Weather discussion

Possible severe weather today, 5-1-08

stormspotter1 — Thu, 01 May 2008 16:06:46 GMT

Well, everyone be on your toes. it's looking like Tulsa will see some severe weather tonight! The main questions regarding storms firing off the dryline is the moisture and the cap strength. With dewpoint at 60f at 10:30am, I don't see dews being a problem unless they mix out in the afternoon. Then we have to worry about the cap, but with a little mid-level cooling, maybe a couple of storms can fire. If they fire off the dryline which should be at about I-35 this afternoon, they have a decent chance of producing all modes of severe weather, including tornadoes. More than likely, storms will also develop southward along the cold front/dryline late tonight and keep us all awake. These storms also will have significant severe weather potential. Time will tell. Regardless, everyone keep an eye on the sky....and also stay tuned to 2News. Dan and the whole crew will be there and be keeping us all safe! Thanks.

Jeff

And then there were Two....

GeorgeFlickinger — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 18:03:59 GMT

Hey Storm Spotter1....George Flickinger here. I thought it might help our "new and improved" web site if we get a few more folks to post, so I'll jump in!

I'll start a few weather threads on the forum....GF

Ice Storm

ioncann0ns — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 20:42:13 GMT

Well, I got internet service again, luckly I didn't lose power though. I'm going to post some pictures of downed trees and such on here, but the main thing is I wanted to start a forum on the recent weather.

Power Lines . . .

Willieboy — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 14:29:51 GMT

According to the Mayor and local news, the recent ice storm will cause two hundred million dollars in damages.

This could have been prevented if we insisted that all power lines feeding into and through the city of Tulsa be buried underground, instead of up on poles where all the falling trees can knock out the power.

Many other cities have all of their power lines buried, why can't Tulsa?

Why should we all be taxed to have Public Service and/or AEP send out crews to trim trees?

Just bury the power lines and let each home owner trim their own trees.

Also, the Tulsa Cable lines and telephone lines should also be buried along with the power lines.

If you agree with this then call the mayor action line and give them your opinion.

We do not need another disaster like this one.

Severe weather potential 10/17/07 NE Oklahoma.

stormspotter1 — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:52:33 GMT

Well, it looks as though Tulsa may be under the gun as far as severe weather goes tomorrow, according to the computer models(and our awesome team of top-notch meterologists). Just as a precaution, everyone should review things to do in case we have severe weather in our area. Here is a link to the National Weather Service's severe weather info page:

http://www.weather.gov/om/severeweather/index.shtml

Be safe & stay tuned to KJRH for updates!

Jeff

Predictions: What do you think Spring 2008 will be like?

tornadochaser — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 19:16:30 GMT

I thought it would be cool to see what others are thinking in regards to storms.

I personally feel we're overdue for another significant event, and think Spring 2008 may be an active year.

This is just a very vague personal guess...I haven't been looking into the science yet...but I am curious what others think about this.

Kristi

Storm chase summary from October 17, 2007....long read!

stormspotter1 — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 03:17:29 GMT

STORM CHASE SUMMARY FOR JEFF & TJ SMITH

OCTOBER 17, 2007

MILES DRIVEN=300

TIME IN VEHICLE=APPROX. 10 HOURS

TORNADOES SEEN=0

SIGNIGICANT SEVERE WEATHER SEEN=HIGH WIND (60-80MPH), HAIL (PENNY TO NICKEL SIZE), FLOODING (CLAREMORE), SEVERAL POWER LINE FLASHES (OWASSO AREA)

DAMAGE OBSERVED=TREES DOWN, 3 SEMI TRUCKS BLOWN OFF HWY 69 SOUTH OF CHOUTEAU (AT LEAST 1 INJURED),

SUMMARY:

T.J. and Jeff Smith began our journey in Claremore around 2:30pm. We decided to head towards Inola to intercept an elevated squall line that was in Tulsa producing severe wind gusts at the time. We arrived at the Doppler radar site just west of Inola and observed 50-60mph wind gusts. We then decided to head west to intercept a broken line of supercells firing off the dry line in central Oklahoma. We raced through Tulsa, where the skies cleared & I observed an interesting OFB that curved around Tulsa, from the northeast to just west of downtown curving off to the southeast probably around Broken Arrow. I suppose it was this boundary that possibly could have enhanced the storm that later brought down the tent at Oktoberfest.

