Oklahoma Weather Discussion - July 2013

[Uncle Slayton]

OK, I'll fall on the stupid question sword and ask "what is a retrograde low?"

[SoonerDave]

Usually, a low rides the upper air currents west to east across the country. The jet may steer a system north or south on that path, but west to east is just the "normal" and normally inevitable path it takes. A "retrograde low" is just the meteorology term for a low that goes in reverse - one that goes against the meteorological grain by migrating east to west when a high forms to the west, and a low pressure center forms to its southeast. Think of it as something getting stuck between two gears and just getting pushed in their common direction of rotation.

Air around the high moves clockwise, air around the low moves counterclockwise. The low forms and rides the common airflow, rolling to the west without the normal upper-air currents to push it east.

Venture will probably read this and choke a bit for its oversimplification, but that's at least how I think of it.

[venture]

NAM rainfall forecast through Wednesday morning.

[venture]

Here is how we are shaping up so far...really good rain fall. Main band is slowly pushing west, with the cells themselves moving due south. Additional isolated storms and heavier rain popping up in Eastern OK.

[Easy180]

We need Altus to nab an inch or two from this system

[kevinpate]

We need Altus to nab an inch or two from this system

or five or six.

[Anonymous.]

I wish this band would stall out right here over C OK.

[Praedura]

Pardon this slightly OT interruption, but I thought I'd share a couple of awesome weather pics...

This was taken from Pikes Peak yesterday:



Funnel in the mountains!


This was taken a few days ago near Tampa:



Whoa!

[Praedura]

Ok, getting back to topic... I'm LOVING the cooler temps today. Edmond is getting absolutely soaked. We must have had well over an inch of rain already.

[venture]

Severe Storm with some pretty decent winds on radar coming in from the east. Some other pulse/marginal severe storms elsewhere.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
OKC081-125-133-150115-
/O.NEW.KOUN.SV.W.0574.130715T0033Z-130715T0115Z/

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
733 PM CDT SUN JUL 14 2013

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORMAN HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
EXTREME SOUTHERN LINCOLN COUNTY IN CENTRAL OKLAHOMA...
NORTHERN POTTAWATOMIE COUNTY IN CENTRAL OKLAHOMA...
NORTHERN SEMINOLE COUNTY IN EAST CENTRAL OKLAHOMA...

* UNTIL 815 PM CDT

* AT 727 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS DETECTED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM LOCATED NEAR LITTLE...MOVING SOUTHWEST AT 20
MPH. ANOTHER SEVERE STORM WAS LOCATED 3 MILES SOUTHWEST OF PRAGUE...
MOVING WEST AT 20 MPH.

HAZARDS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE...
QUARTER SIZE HAIL...
DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH...

* LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
SHAWNEE...TECUMSEH...EARLSBORO...JOHNSON...BROOKSV ILLE...LITTLE AND
AYDELOTTE.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

MOVE INSIDE A STURDY BUILDING UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.

[Anonymous.]

Wrap around working back into C OK this morning.

Models had a really rough time getting this system right, other than saying it would be here.

Huge dryslot over all of N TX and SW OK, this is where models put the heaviest rain. The system has sunk much further south than originally anticipated, but it has also unraveled itself pretty extensively.


So far on rain totals, NC OK is winning with widespread 2-2.5 inches of rain, most of OKC is around 1.5-1.75 inches. We should get to the 2" mark with this morning's convection and pending on redevelopment in SE OK throughout the day it should go up even more.


The system will eventually kind of jog north and northwest over the next 24 hours, pending on getting caught in the dryslot will determine where exactly the rain tracks with the storm. But just keep an eye on radar trends as this is your best bet.

[venture]

Probably the bad news with this system is all over Western OK, with the worst drought conditions, have only go up to a third of an inch of rain (a few spots higher). The moisture just simply can't make it that far west. A good soaking rain for Central OK though that will fight back the drought conditions that started to work their way back in.

[Anonymous.]

