. You have that style that induce fear in people and with that tactic, I believe it really do work to grab their attention. Look at Gary England over at KWTV, he is too boring and puts us to sleep. Some people on here believe you go overboard, but I think you are just fine. There are still a lot of people who ignore weather situations, but at least you are working hard enough to get them to wake up and pay attention.

Only thing that I was sad about is that you just don't seem that social with viewers (or even fans). Lack of posts and updates on the weather blog there...no social interaction such as KOCO's LiveWire. Really wish you, the whole team and the station would start doing that. The guy that started the weather blog there (forgot his name) told me in private email that you wanted nothing to do with it. I dunno why... :-( Now he went back to family in another state. The weather blog is just dead. Oh, Jonathan Condor...something like that.

[ou48A]

With enough wind this could be a crippling

http://forecast.weather.gov/product....n=1&glossary=1
THE NEXT SYSTEM DUE IN AROUND TUE-WED HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE
MORE TROUBLESOME. ARCTIC HIGH IS POISED OVER NW CANADA TO DELIVER
ANOTHER SHOT OF UNSEASONABLY COLD AIR TO THE REGION BEGINNING TUE.
MODELS NOW IN BETTER AGREEMENT ON TIMING OF NEXT UPPER TROUGH.
PRECIP MAY START MON NIGHT N... BUT MORE LIKELY TO START TUE IN
MOST AREAS BEFORE PEAKING TUE NIGHT AND TAPERING OFF WED. THIS ONE
LIKELY TO FEATURE MORE WIND... MORE SNOW... AND COLDER AIR THAN
THE ONE TONIGHT/SUNDAY. THIS COULD BE ANOTHER RELATIVELY HIGH-
IMPACT EVENT. LATEST ECMWF HAS SFC WINDS 15-25KT ALL AREAS AND
6-10 INCHES OF SNOW OVER MUCH OF OK WITH SFC TEMPS INTO THE SINGLE
DIGITS BY WED

[SoonerDave]

Was just out driving around part of SW OKC, and there's (fortunately) quite a bit of melting on the main roads. The kicker, however, is that there are still icy, snow-packed corners at intersections that can sneak up and bite you if you're not careful. I caught myself trying to stop on southbound Santa Fe near 89th, but the car had other ideas....fortunately, was going slow enough such that the car finally stopped on its own, but it was illustrative of one of those situations where you just can't be too careful.

Be safe out there, everyone! Its getting better, but its not clear sailing just yet We're probably going to be dealing with melting and refreezing for some time over the next few days, I guess...

[SkyWestOKC]

Luckily, the sun is out, which does dry things out, melting can occur if the sun is out even if temps are not above freezing. Something to do with the ice on a molecular level getting heated individually by the suns radiation, gaining enough energy to melt and evaporate. I'm no physicist though.

[michael]

well, my sidewalk is melting so im figuring the roads...i-35 will be good in an hour or so for the trip down to okc.

[jn1780]

Were finally above freezing.

[venture]

Couple quick maps for today...

Snowfall forecast for Tonight into Sunday: http://goo.gl/maps/9JH9

We could probably see the system tonight start with rain before going to all snow. So depending on how much liquid we get, will greatly influence snow amounts. More rain, go with the low number. No rain, go with the high number and maybe add 1. Ideally we'll want to start all snow because liquid water on the ice and snow on the roads right now will not make things pleasant at all tonight for driving.

Feb 9-10th Storm: http://goo.gl/maps/qEjg

This one looks to put a decent dumping on the area. Light snow out west and gradually getting heavier towards the east. Still really far out and things will change a billion times between now and then, so you all know the drill.

[Easy180]

Bring it on....Says Kansas

[OKCMallen]

How we looking, Venture???

[venture]

Still looking for a good snow storm mid-week, but models are still moving around a bit.

[Easy180]

Venture..I see mention of just 3-6 inches now from Norman...Can you shed some light on what they are talking about?

[venture]

Special weather statement
national weather service norman ok
323 pm cst sun feb 6 2011

okz004>048-050>052-txz083>090-062330-
harper-woods-alfalfa-grant-kay-ellis-woodward-major-garfield-
noble-roger mills-dewey-custer-blaine-kingfisher-logan-payne-
beckham-wa****a-caddo-canadian-oklahoma-lincoln-grady-mcclain-
cleveland-pottawatomie-seminole-hughes-harmon-greer-kiowa-jackson-
tillman-comanche-stephens-garvin-murray-pontotoc-coal-cotton-
jefferson-carter-johnston-atoka-love-marshall-bryan-hardeman-
foard-wilbarger-wichita-knox-baylor-archer-clay-
including the cities of...buffalo...alva...cherokee...medford...
Ponca city...arnett...woodward...fairview...enid...perry ...
Cheyenne...taloga...weatherford...clinton...watong a...
Kingfisher...guthrie...stillwater...elk city...sayre...cordell...
Anadarko...yukon...el reno...mustang...oklahoma city...chandler...
Chickasha...purcell...norman...moore...shawnee...s eminole...
Holdenville...hollis...mangum...hobart...altus...f rederick...
Lawton...duncan...pauls valley...sulphur...ada...coalgate...
Walters...waurika...ardmore...tishomingo...atoka.. .marietta...
Madill...durant...quanah...chillicothe...crowell.. .vernon...
Wichita falls...munday...knox city...seymour...archer city...
Holliday...lakeside city...henrietta
323 pm cst sun feb 6 2011

...winter storm possible tuesday night and wednesday...

Another round of snow...wind...and bitter cold will affect all of
oklahoma and western north texas at the middle of this week. An
arctic cold front and upper level trough will slide through from
northwest to southeast. Snow and blowing snow will likely begin in
northwest oklahoma by tuesday afternoon...reaching western north
texas and central oklahoma tuesday night...and reaching southeast
oklahoma wednesday.

This storm should easily produce snow accumulation of at least 3-5
inches over a broad region...especially north of the red river. If
the storm moves slower or goes through any intensification...locally
higher snow amounts could occur...especially in central and northern
oklahoma. Regardless of exact snow amounts...wind speeds of 15 to 30
mph and higher gusts...will create blowing and drifting snow...which
will lower visibility and make it difficult for city and state crews
to keep roads clear. Very low wind chills...between zero and 15
below zero...will also develop during the storm.

The upper level trough was coming onshore in the pacific
northwest sunday afternoon...and this will allow forecasters to
better gauge its strength and track tonight. It is likely that a
winter storm watch will be posted for a large part of the norman
office forecast area by monday morning...and that the period of
hazardous winter weather will be from tuesday evening through
wednesday.

Leading up to the storm...the weather will be dry and partly sunny
on monday...allowing people to run errands and make preparations.
Conditions may deteriorate quickly...however...on tuesday...
Especially in northern and western oklahoma...where freezing drizzle
and light snow may begin during the day. People and organizations
may need to start preparing now for the possibility of a winter
storm that would create very hazardous outdoor conditions beginning
tuesday evening.

[YO MUDA]

Well I for one love the snow. It was pretty and profitable for me. You see Im a gardner at the University of Oklahoma. I just got home. Been at work since 11 PM Monday. Schools been close since Tues and I have alot of overtime. Today the light rain was nice. I worked 10 hours in my little Kubota, with snow blade on front, pushing the 2 feet of snow the big snow plows piled up behind the students cars. The kids were greatful. On the subject of TV Weathermen and women, Mike, Emily and David are awesome. Bring on more next week. Im saving for a new motorcycle. LOL.