We headed west on 412, we decided to go towards Pawnee. Quickly realizing that the storm was really cruising, we headed north on Hwy 99 towards Hominy. We drove 2 miles north of Hominy and observed 60mph gusts, power lines swaying, and a beautiful gust front. Realizing this storm had virtually zero potential of dropping a tornado, we headed east on Hwy 20 towards Skiatook. This was the storm that went tornado warned in Washington CountyL….

We arrived in Skiatook (finally had internet again) and took a quick look at radar. We drove north to Bartlesville & watched the storm awhile & decided it was too linear in nature & there were new sups just southwest of Tulsa in the juice. South we go, towards Tulsa. We made a quick decision to scoot towards Owasso on 116^th St North because the storm we had an eye on was in Tulsa at the time & we wanted to get ahead of it to intercept. As we roll through Owasso, we got into the core of the strengthening storm. We observed multiple power flashes in Owasso (apparently due to very strong winds-not a tornado).

At about 56^th St North, we saw cars diving to the shoulder & we knew what that meant--hail! We pulled off for a moment, being pounded by pennies & nickels driven by 60mph gusts, but then decided to continue south to 46^th St North and go east towards Verdigris. That way we could get out in front of the storm. We drove through torrential rains, water flowing across the roadway causing us to hydroplane just a bit, and very high winds. I highly suggest not core-punching, especially after dark, but I thought that my home town of Verdigris might be in danger and wanted to get there just in case….

The storm raced off to the NE, and we saw another sup coming up out of Okmulgee County. We decided to go to Pryor and wait for that one after shooting a bit of video of flooded streets in Claremore. Man, were these babies flying! We arrived in Pryor just behind the storm and started hearing damage reports south of Pryor. We drove south towards Chouteau listening to damage reports come in over the ham radio. When we arrived in Chouteau it was pitch black-not a light on anywhere. We had experienced winds around 60-70 mph between Pryor and Chouteau so we weren’t surprised to hear reports of semi trucks blown off of highway 69 south if Chouteau. We drove south on 69 and saw the three trucks that were blown off the highway, two of them on were their side, apparently injuring at least one driver. This area had to have experienced 80-90 mph straight line winds over a swath of about 5 miles, judging from the trucks blown over and several large trees that were blocking part of the highway. This area was approximately 7-10 miles north of Wagoner. At this time, we met up with my brother Dave, who was heading home from Wagoner. He reported 60-70mph winds in Wagoner and very heavy rain.

Well this was the end of our chase. All in all, I would call it a successful chase and here’s why; today could have been a day that would be remembered like May 3, 1999, or April 24,1993, or an April 1974 Super Outbreak in terms of strong and long-lived tornadoes but it wasn’t. I know there was significant damage, and folks were injured, but it could have been much worse. Why it wasn’t as bad as forecasters had thought, I do not know, I suppose this day will be analyzed by many, but my thoughts are that God was looking out for us.

Thank you

Jeff Smith

KJRH storm spotter

Stormrider1970@sbcglobal.net

Storm Stories

ioncann0ns — Sat, 11 Aug 2007 04:32:20 GMT

Well I guess I'll start off a story thread.

