Monthly Archives: February 2009

More on the Oklahoma tornadoes

12 February, 20091:40 p.m.

What will likely become known as the Lone Grove tornado had a 48-mile track through parts of four Oklahoma counties.

Farther north on Tuesday, three tornadoes touched down in or near Oklahoma City, the National Weather Service in Norman confirmed.

The first tornado touched down near Rockwell and Northwest Expressway in Oklahoma City, was on the ground for 3/4 of a mile, and was an estimated 30 yards wide. It was rated at EF1.

The second tornado touched down in northern Oklahoma City, moved north-northeast through Edmond and lifted north of the town. It was on the ground for 6.5 miles, was about 75 yards wide and had a maximum rating of EF2.

The third tornado in the Oklahoma City area touched down west of Meridian, was on the ground for 3/4 of a mile, was 20 yards wide and had an EF0 rating. The track was distinctive, in that it included a sharp left turn. That’s not unusual for tornadoes as they weaken, meteorologists have told me in the past…though the hard left turn caught my eye. If the tornado’s track was placed on a clock face, it would give the time as 8:05.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Tornadoes | Comments Off

Death toll climbs from Lone Grove tornado

12 February, 20099:43 a.m.

The number of people killed by the tornado that hit Lone Grove Tuesday night has climbed to 9, authorities said. A man critically injured by debris has died at a Dallas hospital.

Preliminary damage surveys by the National Weather Service estimate the tornado was EF-4 in strength and about a half-mile wide as it struck Lone Grove. The tornado touched down next to the Red River, southeast of Petersburg, moved northeast through Lone Grove, crossed I-35 north of Ardmore and lifted southeast of Doherty.

I’ll have more on this tornado and on the three tornadoes that touched down in or near Oklahoma City later today.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Tornadoes | Comments Off

Greensburg’s thoughts turn to Lone Grove

11 February, 20095:03 p.m.

Even as they were celebrating the opening of their new grocery store today, Greensburg residents couldn’t help but think about another town hammered by a tornado.

“Lone Grove, Okla., got wiped out by a tornado” on Tuesday night, Greensburg Mayor Bob Dixson told the crowd gathered for the grand opening ceremony in the new Dillons. “They’re in our thoughts and prayers.”

Eight people were killed in the town of about 4,600 residents about 100 miles south of Oklahoma City and just north of the Texas border. The tornado struck at about 7:25 p.m., authorities said. Residents had as much as 35 minutes of warning before the tornado hit.

The Storm Prediction Center recorded six reports of tornadoes in Texas and Oklahoma Tuesday night.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Tornadoes | Comments Off

Tornado warnings in Oklahoma

10 February, 20093:40 p.m.

Multiple tornado warnings have been issued for Oklahoma City and its suburbs this afternoon, and forecasters warn that tornadoes are possible after dark tonight in Kansas counties south of Wichita.

The storm threat will grow as more moisture pours into the Sunflower State, National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Ketcham said. The greatest tornado threat will likely be in Sumner, Harper and Cowley counties, he said.

That fits, considering the Storm Prediction Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has shifted the moderate risk’s northern boundary to the Kansas/Oklahoma border. The severe thunderstorm warning for Butler, Chase and Marion counties demonstrates that moisture and instability have established themselves in the region.

Walk around outside in the Wichita area, and you’ll feel a mix of cold and warmth in the atmosphere that reflects the clash of air masses typically associated with strong thunderstorms. While it doesn’t have that textbook sticky, unsettled sensation that has been prevalent on such major tornado outbreak days as April 26, 1991, or May 3, 1999, I’m not surprised at all that storms are firing today.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Thunderstorms, Tornadoes | Comments

‘Major tornado outbreak’ expected today…

10 February, 20099:16 a.m.

…..in the southern Plains, multiple sources tell me. The Storm Prediction Center has placed most of Arkansas and portions of Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana under a moderate risk for severe weather today. Several surrounding states, including the eastern half of Kansas – and the Wichita metropolitan area – face a slight risk of severe weather.

“This will be the first big severe weather episode of 2009,” Greg Carbin, warning coordination meteorologist for the SPC, told me. “Stay tuned.”

The Storm Prediction Center’s warning states, “A significant severe weather outbreak – including supercells with strong tornadoes – is expected this afternoon into tonight for eastern Oklahoma, northeast Texas into western/central Arkansas and northwestern Louisiana.”

