Posted on 03/20/2010 9:57:50 AM PDT by Star Traveler
By Staff Reports
Published: 3/20/2010 8:22 AM
Last Modified: 3/20/2010 11:17 AM
The National Weather Service is predicting that the Tulsa area will be hit with 5 to 10 inches of snow over the weekend.
Meteoroligist David Jankowski said Saturday morning's mix of sleet and rain will turn to snow by early afternoon.
"We're kind of in the transition stage," Jankowski said.
Tulsa should see 2 to 4 inches of snow Saturday and another 2 to 3 inches overnight, Jankowski said.
Another 1 to 3 inches is possible on Sunday before the precipitation stops Sunday afternoon.
"Monday, this should be pushing out of the area and we can see mostly sunny skies with temperatures rebounding into the mid-50's," Jankowski said.
The temperature at Tulsa International Airport at 8 a.m. was 31 degrees with Ponca City and Stillwater already showing snow.
"So the snow is not too far," Jankowski said.
Meanwhile, Tulsa Police say they have responded to at least four weather-related crashes Saturday morning.
"Those are either injury or possible injury" accidents," said Capt. Randy Hughes. "What I'm hearing is that the overpasses are slushy and slick."
Darren Stefanek, the manager of street maintenance in the Public Works Department, said the city has eight trucks on the streets with crews concentrating on bridges.
"I plan on having all 54 trucks in by four o'clock," Stefanek said. "However, if conditions deteriorate I'll have them in earlier."
The Oklahoma Department of Transportation is reporting one-quarter to one-half inch of snow in western Oklahoma and mist and sleet in the central part of the state.
ODOT crews are treating bridges, which are the first road surfaces to freeze, first.
As of 10:15 a.m. the Tulsa International Airport Web site was showing two flights delayed and one canceled. That's out of 25 flights scheduled to depart the airport between 10 a.m. and 5:45 p.m.
In advance of the winter storm, state officials declared a state of emergency late Friday for all 77 of Oklahoma's counties.
The declaration provides a formal mechanism for local governments to seek reimbursement for recovery costs through the state's disaster public assistance program should conditions warrant. The executive order is also the first step toward seeking federal aid should it be necessary.
The storm could make driving hazardous and hinder fans trying to get to men's and women's NCAA tournament games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in Oklahoma City and Norman, officials said.
"We certainly hate that it may affect attendance," said Laura Kriegel, director of marketing and communications for the Oklahoma City Convention & Visitors Bureau. "We hope it passes by and we have some great basketball."
Kriegel said hotels in downtown Oklahoma City are sold out for the men's tournament, but she encouraged ticketholders who plan to drive to the Ford Center arena for the college basketball games to take road conditions into account.
"We want people to use their best judgment. Be mindful of the weather," she said.
The storm was expected to be the third major winter storm to hit the state in the past three months, starting with a Christmas Eve blizzard that dropped more than 14 inches of snow in some areas and stranded holiday travelers on snow-packed highways.
Forecasters said 8 to 10 inches of snow was likely Saturday from north central Oklahoma to southeast of the Oklahoma City area and that a blizzard warning could be issued as the storm intensifies.
"You just can't trust Mother Nature in Oklahoma," said Sukie Allison, spokeswoman for the state Department of Transportation.
Allison said more than 100 state road crews readied snow plows and other snow-removal equipment in advance of the storm and that the state had enough sand and salt to keep snow-covered roadways open.
Rick Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Norman, said early spring snowstorms are not unprecedented in Oklahoma. A storm in late March 2009 dropped record snowfall in parts of the state and was the second-most-severe winter storm of the year, behind the Christmas Eve blizzard.
I need to start stuffing some .40 cases soon. My loading
manuals are so old they don't list it, so I downloaded some
data. Love my XD, but the old Smith 19 was easier to load
for.
Darn those new fangled cartridges.
Looks like you may need them now and later. Not a bad Idea, especially if you have to be out a lot. Snow Shoes would work also.
I took me 3 hours to go to the store, could not get into the parking lot of the 15th St.Reasors and had to park in the Target lot of the one on Yale. Every checkout line was manned with a 6 cart back up in every line.
