Beam me to Planet Gore !
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.
It's just that "Anthropogenic Global Warming" is not true science... :-)
Until recently, global temperatures were more than a degree Fahrenheit warmer when compared to the overall 20th Century mean. From August of 2007 through February of 2008, the Earth’s mean reading dropped to near the 200-year average temperature of 57 degrees. Since that time, the mean reading has been fluctuating.
We, Cliff Harris and Randy Mann, believe that the warming and even the cooling of global temperatures are the result of long-term climatic cycles, solar activity, sea-surface temperature patterns and more. However, Mankind’s activities of the burning of fossil fuels, massive deforestations, the replacing of grassy surfaces with asphalt and concrete, the ‘Urban Heat Island Effect,’ are making conditions ‘worse’ and this will ultimately enhance the Earth’s warming process down the meteorological roadway in the next several decades.
From the late 1940s through the early 1970s, a climate research organization called the Weather Science Foundation of Crystal Lake, Illinois, determined that the planet’s warm, cold, wet and dry periods were the result of alternating short-term and long-term climatic cycles. These researchers and scientists also concluded that the Earth’s ever-changing climate likewise has influenced global and regional economies, human and animal migrations, science, religion and the arts as well as shifting forms of government and strength of leadership.
Much of this data was based upon thousands of hours of research done by Dr. Raymond H. Wheeler and his associates during the 1930s and 1940s at the University of Kansas. Dr. Wheeler was well-known for his discovery of various climate cycles, including his highly-regarded ‘510-Year Drought Clock’ that he detailed at the end of the ‘Dust Bowl’ era in the late 1930s.
During the early 1970s, our planet was in the midst of a colder and drier weather cycle. Inflationary recessions and oil shortages led to rationing and long gas lines at service stations worldwide. The situation at that time was far worse than it is now, at least for the time being.
The Weather Science Foundation also predicted, based on these various climate cycles, that our planet would turn much warmer and wetter by the early 2000s, resulting in general global prosperity. They also said that we would be seeing at this time widespread weather ‘extremes.’ There’s little doubt that most of their early predictions came true.
Our recent decline in the Earth’s temperature may be a combination of both long-term and short-term climate cycles, decreased solar activity and the development of a strong long-lasting La Nina, the current cooler than normal sea-surface temperature event in the south-central Pacific Ocean. Sunspot activity in the past 18 months has decreased to the lowest levels since ‘The Little Ice Age’ ended in the mid-to late 1800s. This "cool spell," though, may only be a brief interruption to the Earth’s overall warming trend. Only time will tell.
Based on these predictions, it appears that much warmer readings may be expected for Planet Earth, especially by the 2030s, that will eventually top 1998's global highest reading of 58.3 degrees. It’s quite possible we could see an average temperature in the low 60s. Until then, this ‘cooling period’ may last from just a few months to as long as several years, especially if sunspot activity remains very low.
We at Harris-Mann Climatology, www.LongRangeWeather.com, believe that our prolonged cycle of wide weather ‘extremes,’ the worst in at least 1,000 years, will continue and perhaps become even more severe, especially by the mid 2010s. We should see more powerful storms, including major hurricanes and increasing deadly tornadoes. There will likewise be widespread flooding, crop-destroying droughts and freezes and violent weather of all types including ice storms, large-sized hail and torrential downpours.
We are already seeing on virtually every continent an almost Biblical weather scenario of increasing droughts and floods. In both the southwestern and southeastern corners of the U.S, there are severe water shortage problems associated with chronic long-term dryness. In some cases, the water deficits are the worst in at least 400 years.
Dr. Wheeler also discovered that approximately every 102 years, a much warmer and drier climatic cycle affects our planet. The last such ‘warm and dry’ peak occurred in 1936, at the end of the infamous ‘Dust Bowl’ period. During that time, extreme heat and dryness, combined with a multitude of problems during the ‘Great Depression,’ made living conditions practically intolerable.
The next ‘warm and dry’ climatic phase is scheduled to arrive in the early 2030s, probably peaking around 2038. It is expected to produce even hotter and drier weather patterns than we saw during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
But, we should remember, that the Earth’s coldest periods have usually followed excessive warmth. Such was the case when our planet moved from the Medieval Warm Period between 900 and 1300 A.D. to the sudden ‘Little Ice Age,’ which peaked in the 17th Century.