The story I wanted to share is a couple of years ago I was out playing baseball (currently 15) and these scary looking clouds just drifted right over the playing fields. I little thunder here, and there. The head umpire said just keep playing, and this is all taking place at the old baseball fields near the river. Well the fields were full and there were 5-8 fields there, and as said it was getting a bit shakey; people wanting to leave and all. Suddenly the tornado sirens went off and everyone sped towards their cars and traffic stacked up so fast that noone but the people near the entrance got out. Luckly noone there was hurt, and I don't remember if anywhere else anyone was. Just shows you to play it safe don't risk it too much.

(Emphisis on "too much", you shouldn't just hide inside every second of your life either.)

storm chase account from March 12-2006...

stormspotter1 — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:49:12 GMT

I remember my son and I starting out on a chase March 12, 2006. It was a Sunday afternoon & I had my gear ready "just in case". I was outside helping my wife plant flowers and I just felt "that feeling" I get when a big severe weather event is coming......

I went inside about1:00pm to check data when I see a high risk hatched area on SPC's website. I think to myself, I gotta go now!! So, we fill up, call & check in with Dan, and go west towards the Drumright area. we sat & watched several "turkey towers" go up & down before dark & decide to head back into Tulsa in order to stay ahead of the advancing dryline. We got into a little pea-sized hail in SW Tulsa and saw on radar a storm that was looking real good heading towards Claremore. We race through Tulsa (at the speed limit) and get to Claremore only to be outran by the storm....time approx. 8:00pm. We saw another storm getting it's act together in south Tulsa county & decide to try to intercept it in Pryor. We get to Pryor & storm has taken the classic "right turn" often associated with a rotating storm so we head south, towards Chouteau. These storms were moving about 50-60 MPH. After being outran by the storm, we almost headed home but my gut told me to go east on Hwy 412. The storm was heading almost due east so we tucked in behind it and saw a giant hail core. I called this in to the station while hearing over the ham radio that there was a tornado causing damage in Rose, Ok (to my east-southeast)....I decide to slow down as we drove across the hail-covered turnpike around Locust Grove. we saw several cars headed INTO this tornadic storm at night---do not ever do this!! It was about 5 miles west of the Rose exit that the beast revealed itself during a lightning flash---I asked my son, "did you just see what I saw??" He said yes dad, there's a tornado up there. We stopped and watched for a few moments and flash, again in the shadow of a lightning strike, I saw it again....I called in to the station and reported that tornado on the ground directly to my east. We soon halted as the tornado brought down the huge overhead transmission power lines across the turnpike. we waited about 90 minutes before the road was opened while "yahoo" chasers were panicking stranded motorists telling them there was another tornado headed this way!! I tried my best to calm them down and to tell the "yahoos" to stop scaring folks as I was in constant contact with Dan and there was not any dangerous weather coming.....

Well, to make a long story longer, we teamed up with a reporter & drove into Colcord and filmed some of the damage--that's another story, though. We returned to the station to download video about 4:am......made for a very tired fellow.....Hats off to the KJRH team for keeping these folks safe during a dangerous nighttime F-3 tornado!!

Do You Miss the Old Days???

tornadochaser — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 12:55:46 GMT

I know, I'm a weather nerd. Everyone tells me that. That's why I chase for KJRH...my love of weather and the love of public service.

But, am I the only one who misses waking up at 6:30 a.m. to a Tornado Watch, and watching the weather ALL day on TV (before the internet came to be), and going out and observing the atmosphere and the clouds and making guesses as to where the storms were going to fire?

Do you miss the KJRH Weather indicator with that big old 2 under the state of Oklahoma, and a drawn box for the Watch/Warning area?

Aaaahhhhh...the good old days.

Not knocking new technology at all...don't get me wrong...and the other day, we actually DID get to wake up to a Tornado Watch issued (talk about nostalgia...haha), but I watch some old recorded shows sometimes and it's neat to see how far we HAVE gone in terms of weather forecasting.

But, for a chaser, it does kind of take some of the "fun" out of the forecasting with the computers telling you when and where. But, I guess that's why I chase, and will continue to chase even after I go to OU for Meteorology...I LOVE observing the weather first hand.