W OK should get some precip tonight into tomorrow. As the low lifts northwest it should at least put some decent rains through SW OK, possibly pushing them up into NW OK pending on how it pans out.


But yes, it would be great for them to get a nice soaking like us here in C OK.

[Bunty]

It's interesting to speculate about HAARP to explain unusual weather. However, the fact that the jet stream is will up in Canada helps explain how the upper retrograde low is moving in the direction it is. Fortunately, little in the way of severe weather is associated with it in Oklahoma. Just mainly rainy weather coming down without overly abundant, flash flooding amounts, so far, for a delightful diversion away from the middle of summer.

Jesse Ventura tried to visit the HAARP site in Alaska, but was turned away. So something may be going on we're not supposed to know about. Maybe not even related to weather.

Meteorologist Convinced HAARP-like Projects Are Responsible For Abnormal Weather Pattern Shift Over USA ? TheWeatherSpace.com

[adaniel]

HAARP theories are a favorite for kooks with access to radars and way too much time on their hands.

A retrograde low is not common but not unheard of. Unfortunately for the tin foil hat crowd, this fact is lost on them.

[SoonerDave]

HAARP theories are a favorite for kooks with access to radars and way too much time on their hands.

A retrograde low is not common but not unheard of. Unfortunately for the tin foil hat crowd, this fact is lost on them.

I made the mistake of visiting that site. That's about 90 seconds of my life I won't get back.

Probably wouldn't have to go far to find links to faked moonlanding sites.

[Bunty]

Maybe solar activity, or lack of it, helps explain extreme weather and possibly a coming mini-ice age in this short video.

[venture]

Extreme weather? Retrograding lows is nothing new and happens pretty often during stale patterns.

As far as mini ice ages and such...if it means lower summer cooling bills and snow in the winter, bring it on. :-P

[Anonymous.]

Dry slot filling back in over SC OK. This will likely tighten up and should dump a lot of rain into SW OK tonight. If the low tracks further north it could bring some of that back into the metro and push it towards WC OK which would be great for them.

[venture]

Looking at the direction of the precip, at least the south Metro should see rain start back up in a couple hours.

[SoonerDave]

Looking at the direction of the precip, at least the south Metro should see rain start back up in a couple hours.

How far into the South Metro, venture?

[Anonymous.]

Right now the precip is filling in and still tracking due north with the low moving NNW over SW OK.

This may drag the precip shield over the metro. I would say Norman is easily going to see more rain from this band. North of that is a tough call, because if the low starts moving more west instead of NW, it will pull a dry slot over OKC. But right now it looks like most of OKC will be in the rain again in about 2 hours. Probabilities going from highest SW OKC to lowest NE OKC.

[bandnerd]

I would be happy to share the rain with SW-W Oklahoma. Have at it.

[venture]

As Anon pointed out the low is out to the west and we have a few areas of precip.

1) Over NW OK some isolated heavier showers out there, nothing really widespread to help the drought yet. Movement is mostly West.

2) Back from the Southern Metro through South Central OK is moving mostly due north still. It stretches from around Araphao down to Lawton over to near I-35 up to Norman. East of there is lightens up a lot. Heaviest is near Lawton. Movement will start to bend to the WNW and NW as it nears I-40.

3) Behind that area is another batch near and north of Denton that is moving north. This area is increasing in intensity still and should move into the areas currently on the eastern side of the Area #2 and east towards Durant and Ada.

4) Thin line of showers from Newkirk to Tulsa to McAlester to Hugo. Some heavy rain here but it is pretty thin in coverage. This is wrapping around so its the typical north bending to the NW motion with the rain.

5) Area of storms in far SE OK and NE TX. Some reports of some pretty gusty winds with them. These are moving almost do NW.

[Anonymous.]

Pretty decent fill occurring over most of SC and SE OK. Looks like along I-35 through OKC is wettest heading into this evening.

Norman is just over 3 inches of rain. Most of OKC is at or approaching 2.5 inches at this time.