The threat for Wichita isn’t as substantial, though local forecasters are nonetheless urging residents to be prepared. A hazardous weather outlook issued by the Natoinal Weather Service cautions that large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes are possible tonight in the Wichita area.

KSNW meteorologist Mark Bogner is calling today “the first major tornado outbreak of 2009.”

By Stan Finger | Filed under Tornadoes | Comments

Tornado touches down…

9 February, 20092:17 p.m.

…..in Merced, Calif.

The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado touched down briefly in Merced late this morning. This funnel was spotted at about 11:30 a.m. Pacific Standard Time. For more photos and information, go to the Sun-Star’s Web site.

mercedfunnel

By Stan Finger | Filed under Tornadoes | Comments Off

A warm weekend, indeed

9 February, 20099:28 a.m.

The weekend just past may have prompted a few folks to forget it’s still early February.

And no wonder: Saturday set a record high of 70, topping the old mark of 69, which dated back to 1926. Sunday’s high of 69 missed the record for Feb. 8 by just two degrees.

The next couple of days will be unusually warm as well, with highs climbing into the 60s. It won’t be record-setting warmth, but I doubt anyone will complain.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Temperatures | Comments Off

The last time Wichita was this warm on February 6…

6 February, 20094:43 p.m.

….was 1904.

Theodore Roosevelt was president, Willis Bailey was the governor of Kansas and a team from Pennsylvania – Pittsburgh – made it to the first-ever World Series the previous fall.

Meanwhile, in Wichita, the thermometer reached 74 degrees.

Five score and five years later, Wichita reached 74 again. Barack Obama is president, Kathleen Sebelius is governor, and a team from Pennsylvania – Philadelphia – won the World Series the previous fall.

At least Russia and Japan didn’t go to war this time.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Heat, History | Comments Off

Records could fall today around Kansas

6 February, 200912:23 p.m.

Several spots around the state could set new records for high temperature today, as an unseasonably warm period reaches its zenith.

The record for Feb. 6 in Wichita is 74, set in 1904. Today’s forecast calls for a high in the low 70s, and forecasters aren’t ruling out the possibility of a new mark.

But National Weather Service meteorologist Leon Wasinger said he’s not optimistic the 105-year-old record will fall today. Blame the strong winds, he said.

“There’s an awful lot of mixing going on,” he said, referring to how much the wind is stirring the air. That tends to equalize temperatures, pulling them down. Quieter breezes would allow the air to simmer and build up more heat.

Saturday will be warm, too, with highs in the 60s…but forecasters aren’t expecting the record of 69 – set in 1926 – to tumble.

By Stan Finger | Filed under Heat | Comments Off

Hug your weather forecaster today…

5 February, 20091:23 p.m.

….or at least appreciate them.

Today is National Weatherperson’s Day, which commemorates the birth of John Jeffries, one of America’s first weather observers. According to the National Weather Service, Jeffries began taking daily weather observations in Boston in 1774. Ten years later, he took the first balloon observation. Jeffries kept weather records from 1774 to 1816.

It’s easy to complain when an expected dusting turns into a full-fledged snowstorm, or temperatures peak several degrees from where they were forecast.

But I think about how the weather service is staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the long, strange hours even television meteorologists work during severe weather events.

I think about people like Mike Umscheid, the meteorologist on duty in the weather service’s Dodge City branch who had the foresight to issue a tornado emergency for Greensburg two years ago – a move that undoubtedly saved lives.

I think about the work Merril Teller, Jay Prater and Dave Freeman (and other meteorologists off camera) did for their television audiences that night in stressing the dangers of the storm that was unfolding; and how the people in Hoisington heard and heeded concerns voiced by meteorologists in 2001, going to their basements just before a tornado touched down just outside of town late at night and plowed through the northern part of the city. That only two people were killed by that tornado is remarkable, officials have told me more than once.

Those are only a couple of recent examples. I tip my cap, too, to the work done in years past by the likes of Cecil Carrier and Jim O’Donnell in the Wichita area and meteorologists around the world.

Mike Smith has moved into the private sector with WeatherData Services Inc., but he has been at the forefront of numerous technological advancements that have changed how people and businesses can get personalized forecasts and weather condition reports.

Meteorology is an important job, one often overlooked until our own lives are threatened by severe weather. On behalf of everyone who has ever wondered what the weather would be like on a given day, I say “Thank you.”

By Stan Finger | Filed under History | Comments Off