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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Another Tricky Winter Forecast for Oklahoma
A very powerful arctic cold front will be impacting much of the lower 48 this week, bringing the coldest air in over a year to much of the plains. Several waves of jet stream energy will come out across Oklahoma between Thursday and Monday, resulting in all sorts of winter […]
Read MoreWinter Weather Set to Invade the Southern Plains
A big blast of arctic air is set to invade the Great Plains the next few days, bringing the chance for winter precipitation to parts of the region. I am not expecting this to be a significant storm, but it will bring very cold temperatures and the chance of all […]
Read MoreWeekly Severe Weather Outlook: October 7, 2013
With the beginning of the fall or “second” severe weather season here on the Great Plains, coupled with the tropics remaining quiet, I am going to shift this week’s discussion from the tropics back closer to home and talk about severe weather. The fall severe weather season started quite emphatically […]
Read MoreDirt Road Adventures: Antelope Hills
Overview Now nestled on the western plains of Oklahoma, the Antelope Hills were once a significant landmark for both the Plains Indians and the western settlers, as they marked the international border between the United States and Mexico. They sit in one of the most scenic locations in the entire […]
Read MoreMay 31st El Reno Tornado May Be the Most Powerful Tornado Ever Recorded
Just a few weeks after the National Weather Service downgraded the May 31, 2013 El Reno, Oklahoma tornado from EF-5 to EF-3, a research paper published this week suggested that this tornado may be the largest most powerful (note that I say powerful, not destructive) tornado ever recorded, having been […]
Read MoreWhy the May 31st El Reno Tornado was Downgraded to EF-3
The deadly tornado that ripped through Canadian County, OK on May 31st has been downgraded back to EF-3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Back in early June, the National Weather Service initially rated the tornado EF-3 after surveying the damage, but after receiving data from several doppler radars in the […]
Read MoreLooking Back at the May 19-20 Tornado Outbreak
MOORE, OK — May 3rd, 1999. It’s a date that anyone with ties to Oklahoma knows very well. If you don’t know, an F5 tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma that day, packing winds of 318 miles per hour (no, that’s not a type-o), which to this day remains the strongest wind […]
Read MoreThe Hunters Become the Hunted
GRANITE, OK — I chased three separate clusters of storms across western Oklahoma. I first captured an isolated supercell north of Clinton, but did have to battle some hills and a less-than-ideal road network. When that storm began to weaken, I dropped south and captured some gorgeous pictures of a […]
Read MoreMini Tornado Outbreak in Southwestern Oklahoma
FREDERICK, OK — The April 17th severe weather event was easily the highlight of April. I got to chase as part of one of my classes, which was a lot of fun. A warm front had stalled over the Interstate 44 corridor, with extremely unstable air on the warm side […]
Read MoreA Weather Event of the Most Absurd Kind
NORMAN, OK — A day that started as an epic bust/lack of a storm chase turned out to be anything but disappointing. It was an event that nobody could have predicted (not even the models), featuring golf ball sized hail and freezing rain falling out of a severe thunderstorm at […]
Read MoreEpic Spring Grand Finale
AMBER, OK — Another round of severe weather brought quite the grand finale to May here in Central Oklahoma. With a Moderate Risk up, all of Oklahoma west of Interstate 35 was fair game for a target area. Just after 3 PM, storms began to explode on the dryline in […]
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