In Oklahoma
I think some people got “caught” with this, because I think I heard that it wasn’t coming in until later today, but it seems to have arrived a little bit earlier.
But, I’m close to several stores (in the S. Peoria and I-44 area, Brookside) and I can walk. In fact, I’m going to get out and do that in just a few minutes... :-)
They’re fun to have and get around. I would just use them for the entertainment and fun value. I got some of those real good strap-on studded ice-shoes, too, for when there are those ice storms. It has replaceable studs in them and I figured that I was going to need them around here (got them a couple of years back). You strap them on around boots (or shoes). They’re super heavy duty ones, too.
But, I don’t know about snow shoes... :-) ... I’ve used them around Crater Lake in Oregon, but snow-shoeing is a lot of work, actually. Cross-country skis are a breeze, though.
When it's bad like this, I only get out to get mail, dump the trash, or bring in the wood off the patio, lol. Other than that I just stay indoors and cook, read or internet.
As you know, yesterday it was up to 72 degrees, now this, wait til tomorrow it will be gone. That's just Okla., not much need to invest in much, except to just have fun in it while you can.
I know the area, even If I was there walking is not an option, had a total knee replacement 6 weeks ago.
Ahhh.... hope you’re doing well on your recovery... :-)
Spring may have to wait in state
BY BRYAN PAINTER
Published: March 19, 2010
Oklahoma has a very fresh memory of the fact that the end of winter does not mean the end of wintry weather.
Spring officially begins Saturday, but it may just be a continuation of winter in Oklahoma.
A winter storm watch is in effect from Saturday morning to Sunday morning. Temperatures Saturday may be about 35 to 40 degrees cooler than today’s high temperatures. Strong north winds are expected to drop wind chills into the teens and 20s in most areas Saturday.
Snow appears likely near and north of Interstate 40 in the western two-thirds of the state. Local amounts over 8 inches are forecast for north-central Oklahoma, with a threat of dropping into central Oklahoma, the weather service said.
Other areas could see accumulations of more than 4 inches, according to the National Weather Service. Wind gusts over 45 mph will produce blowing and drifting snow, and blizzard conditions may exist at times, the weather service said.
Before the snow, though, rain and thunderstorms are expected to break out along a cold front this afternoon in southwest, west-central and northern Oklahoma, with winds of 30 mph gusting over 40 mph. It should spread east and south tonight as cold air plunges deeper into the region, the weather service said.
The timeline and intensity of a winter storm changes rapidly, making it important to continue to monitor the weather, said Mike Foster, meteorologist in charge of the National Weather Service, Norman Forecast Office.
"This winter has been very active with record or near-record snow and ice events, each of which has presented very complex forecast problems,” he said. "The storm expected to impact us Friday and Saturday, is no exception.
"This very dynamic late winter storm will produce snow for many locations, but the amount at any spot will depend on small scale moisture and temperature details, which are still to be determined.”
Just a year ago, areas of Oklahoma received a state record dose of snow, a few days into spring.
On March 27-28, 2009, portions of northwest Oklahoma received more snow in a 24-hour period than any time since records began in 1892, with official measurements of 26 inches at Woodward and Freedom. Unofficial totals were even greater. The hardest hit areas in Oklahoma were in the extreme northwest as well as into the Panhandle.
Accumulations are not expected to reach those proportions. But, winter is expected to end with some of the same intensity it has displayed for months. And thus stores may see increased activity.
"We will sell a lot of milk and other groceries tomorrow for two reasons,” Terry Holden, a Braum’s spokesman said Thursday. "First, everybody who was going to come in Saturday will move it up a day. Second, folks do store up before bad weather.”
This winter’s weather
The winter of 2009-10 was not the coldest in Oklahoma history. It will end somewhere in the middle of the pack.
And, it was not the wettest, ranked at 23rd statewide going into Thursday.
"However, the cold and wet weather seemed to coincide at the most inopportune times to produce more bouts with frozen precipitation than we have seen in recent years,” said Gary McManus of the Oklahoma Climatological Survey.
Two storms definitely stand out, the Christmas Eve blizzard and the Jan. 28-29 ice storm.
