Oklahoma Severe Weather Discussion - July & August 2011

[Achilleslastand]

It appears storms are headed for the north metro atm.

[Bunty]

Statement as of 8:22 PM CDT on July 24, 2011

Special Statement

... Significant weather advisory...

This significant weather advisory is for Lincoln... Noble and Payne
counties.

At 822 PM CDT... scattered strong thunderstorm were from Stillwater
to near Chandler... moving southeast at 20 mph. Although significant
rainfall will be spotty... wind gust of 40 to 50 mph are likely.

[jn1780]

Its raining here in south Oklahoma City!

[Thunder]

I kept seeing lightning all around, but have not seen a single raindrop from Downtown to MWC.

[OKCMallen]

We got some rain at 50th and Western

[Thunder]

Plenty of rain overnight. Venture been hard at work with his rain dance.

[venture]

Plenty of rain overnight. Venture been hard at work with his rain dance.

Hardly.

Norman had around 0.05" for the entire night. OKC had 0.11" at WRWA and 0.07" at Wiley Post.

If you were lucky and got stuck under a cell that didn't die off right away, it would be bit higher than that. But most areas didn't get anything to talk about. The only good thing so far has been the cloud cover lasting and keeping our temps down.

[venture]

Things are getting bit rowdy to the west side of the Metro area.

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
419 PM CDT MON JUL 25 2011

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORMAN HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 515 PM CDT

* AT 419 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM 3 MILES WEST OF LAKE CHICKASHA...MOVING EAST AT 20
MPH.

HAZARDS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE...
WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH...

* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING INCLUDE AMBER...ANADARKO...GRACEMONT...
LAKE CHICKASHA...POCASSET...TABLER AND VERDEN.

[SkyWestOKC]

Pretty sad that just one severe thunderstorm constitutes the term "rowdy"!

Hopefully some of those cells move in.

[venture]

I know this will really come as a shock to people... Drought index raised to Exceptional for most of the OKC metro area. This is the worst category.

[venture]

Could see some moisture today. Areas most likely to see anything will be along and East of I-35 and in NW OK. Don't expect a lot unless you get stuck under a cell that doesn't want to move.

http://rapidrefresh.noaa.gov/hrrrcon...main=t5&wjet=1

[venture]

Models today look depressing as ever. High pressure will likely remain overhead in the Southern Plains through the middle of August will very low/random chances of a little precip. No change in temps. We now have 13 days to go to break our record of 50 days with temps over 100...it appears that we will tie it on August 12th and break it on August 13th while continuing to tally up days.

Our only real hope was for a tropical system to come into the gulf, but Don was too far south and the next one (soon to be Emily) appears to recurve out to sea if the models are correct.

[venture]

I know it probably doesn't matter...but its the first "severe" advisory of August. LOL This replaces the Heat Advisory we've had in place for a few weeks now.

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
230 AM CDT MON AUG 1 2011

...DANGEROUS HEAT WAVE CONTINUES...

OKZ004>048-050>052-TXZ083>090-012145-
/O.UPG.KOUN.HT.Y.0004.000000T0000Z-110805T0300Z/
/O.NEW.KOUN.EH.W.0001.110801T0730Z-110805T0300Z/
230 AM CDT MON AUG 1 2011

...EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM CDT THURSDAY...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN NORMAN HAS ISSUED AN EXCESSIVE
HEAT WARNING...WHICH IS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM CDT THURSDAY.

* THE ONGOING HEAT WAVE CONTINUES TO POSE THE THREAT OF CAUSING
HEAT RELATED ILLNESSES AND POSSIBLY DEATH. DON`T BECOME A
VICTIM OF THE HEAT.

* HEAT INDEX: REACHING 110 DEGREES IN THE AFTERNOON. THE MORNING
LOWS WILL PROVIDE LITTLE RELIEF AS LOW TEMPERATURES RANGE FROM
THE UPPER 70S TO MID 80S. THE HEAT STRESS WILL BE AMPLIFIED BY
THE PERSISTENT HOT WEATHER.

* IMPACTS: THE RISK OF HEAT RELATED ILLNESS WILL CONTINUE
THROUGH AT LEAST LATE NEXT WEEK. TRY TO REMAIN IN AN AIR
CONDITIONED ENVIRONMENT AND LEARN TO RECOGNIZE THE SIGNS OF
HEAT STRESS. CHECK ON FRIENDS...FAMILY...AND PETS.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

TAKE EXTRA PRECAUTIONS IF YOU WORK OR SPEND TIME OUTSIDE. WHEN
POSSIBLE... RESCHEDULE STRENUOUS ACTIVITIES TO THE EARLY MORNING
OR LATE EVENING HOURS. KNOW THE SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS OF HEAT
EXHAUSTION AND HEAT STROKE. WEAR LIGHTWEIGHT AND LOOSE-FITTING
CLOTHING WHEN POSSIBLE...AND DRINK PLENTY OF WATER.