So, am I a nerd, or who's with me? ;)

Kristi

local tornadoes of June 8, 1974

GeorgeFlickinger — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 17:13:46 GMT

June 8, 1974 remains as one of the worst severe weather outbreaks in our area, especially for Tulsa and Creek counties. An F4 rated tornado produced fatal results in Drumright, and several strong tornadoes occurred within the city limits of Tulsa.

In Tulsa, there was one tornado death in the Brookside area with significant damage also occuring in South Tulsa near ORU, and also near 71st and Memorial.

Shortly after the Tulsa World published a photo of a tornado crossing the Arkansas River. The picture was taken from a downtown building as the University Towers apartments are visible in the foreground.

One my long term projects is to write a paper regarding this event. Do any of you have pictures of the tornadoes or damage from the storms?

Also you can share with us your stories and memories of the event.

Thanks, George Flickinger

Lunar eclipse

stormspotter1 — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 20:34:06 GMT

For those who may be interested, here is a link concerning the lunar eclipse that will occur tonight: http://sunearth.gsfc.nasa.gov/eclipse/lunar.html

We should have clear skies tonight & that will make for an awesome show!!

Enjoy everyone!

Jeff

Pray for the flood victims...

stormspotter1 — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 22:19:28 GMT

The flood of 2007 will go down in the record books. I cannot imagine looking at my home and seeing only the rooftop protruding above the water and the keys in my pocket had nothing left to unlock. The good thing is I have not heard of any loss of life in these recent floods in Oklahoma & Kansas. As I write this, there is a small town in SE Kansas running out of water! I ask you to pray for the victims, and if you can reach out to them in any way, please do so. Here is an idea, if you agree with me, reply to this message and let the flood victims know that we are thinking of them & praying for them.

God bless

Jeff

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

stormspotter1 — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 02:36:00 GMT

Rain, rain, go away,

Come again another day.

My kids and I wanna go out and play!

Or....

It's raining it's pouring,

the old man is snoring!!

Hey Dan, I know the Lord listens to you.....have you been praying for rain again??? Then stop please

C'mon, weather nuts!! No replies in the weather forums? Am I alone? Helloooo?? Can I get a witness??

(look for clues to my real identity on this forum).....

1957 Plymouth Belvedere...

stormspotter1 — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 20:54:44 GMT

Well, I guess putting this in th eweather section will work. If not, Russel, can you move it?

I guess the vault that houses the Belvedere was not weatherproof. As the workers uncovered the ol' beauty this morning, workers and bystanders were shocked to find the vault full of water. I don't think that the protective plastic could have saved her in any way, but I guess we'll see soon. How about some folks posting memories of when she was buried????? I am way too young, but I am a history "nut" so help me out!

Storms Thursday

stormspotter1 — Thu, 24 May 2007 11:49:48 GMT

Hey everyone watch out for heavy rain today! Remember, don't drive over a flooded roadway!! It's not worth your life!!

Be sure to watch KJRH for updates throughout the day!

Memorial Day Weekend and rain.....

stormspotter1 — Tue, 22 May 2007 04:11:09 GMT

Well, it is May, and Memorial Day is right around the corner. First of all, let's pause a moment and think of a veteran that we might know, call him or her up tomorrow and thank them & tell them how proud of them you are.....you may even be a veteran yourself and if that's the case, I salute you! THANK YOU!!

Oh yeah, this is a weather forum..... With the Memorial Day holiday there is always a chance of rain. I believe that all the computer models down to the software that Dan uses has a built-in chance of rain on Memorial Day....lol

Keep a wary eye to the sky...it is still severe weather season and while the Tulsa area hasn't seen much in the way of severe weather, we have several chances this week and if you're reading this I don't need to tell you to be safe when severe weather rolls around and also to watch Dan and the crew--they will keep you safe & sound!

Memorial Day comes and goes year after year, and the rains come and go, but memories live on with us forever. --------a friend---