Southern Plains winter wx thread (2009-2010)

[Extremeweatherguy]

Snow looks to be coming to an end around OKC soon...

http://www.wunderground.com/radar/radbl ... 9&smooth=0

Does anyone have snowfall accumulation reports from this area? I have heard 4-6" numbers in south Oklahoma City about an hour ago, but I was wondering if anyone has more recent totals?

[Ntxw]

I don't know if it's official, but I heard the weather channel say 10-11" in Oklahoma City which would beat the single day snowfall record of 9"

[Extremeweatherguy]

I don't know if it's official, but I heard the weather channel say 10-11" in Oklahoma City which would beat the single day snowfall record of 9"

Wow! That is a lot of snow! I don't think 9" is the single day record though. According to this link ( http://downloads.newsok.com/knowit/okcsnowfall.pdf ), the 24-hour record is 11.3" set in 1924.

[Ntxw]

I don't know if it's official, but I heard the weather channel say 10-11" in Oklahoma City which would beat the single day snowfall record of 9"

Wow! That is a lot of snow! I don't think 9" is the single day record though. According to this link ( http://downloads.newsok.com/knowit/okcsnowfall.pdf ), the 24-hour record is 11.3" set in 1924.

I wasn't paying close attention, maybe they said single day in December.

[BlueIce]

Just to give you guys an update from the east Oklahoma city metro area. The highways and side streets are drifting shut. The snow has not let up yet and has been steady for about 7 hours. Accumulation is very hard to tell at this point, I am guessing around 8 to 10 inches. My family and I have very good 4x4 equipment and we helped over 15 stranded motorists, Oklahoma City is paralyzed at this point.

[Ntxw]

TWC: 14 inches of snow for OKC, snowiest day ever.

Edit: 10 inches earlier was 10 inches in 4 hours. Wow

[Extremeweatherguy]

TWC: 14 inches of snow for OKC, snowiest day ever.

Edit: 10 inches earlier was 10 inches in 4 hours. Wow

Yep. 14" would definitely mean the snowiest ever. Wow! What a storm this was!

[Extremeweatherguy]

[HarlequinBoy]

I'm curious as to how much Fayetteville gets. White Christmas for them!

I thought OKC's snowfall record would be a lot more. Memphis is either 17 or 18 inches from one storm and OKC usually sees more snow than Memphis.

[wx247]

Sleet and freezing mixture here. Expecting a changeover to snow soon. The freezing rain has coated everything and it is slick, slick, slick outside.

[wx247]

3.5" here... I think. Very hard to tell with all the blowing and drifting of the snow. At least we saw a White Christmas!!!

[wx247]

It definitely looks like the snowpack is here to stay for a while... especially if the midweek system brings us an inch or two of snow. That could really help temperatures tank as we start 2010.

[vbhoutex]

It definitely looks like the snowpack is here to stay for a while... especially if the midweek system brings us an inch or two of snow. That could really help temperatures tank as we start 2010.

The snow pack will probably stick around and it definitely will help the temps tank here in SE TX. The biggest hindrance to really cold temps(what we consider cold) making it this far South is lack of snow pack. As they say the only thing between us and Canada is that barbed wire fence at the Red River(and 1500 miles of wide open prarie which warms nicely under the sun when there is not snowpack).

[wx247]

LOL David.

Looks like the snow pack is going to be added to. Latest NAM and GFS runs want to put down another inch or two across much of Oklahoma into Northern Arkansas.

[Ntxw]

Time to wake this thread up! Here's the latest snippet out of oun for tomorrow's system.

