Tropical Storm Cristobal has finally formed just north of Puerto Rico. As of this morning’s 8 AM EDT advisory, the storm was centered just north of the Turks and Caicos Islands with maximum sustained winds of 45 mph. The Hurricane Center has the storm slowly strengthening while encounters some shear […]
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Well, the Hurricane Center has been hinting at tropical cyclone development near Puerto Rico for several days now. With it, the probability of tropical cyclone formation has gone up steadily as well (it is 80% chance of development in the next 48 hours as of this morning). Most signs appear […]
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Well, we have our first named storm of the 2014 Hurricane Season. As of this morning’s 11 AM EDT advisory from the National Hurricane Center, Arthur was centered just east of Daytona Beach, FL with maximum sustained winds of 60 mph. The storm is forecast to move up the east […]
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It’s no secret by now that the severe weather season in Oklahoma this year has been nearly non-existent. The tornado count for the entire state so far this year can pretty much be counted on one hand. So what has caused the storm season to be so quiet? There are […]
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Dual polarization radar is an incredibly powerful tool for tracking severe weather. One important use for dual-pol radar is to track strong tornadoes by detecting the debris field with the radar. Similar to the Moore tornado last year, the April 27, 2014 Vilonia, Arkansas tornado passed about 10 miles north […]
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The storm chasing season tried very hard to get started yesterday, but it just wasn’t meant to be. All of the ingredients were in place, but a deck of cirrus clouds (which limited instability by keeping surface temperatures down), strong cap and weak forcing on the warm front and dryline […]
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It takes a unique weather setup to generate thundersleet and thundersnow. It takes an even more unique weather setup to generate thunderstorms with surface temperatures of only 12°F. In order to understand these setups, we need to make sense of the concept of an elevated or high base thunderstorm. These […]
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One of the most spectacular displays of thundersnow and thundersleet I’ve ever seen occurred just south of the Oklahoma City metro this past Sunday. A pretty unique weather setup presented itself as a winter storm passed over the area, creating favorable conditions for thunderstorms despite surface temperatures around 12°F. A […]
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Cloudy with a change of cinnabons? No, Jim Gaffigan is not coming to your neighborhood. Nor will tasty baked goods be falling from the sky (how awesome would that be though). Instead, one of the most impressively beautiful and textbook upper-level mid-latitude storm systems in recent years is currently coming […]
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The first time I crossed the path of the May 20, 2013 Moore tornado at night I was really taken aback. Both sides of I-35 the entire way through Moore are normally lined with shops, strip malls, entertainment venues, and hotels, and are normally all lit up at night. The […]
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I am watching two possible areas for winter weather over the next three to four days. The first is a coastal storm that may bring some gusy winds and light snow to the northeast Sunday, and the other is an upper-level storm system that could bring more snow and ice […]
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A pattern shift in the jet stream has let Feburary start with quite a bang after a pretty quiet January. A series of winter storms that has come through and will be coming through Oklahoma this week will be impacting parts of the east coast as well. Tuesday, February 4th: […]
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