Oklahoma Severe Weather Discussion - July & August 2011

[Thunder]

Not all of Oklahoma is miserably hot - Boise City in the panhandle has a temp of 79 degrees! #okwx #wishiwasthere
by ounwcm via twitter 2:19 PM

Anyone ready to move? :-O

[venture]

Scattered strong and severe storms popping up across Central Oklahoma now. Should keep us from breaking the 113 all time record.

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
309 PM CDT WED AUG 3 2011

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORMAN HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
CENTRAL CADDO COUNTY IN SOUTHWEST OKLAHOMA...

* UNTIL 415 PM CDT

* AT 309 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES EAST OF CARNEGIE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

HAZARDS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE...
WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH...
FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE ALBERT...ALFALFA...CARNEGIE...
EAKLY...FORT COBB RESERVOIR AND FORT COBB.

[Roadhawg]

Venture, can you tell us if there are any technology available...maybe in testing...that can somehow change local weather?

air conditioners

[venture]

This stuff needs to come east a bit.

SEVERE WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
401 PM CDT WED AUG 3 2011

OKC017-032145-
/O.CON.KOUN.SV.W.0455.000000T0000Z-110803T2145Z/
CANADIAN OK-
401 PM CDT WED AUG 3 2011

...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 445 PM CDT
FOR NORTHWESTERN CANADIAN COUNTY...

AT 401 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR DETECTED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM NEAR CALUMET...MOVING NORTH AT 10 MPH.

HAZARDS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE...
HAIL UP TO THE SIZE OF QUARTERS...
WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH...
FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE CALUMET AND CONCHO.

THIS INCLUDES INTERSTATE 40 BETWEEN MILE MARKERS 107 AND 120.

[venture]

Bulletin - immediate broadcast requested
severe thunderstorm warning
national weather service norman ok
425 pm cdt wed aug 3 2011

the national weather service in norman has issued a

* severe thunderstorm warning for...
Southeastern canadian county in central oklahoma...
Northwestern cleveland county in central oklahoma...
Southwestern oklahoma county in central oklahoma...

* until 515 pm cdt

* at 425 pm cdt...national weather service radar indicated a severe
thunderstorm over southern oklahoma city...3 miles south of will
rogers airport...moving northeast at 15 mph.

Hazards in the warning include...
Wind gusts to 60 mph...

* locations in the warning include bethany...del city...forest
park...mustang...southern oklahoma city...spencer...valley brook...
Warr acres and yukon.

[adaniel]

Raining hard here in Midtown with quite a bit of wind. The way people are acting at my office you would swear they've never seen water falling from the sky before.

[venture]

Not a drop here in Norman...there is always tomorrow I guess. LOL

[Thunder]

I think we should all take this time to thank and bless Venture for all he have given us today. We will take any amount and be thankful for it.

[dmoor82]

Yea the winds were pretty strong and unexpected,but atleast we got some rain.LOL,even I stared out my apartment window in Amazement....Ohhhhhhh rain!

[Thunder]

Yea the winds were pretty strong and unexpected,but atleast we got some rain.LOL,even I stared out my apartment window in Amazement....Ohhhhhhh rain!

I went to the extreme. I stood out there and shouted as loud as I could... "I LOVE YOU VENTURE!!!" ... Not sure if he could hear me or not. :-)

[betts]

I took an umbrella and stood out in it until it quit. It felt really good to be outside and not feel miserable.

[dmoor82]

The Weather God's said NO to OKC setting an All-Time high record temp Today!

[Thunder]

The Weather God's said NO to OKC setting an All-Time high record temp Today!

But we still did broke the date's temp. lol

[Roadhawg]

Got some good rain, lots of wind and a good drop in the temps *YEA* and it's all because I washed my jeep at noon

[OSUMom]

I loved the rain, but when it is over 100 degrees little balls of ice should not fall from the sky. It's like teasing. "Look it is sooo much cooler up here...."

[venture]

The Weather God's said NO to OKC setting an All-Time high record temp Today!

It was going to be tough to bust through to 113 today with the increased moisture in the air.

Either way, today we did set a record for warmest maximum temp - 109, and warmest minimum temperature - 81.

We are now over 5 inches of rain below the average for the year...of course one downpour could catch us up, but that really wouldn't do any good.

[Bostonfan]

What are the chances for tomorrow?

[PennyQuilts]

Only 5 inches low? I would have thought in my neighborhood it would be closer to 20. Nearly every storm has split and missed us. We got 0.04 inches and I was so grateful.

[BG918]

There is a chance every day for the next several days. Isolated storms in the afternoon all depending on outflow boundaries and the frontal position. The heat will still be intense unless you are under a storm. This is a welcome sight!

[venture]

Only 5 inches low? I would have thought in my neighborhood it would be closer to 20. Nearly every storm has split and missed us. We got 0.04 inches and I was so grateful.

Well that is based on the observations at Will Rogers...of course that is one little dot in the entire area. Most areas are significantly below that. The wonderful mesonet is a gift to really measure how far behind we are...

http://climate.ok.gov/index.php/drou...ought_wildfire

Based on the last 365 days, not just this calendar year...Central OK is over 17 inches below normal or the driest period ever since 1921. Year to date, we are over 11 inches below normal or the 2nd driest ever on record since 1921. The driest period in the calendar year, shocker here (sarcasm), is 1936.

So we have a LOT of room to go. At this point we need a few things to happen...

- Prolonged period of soaking light rain. No heavy downpours because that really doesn't do anything for the drought. It fills the rivers and lakes and that's about it.
- A wet winter. Now I'm not saying yucky rain or ice storms in 30 degrees...but if we can get a winter with 30 inches of snow again, that would be amazing. However, we need the snow to have a much higher moisture content than what we had last winter and we need it to really stick around. If we can get a good snow pack going, with a slow thaw in the Spring, everyone's lawn will look amazing.
- A break from the heat...it is seriously drying us out fast and fast. We need to get away from it to retain what moisture we have. The map below shows the moisture content in the ground...2 feet under the surface. I went with this graphic since it is obviously drier above it.

How to read this... 0.0 is completely bone dry. No moisture at all. 1.0 is saturated completely...so think mud, marsh like, etc...good underground water table. As you notice from the graphic, we are pretty screwed right now. I'm thinking the 0.9 readings are bit out of whack unless the sites are very close to a pond or underground stream.

[Thunder]

According to that map, Oklahoma is basically toast. This probably rivals the conditions on Mars.

[BG918]

Parts of northern OK and southern KS received over 2 inches of rain this evening as activity was much more widespread than forecast. Hoping we get some of that to the south over the next few days as the front stalls. Several days of scattered storms would help keep the heat down and put a dent in the drought.

[Thunder]

http://www.koco.com/video/28760278/detail.html

Those poor souls at White Water Bay.

If anyone is ready for a major cool-down, here is something to look forward to.

[Roadhawg]

According to that map, Oklahoma is basically toast. This probably rivals the conditions on Mars.

Actually the conditions on Mars are the daytime surface temperature is about 80 F during rare summer days, to -200 F at the poles in winter. The AIR temperature, however, rarely gets much above 32 F.

[venture]

Actually the conditions on Mars are the daytime surface temperature is about 80 F during rare summer days, to -200 F at the poles in winter. The AIR temperature, however, rarely gets much above 32 F.

Time to get to terraforming. :-P