3/30/06 :: Current Weather :: N/NE Oklahoma

I just got home from work a few hours ago to see that the SPC has issued a moderate risk for my house area, and after reading over the data, it seems today will likely be quite dramatic. The Norman forecast office (OUN) made mention of 2" hail and isolated tornadoes, while the SPC just issued Tornado Watch #109 stating 3" hail and destructive tornadoes. This is quite interesting being it's nine in the morning. The Tulsa office (TSA) has put a 30% potential for tornadoes across almost their whole coverage area, while the area's further north seems to be at greater risk. I'm going to try to sleep (or at least pretend), but it's hard to when I might have a chance to catch at least a good severe cell before work.

NWS Warning Decision Simulator

Have you ever wanted to know what it feels like to be setting at a NWS office in front of the radar during a severe weather outbreak issuing warnings? Well, this just a sample of that.

The NWS has made a warning decision simulator which allows you to issue warnings and get scored based on things like accuracy and lead time, as well as some others. Currently there is only one available scenario (easy), but they have mentioned that there will be more to come. You are basically given a timed radar screen with updates about every minute, with the ability to switch between base reflectivity and base velocity, and being able to view past radar images. You also have the help of the public who send in reports (not all accurate... just like real life!). Scoring is based on if your warning verifies, and how much lead time you give an area, but each warning also costs points, so place them accurately and cancel them when the warned storm has moved out of the area.

Hopefully they will add more radar tilts down the road with some more interesting/complex scenarios, but for now, this is a good start. Give it a try!

Oklahoma Burn Ban Lifted After 5 Months

On March 20th, the burn ban that has been in effect in Oklahoma has finally been lifted after 5 months of only trace amounts of precipitation. Recent rain (1" - 5") over the weekend covering much of the state has been sufficient to dampen the grounds and give our overworked firefighters a break. Although most of the state is still over a foot short of rain (drought stats), and Tulsa is 18" below normal, we are starting to gain ground.

Recent Rain Totals

3/12/06 :: Far Northeastern Oklahoma

Well this turned out to be a very busy day for March. The SPC finally issued the first high risk day of 2006! My girlfriend, Jennifer, and I weren't able to get out to chase until after dark. However, about 11 a.m., storms with good cape and nice LI's were already firing around the eastern OK/KS border and going tornado warned. Those storms tracked up into Missouri while another line of cells was getting ready to fire around the Tulsa area later in the afternoon. By the time we got out, we chose to chase a cell that was moving south of Tulsa, and then decided to chase a cell that was moving into the Claremore area since it looked like the southern storm was losing steam. We followed the Claremore storm up I-44 toward the Vinita area. Then the southern cell gained power and started moving due east along HWY-412. These cells were all moving around 50mph, which made the option to try to get to the HWY-412 cell not really an option at all. We heard reports of a tornado on the ground near HWY-82 on the cell around HWY-412. Our cell around that time had a wall cloud that we could see for a short time, but it didn't look to be enough to produce a tornado. We chased our cell into Missouri before turning around since it was moving about 55mph and we kept getting right up on it then we would get behind a slow driver or construction. We did get to see our cell's backside lit up by the moon, and with the tower lightning, it was a pretty impressive sight at night. We hung out around Vinita and waited for another cell that was coming up I-44 to reach us, but it wasn't anything worth sticking around for so we headed back to Tulsa. We heard reports that Twin Oaks in southern Delaware county on HWY-412 was hit with a violent tornado, destroying over two-dozen homes and knocking out power.

3/11/06 :: East-Central Oklahoma

Set out in the morning with Justin Teague and Matt Patterson for a 'lazy chase day' getting ready for the show on the 12th. We headed to around east-central Oklahoma to get into position for the approaching storm-developing environment. While we were on our way down there, we learned and interesting fact about Matt Patterson; he almost died last summer while cutting down a tree. Both Justin and myself just got this look on our faces like, "what the hell?!", since none of us had heard about this incident. We just thought Matt was tied up with school and wasn't around, when in fact he was in the hospital with numerous broken bones. One of which was an open fracture to his arm. He was cutting down a rather large tree in Skaitook which it started to fall on him. He tossed his chain-saw one way and tried to toss himself the other way, but the tree landed on the right side of his body breaking bones in his arm, leg, ribs (which punctured a lung), and shoulder-blade. After rescue workers cut the tree off of him and air-lifted him to the hospital, he spent some time recovering. Luckily he didn't die, which if the tree had landed about two-inches to the left he probably would have, because we all would have just thought he hated us and didn't want to talk to us.

Anyway, back to the chase. We pulled off of a dirt road to watch an incoming developing tower to our southwest. While we were parked out in the middle of no where, a car passes and stops, then starts to backup towards up. Justin and Matt just looked and each other and without word, played Rock-Paper-Scissor to see who would talk to them. So from now on, we officially deemed that Rock-Paper-Scissor will be how we determine who talks to the locals when they come up to ask what we're doing... as if the antennas and anemometer aren't enough. So we headed for the cell that developed and when it petered out, we stopped in Muskogee for some Taco Bueno and set back out for the next round. When the next round hit, we followed a few cells that developed nothing more than some wall clouds. We finally broke off the chase just on the north side of HWY-412 by Chimney Lake (which was rather dry) after hitting a bunch of hills, trees, and slow drivers. We headed back to town to get ready for tomorrow which was supposed to be a rather impressive show.