"One of the strangest things about this winter, as it turns out, was not the cold weather but the lack of any substantial warm weather,” McManus said. "Oklahoma winters tend to be mild with intermittent bouts of frigid weather and pleasantly warm weather. The really cold weather showed, but the pleasantly warm weather was largely absent.”
With 20.7 inches of snow this winter, Oklahoma City enters the upcoming storm 4.5 inches short of tying its record.
Also this winter, temperatures in Oklahoma City dipped as low as 6 degrees on Jan. 10 and failed to reach 70 degrees, coming close with 69 degrees on March 5.
The highest temperature recorded this winter was 75 degrees at both Hollis and Waurika. The Oklahoma Mesonet failed to record a 70-degree temperature during February for the first time since the network’s inception in 1994.
The southern half of the state received far more moisture than did the northern half, McManus said. Up to 16 inches of precipitation fell in the southeast compared to just over 2 inches in the extreme northwest.
"That is a signature of an El Nino-influenced precipitation pattern,” McManus said.
Will spring arrive?
Eventually spring weather will show up.
But what will that mean this year?
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center says odds currently favor wetter-than-normal conditions in the Panhandle and northwestern Oklahoma and below-normal temperatures throughout most of the state.
I didn’t think I would need them here, but now I’m changing my mind... :-)
I take it you were not around here back in the mid 70’s whe there was an attempt to build a ski slope at Kellyville.
The Weather Channel lists OKC in the Top 10 of U.S. bad-winter cities.
By SARA PLUMMER World Staff Writer
Published: 3/19/2010 2:23 AM
Last Modified: 3/19/2010 4:58 AM
With nearly 21 inches of snow already recorded this winter season, Oklahoma City was among the Weather Channel's 10 worst winter-weather cities for 2009-10.
Robert Eliot waits on a tow truck after he lost control of his car on U.S. 75 near the 46th Street North exit on March 28, 2009. Tulsa, within reach of a record this year, could see snow Saturday. STEPHEN HOLMAN/Tulsa World file
Oklahoma City, only 100 miles from Tulsa, has had nearly 4 more inches of snow than Tulsa this winter, said Chuck Hodges, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
The biggest difference was Oklahoma City's 13.5 inches of snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas compared with the nearly 6 inches Tulsa saw.
The Weather Channel based its rankings on weather conditions and socioeconomic-related variables from Dec. 1 through Feb. 28 compared with averages of 30-year climatological data.
But meteorologists know that despite spring's official start Saturday, snow totals for both cities this season aren't set in stone yet.
National Weather Service meteorologist Kenneth Jackson said, "Some of our biggest snowstorms come in March."
Last year in Tulsa, 10.4 inches of snow fell in March, 6 inches of that in one day. In 1994, more than 14 inches of snow fell in the city in March.
"Every year, we've had something — either a trace (of snow) or a couple inches," Jackson said.
Snow is likely in Oklahoma in early spring because more moisture makes its way north from the Gulf of Mexico while northern cold fronts still come this far south, Jackson said.
And even though it happens every year, snow in March still surprises Oklahomans.
"We warm up to the 50s and 60s (and) you think winter's over," Jackson said. "It can swing from one extreme to another. It's Oklahoma weather."
The temperature extremes will be evident this weekend. Friday's springlike temperatures are expected to give way to thunderstorms and a cold front Saturday with a chance for snow, according to the National Weather Service.
The warm, fast southern winds from the Gulf of Mexico could actually increase the chance of snow because of all the moisture they bring, Jackson said.
After so much snow this winter, it might as well keep coming, he said.
"We might as well break the record if we can," Jackson said of Tulsa's 25.6-inch record, which was set in the winter of 1923-24. "It would have to be like last March."
With Tulsa sitting on 17.1 inches of snow this season, it would take more than 8 inches for that to happen. Official snowfall is measured at Tulsa International Airport.
If snow does accumulate Saturday, don't expect school to be closed Monday, Jackson said. Spring snowfalls rarely stick around.
"It's there, and the next day it's gone," he said.
10 worst winter-weather cities of 2009-10
* tied
Source: The Weather Channel
I take it you were not around here back in the mid 70’s whe there was an attempt to build a ski slope at Kellyville.
No, I wasn't back then, I was in Oregon... :-) But, that's interesting. I'll see if I can look up something on it.
GW ping!
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