By the end of this 21st Century, a big cool down may occur that could ultimately lead to expanding glaciers worldwide, even in the mid-latitudes. We could possibly see even a new Great Ice Age. Based on long-term climatic data, these major ice ages have recurred about every 11,500 years. Well, you guessed it. The last extensive ice age was approximately 11,500 years ago, so we may be due. Again, only time will tell.
In mockery of the alarmist's propaganda methodology it is fun to poke a finger in their direction when examples of unseasonably cool temperatures arise and natural weather phenomena occur (especially those involving The Gore Effect or the Copenhagen Freeze Fest).
BY TIM HRENCHIR, KEVIN ELLIOTT
Created March 20, 2010 at 8:47pm
Updated March 21, 2010 at 12:28am
A late winter storm this weekend that ushered in the start of spring dropped more than 5 inches of snow in Topeka by Saturday night, nearly doubling the average snowfall for the month of March.
John Woynick, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Topeka, said additional accumulations were expected Saturday as another wave of snow moved toward the capital city from south-central Kansas.
Snow accumulation at 8 p.m. measured 5.2 inches at Topeka's Phillip Billard Municipal Airport, surpassing the area's 2.8-inch average for the entire month of March, according to the weather service.
Top 5 snowfalls
This weekend’s snow storm raises Topeka’s snowfall total for the 2009-2010 cold weather season to 40.7 inches by 5 p.m. Saturday, moving it from 10th to eighth on the city’s snowiest winters on record.
- 47.9 inches in 1912
- 44.4 inches in 1960
- 43.2 inhes in 1993
- 42.9 inches in 1979
- 42.5 inches in 1915
Source: National Weather Service
As much as 7 inches of snow had fallen by 8 p.m. in parts of Shawnee, Douglas, Jefferson, Wabaunsee, Jackson and Osage counties. The weather service estimated about 4 inches of snow by 8 p.m. Saturday in the Manhattan area and 2 or 3 inches of snow in parts of Geary and Lyon counties.
The weather service estimated an additional 1 to 3 inches were possible by Sunday morning along and southeast of a line from Lawrence to Emporia.
The snowfall attracted sledders to Quinton Heights hill just west of S.W. 24th and Topeka Boulevard, where Vernon Neff and his 7-year-old son, Nate, were among about 25 people taking trips down the hill using sleds or other means.
When asked about the sledding conditions, Vernon Neff said they were "a little windy," while Nate said he thought they were good.
"It doesn't seem to affect them," Vernon Neff said, gesturing toward his son and another child who was nearby.
City spokesman David Bevens said the city had 10 road crews working to clear streets but planned to call it a day at 7 p.m. Saturday. He said someone would be on call overnight if authorities made any requests.
Slick roadways helped precipitate what a Kansas Highway Patrol dispatcher described as "numerous slide-offs" in the Topeka area.
The Kansas Highway Patrol on Saturday morning said slick conditions caused a temporarily closure of Interstate 70 just west of Topeka, near S.W. Valencia Road. Dispatchers said the move was made in an effort to avoid serious problems linked to semi-trailers having trouble climbing ice-packed hills on I-70 in that area. The roadway was reopened at 9:43 a.m.
Injuries from a weather-related crash Saturday morning claimed the life of an Overland Park man when his vehicle struck the back of a tow truck in Johnson County, the patrol said.
Troopers said the man, Courtney Smith, 21, lost control of his 2004 Chevrolet Impala about 4:18 a.m. and struck the rear of a tow truck that was pulling a vehicle out of the median on southbound US-169 highway at 175th Street.
Shawnee County emergency dispatchers said sheriff's deputies responded to 20 accidents between 10 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday, including one injury accident. Topeka police responded to 22 accidents, including one injury wreck and three hit-and-runs.
Topeka police at 6 p.m. Saturday remained in its Phase III accident reporting stage, meaning officers respond to injury accidents, hit-and-run crashes and disabling vehicle wrecks. Motorists involved in minor, non-injury accidents are advised to exchange information and file a report when weather improves.
Tim Hrenchir can be reached at (785) 295-1184 or tim.hrenchir@cjonline.com. Kevin Elliott can be reached at (785) 295-1192 or kevin.elliott@cjonline.com.
Al Gore’s new nickame is Mr Freeze.
It won’t change Oklahoma weather, however... :-)
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