TO REDUCE RISK DURING OUTDOOR WORK...THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND
HEALTH ADMINISTRATION RECOMMENDS SCHEDULING FREQUENT REST BREAKS
IN SHADED OR AIR CONDITIONED ENVIRONMENTS. ANYONE OVERCOME BY
HEAT SHOULD BE MOVED TO A COOL AND SHADED LOCATION. HEAT STROKE
IS AN EMERGENCY...CALL 9 1 1.

[venture]

So other fun facts...ugh...

July 2011 has become the warmest month for Oklahoma City & Wichita Falls in recorded history. This beats August 1936 (dust bowl & longest 100+ streak), July 1980 (year with most 100+ days), and 1934 (dust bowl).

Through today...

OKC is at 7 consecutive days of 100+. Previous streak of 13 was from June 29 to June 11. August 4-25, 1936 holds the record at 22 days.

We have had 39 days of 100+, 11 shy now of the all time record of 50 set in 1980.

Max temp for the year has been 100, shy of the 113 all time record on August 11, 1936.

Total Precip for the Oct 1 to Sept 30 time frame is 18.76 inches...the driest we had was 15.48" in 1910-11, and the 2nd driest was 17.62" in 1900-01.

Source: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/enhanced.php?map=4

[OKCisOK4me]

Max temp for the year has been 100, shy of the 113 all time record on August 11, 1936.

110?

[Thunder]

I was going to correct him hours ago, but didn't want to embarrass him. lol

[venture]

Oops...yeah meant to type 110. My bad.

[OKCisOK4me]

People don't get embarrassed on the internet, lol. It's all good. I just didn't want some fool from say, Las Vegas, creeping up on the thread and thinking we're a bunch of whinos for 100 being a max high of the summer ;-)

[Thunder]

I don't think people in Las Vegas know exactly what Oklahoma Heat is all about. Las Vegas is in a desert, right? They could have higher temperatures than us and still 'feel' cooler while our temperatures are lower with higher humidity. Bottom line, we are dying here, the same as I am trying to survive. lol

If this year is truly an indication that we are speeding up on the Global Warming, then lets hope it don't get to extreme with millions of deaths. We just have to hold on and ride it out through the upcoming years and hopefully some biggest glaciers break apart disrupting the oceans' currents bringing us a cycle of 'ice age' as in cooler weather, but hopefully not to extreme to make most of the planet uninhabitable with frigid arctic weather.

[BG918]

Weak front will be arriving in northern OK by Thursday creating a chance of widely scattered t-storms, similar to a few of the days last week. Hope and pray that one develops over your house for some temporary relief.

[venture]

So...rain chances...since we know its going to be hot for the decade...

- Weds into Thurs - very slight chance (like 10%) over Northern OK...best chance is NW.
- Chances might linger Friday through the Weekend in spots, depending on outflow boundaries and such. Don't expect much.
- Monday - slight chance of rain over Western OK.
- Thurs the 11th - slight chance Eastern OK
- Friday the 12th - better chance of storms over Northern OK...might spill into Saturday.
- Thurs the 18th - Slight chance statewide...but I wouldn't bet on this one.

So what is the trigger for some of these chances? This weekend after the front passes, if it does, we could see a move to a modified NW flow. The ridge over us would start to move to the west a bit and get us in a better setup to get some upper energy to drop down and help increase rain chances. It is all very questionable right now as these heat domes sometimes require a very vigorous upper system to break them down. Chances are more likely for that to be what is needed, so we may have to wait until our 2nd storm season kicks up in Sept/Oct. Not saying we'll be 100+ through then...but don't expect highs in the 80s for awhile unless you get lucky with a popup storm...or we get a tropical system to come visit.

[OKCisOK4me]

I don't think people in Las Vegas know exactly what Oklahoma Heat is all about. Las Vegas is in a desert, right? They could have higher temperatures than us and still 'feel' cooler while our temperatures are lower with higher humidity. Bottom line, we are dying here, the same as I am trying to survive. lol

If this year is truly an indication that we are speeding up on the Global Warming, then lets hope it don't get to extreme with millions of deaths. We just have to hold on and ride it out through the upcoming years and hopefully some biggest glaciers break apart disrupting the oceans' currents bringing us a cycle of 'ice age' as in cooler weather, but hopefully not to extreme to make most of the planet uninhabitable with frigid arctic weather.

Yeah, let's not "The Day After Tomorrow" it here. I'd like the Devon Tower to still be in place and not plowed over by a southerly moving glacier, lol. ;-)

[Thunder]

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

[venture]

Yeah, let's not "The Day After Tomorrow" it here. I'd like the Devon Tower to still be in place and not plowed over by a southerly moving glacier, lol. ;-)

But we would probably get some really nice lakes and rivers out of the deal then. :-)

[OKCisOK4me]

But we would probably get some really nice lakes and rivers out of the deal then. :-)

As long as it would take, only if my ancestors got to experience them ;-)