DISCUSSION...
ANOTHER QUIET NIGHT TONIGHT WITH SFC HIGH CONTINUING TO INFLUENCE
THE REGION BUT SLOWLY MOVING EAST LATER TONIGHT. SOME HIGH CLOUDS
WILL ALSO MOVE INTO THE AREA TONIGHT. STORM SYSTEM WILL APPROACH AND
MOVE ACROSS THE AREA FROM THE SOUTHWEST TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. THIS
SYSTEM WILL BRING SOME MID LVL MOISTURE AND LIFT TO THE AREA CAUSING
SOME PRECIPITATION ACROSS PORTIONS OF THE FA. WITH COLD AIR ALREADY
IN PLACE AND TEMPS ABOVE THE SFC EXPECTED TO REMAIN BELOW FREEZING
DESPITE SOUTHERLY WINDS AND DUE TO EVAPORATIVE COOLING... MOST OF
THE PRECIP WILL LIKELY FALL IN THE FORM OF SNOW. SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF
UP TO 2 INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE IN SOME LOCATIONS. MODELS CONT TO
TREND WITH A SLIGHTLY MORE NORTHERN TRACK OF THE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL
OVER THE PAST FEW MODEL RUNS. WINDS WILL ALSO BE SOMEWHAT LIGHT
TUESDAY... SO NOT EXPECTED TO BE AN ISSUE LIKE IT WAS WITH THE LAST
EVENT CHRISTMAS EVE. SNOW WILL LIKELY BEGIN IN SW PORTIONS OF FA
TUES AFTN AND SPREAD NORTH AND EAST THE REST OF THE DAY TUES AND
TUES NIGHT. WITH THE UNCERTAINTIES AS TO THE GEOGRAPHY OF THE
HEAVIEST AMOUNTS AND THE RELATIVE LIGHT NATURE OF AMOUNTS
EXPECTED... WILL HOLD OFF ON ANY ADVISORIES FOR NOW AND HANDLE WITH
SPSOUN/HWOOUN/GRAPHICS.

Edit: Tulsa nws has put up winter weather advisories for it's area

[wx247]

NWS office in Springfield, MO already issuing a web briefing regarding the potential "monster" midweek winter storm. Hmm.... they are really hammering this early?

[BlueIce]

We still have snow on the ground from last weeks event! Lets bring on another couple of inches.

Check out OUN's discussion about the next big system.. looks like some very very cold air is on the way.

SNOW SHOULD END EARLY SUNDAY...BUT WITH LINGERING CLOUDS AND WEAK
COLD ADVECTION WE CONTINUED TO UNDERCUT GUIDANCE TEMPERATURES. WINDS
WILL COME AROUND TO THE SOUTHEAST ON MONDAY AND TUESDAY...BUT
RECYCLED ARCTIC AIR WILL KEEP US COOL. THEN THE BOTTOM FALLS OUT
WITH A FRESH BATCH OF ARCTIC AIR ARRIVING TUESDAY NIGHT AND
WEDNESDAY MORNING. THE MODELS HAVE BEEN VERY CONSISTENT IN
FORECASTING A 1045 MB HIGH TO DROP SOUTHWARD...BRINGING
EXCEPTIONALLY COLD AIR TO THE SOUTHERN PLAINS LATE NEXT WEEK. ASIDE
FROM A FEW OUTLIERS IN THE GFS ENSEMBLE...THE MAJORITY OF GUIDANCE
TAKES 850 MB TEMPERATURES BELOW -15 C IN PART OF OUR AREA BY
THURSDAY. THOSE TEMPERATURES WOULD SUPPORT SURFACE HIGHS IN THE
TEENS AND 20S...WHICH IS QUITE A FEAT AT THIS LATITUDE IN THE
ABSENCE OF SUBSTANTIAL SNOW COVER. WIND CHILL TEMPERATURES COULD
REACH ADVISORY CRITERIA...AROUND 5 BELOW ZERO...BY WEDNESDAY NIGHT.
THERE IS LIKELY TO BE SOME LIGHT SNOW WHEN THE FRONT...BUT IT IS NOT
YET CLEAR WHETHER SNOW WILL BE ABLE TO ACCUMULATE. WE ADJUSTED
TEMPERATURES DOWNWARD ON THURSDAY...BUT MADE NO FURTHER CHANGES TO
THE EXTENDED.

[Extremeweatherguy]

Yeah, the number of snow events into Oklahoma over the last few weeks is amazing. Last year snow was very hard to come by in Oklahoma City, but this winter it seems like there is a new threat every few days. It would be awesome if this snowy pattern could last through February. A few more decent storms and OKC could easily challenge or break its seasonal snowfall record (which I believe is somewhere in the range of 20-30 inches).

[amawea]

I'm tired of these bitter cold temps and no snow here along the Ar/Mo border! I live about 2 miles south of the Missouri line near a little bitty place called Warm Springs and we have seen one dusting so far this winter but it has been bitterly cold. December 5th it was 10 degrees, we've had plenty of other mornings with it in the low teens and no snow. Right now it is 14 degrees at 8:35a.m., clear skies!

[wx247]

Warm Springs should have some snow by the end of the week.