Unofficial Start of Spring with the Top 10 of 2008

Its the start of March and the only means that the days of Supercells, Tornadoes, Derechoes and Mesoscale Convective Systems are just around the corner. So I figured I would take this time to display a quick Top 10 list of my pictures from Chasing in 2008. It was a fairly quiet year down here in the Southern Plains. As most of the severe storms stayed across Kansas, Nebraska, and points to the east. As I didn't bag a single tornado or funnel but saw some great storm structure. Hope you enjoy the pictures and I'm all ready for the new season as I am foaming at the mouth just thinking about it. =) (Click on Picture to See Large Size View)
Please give me your Top 3 Favorites Pictures... Voting is just to your right....
***Photo #1 Near Hobart, Oklahoma Wall Cloud***

***Photo #2 West of Cache, Oklhaoma Meso ***

***Photo #3 Northside of Abilene, Texas Outflow Shelf Cloud***

***Photo #4 Iowa Park, Texas Rotating Wall Cloud***

***Photo #5 Rush Springs, Oklahoma Supercell ***

***Photo #6 Eastside of Lawton,Oklahoma Growing Cumulus***

***Photo #7 Westside Marlow,Oklahoma Sunrays***

***Photo #8 Rocky, Oklahoma Mothership ***

***Photo #9 West of Marlow, Oklahoma Hail/Rainbow***

***Photo #10 West side of Marlow, Oklahoma Developing Wall Cloud***

Polar Plunge Aftermath....Still Freezing

I just wanted to let you know that I'm very thank you for your contributions. You helped me raised an total of $100 and help the 7-News team raise $920.

Even though its Oklahoma its still gets pretty cold here and Saturday morning was no exception. The air temperature outside was around 39 degrees at jump time with northeast winds around 30-40mph. Which made the wind chill around 15 to 20 degrees and in case you're wondering about the water temperatures It was a very toasty 40 degrees

Here is the link to the Video of the Polar Plunge..
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=52856143

Thanks Again for your contribution, its means a lot to have such great friends.

Need Help for a Special Cause

Hello
I'm taking part in the Lawton Polar Plunge 2009 to raise money for Special Olympics Oklahoma - please make a donation by visiting my Firstgiving page: http://www.firstgiving.com/justinrudicel
You can donate online with a credit card. All donations are secure and sent directly to Special Olympics Oklahoma by Firstgiving, who will email you a printable record of your donation.
Please send my page on to anyone who might like to donate!
Thanks Justin

February 10th Severe Weather Recap

During the afternoon and evening hours of February 10, 2009, tornadoes occurred over parts of the central third of Oklahoma and north Texas. Portions of the Oklahoma City metro area were hit, and a killer tornado struck the the town of Lone Grove, OK. Officials from the NWS and NOAA are continuing to investigate this event. More information will be added to these web pages in the near future. Listed below are some links to tornado information and preliminary damage path graphics. Latest Tornado Survey Report

Here are my photos from my chasing adventures for the news station. Chase Photos

Severe Weather Day #2

I apologize for the lack of posting but I have had Internet issues and work commitments that have taken all my time.

Today's severe weather will shift into a straight line wind damage threat with isolated tornadoes still possible. This threat will run from Ohio south through Kentucky, Tennessee and points east. As the line of rain with embedded t'storms is already into eastern Indiana southwest into western parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. Behind this line of rain is very powerful winds due to the pressure difference between the low pressure in Missouri and in the high pressure in the southeast. These winds could exceed 50mph in some isolated areas with sustained winds of 40mph.

Here is the latest SPC outlook

I'll try to post more information on the severe weather last night across my neck of the woods as I was out chasing for the station. Also the latest information on the deadly tornado near Ardmore,OK.

Severe weather & Big snows all in the next week of weather.

Our very active pattern continues with a parade of storms across the Pacific.

Storm #1 continues to spin its way eastward across Arizona after putting down some heavy rain. This upper level low will continue east with showers and thunderstorms exploding by dusk in Eastern New Mexico. As very powerful upper level winds will help develop a strong squall line that will race overnight across the Texas Panhandle then through Oklahoma and northern Texas by early morning. Some of the thunderstorms before midnight will be capable of large hail up to nickels and damaging winds. As these storms race east damaging winds and small hail will be possible throughout the night despite the limited instability. So it might be an active overnight for me at work as I'll probably be at the station by 2am to start my Monday morning...yuck!

Here is the latest severe weather outlook as of mid afternoon and don't forget for all the latest weather information. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and check out the storm center.

Monday the line of showers and storms will weaken as it races northeast away from the strongest dynamics. Some severe storms and maybe a tornado or two may develop across Eastern Nebraska and far west Iowa under the upper level low. Right now the model indicate some sunshine might break through in the dry slot. If some low level instability and CAPE can form. Strong directional shear and helicity values would promote a possible cold core setup with 500mb temperatures under -25C. Right now SPC only has a see text but will be monitoring the dryslot very closely for surface heating.

Storm#2

Tuesday and Wednesday will be the biggest two days so far this year for severe storms. As a possible early season outbreak will be possible from south central Oklahoma and north Texas on Tuesday afternoon east and north to the Ohio and Mississippi Valley on Wednesday. Models continue to have differences but recognizing the pattern and usual model flaws. This area will be under the gun and tornadoes will be produced along with a nasty squall line overnight. As a very fast developing low pressure deepens over far southeast Colorado and races northeast to far southern Wisconsin by Wednesday afternoon. This will surge a powerful cold front east and even behind this front gusty winds will gust over 50mph down the plains on Wednesday. Here is the latest Day 3 and Day 4 severe weather outlooks from SPC.

This cold front will likely be the end to the unseasonably warm weather across the Northern and Central Plains. Then eventually by the end of the work week the cold air will build into the Ohio Valley. So by Friday when the next storm in line comes throughout the west and enters the Southern Plains. The areas around the I-70 corridor from Kansas to Maryland will be seeing snow instead of rain. An area of low pressure looks to form from the Texas Panhandle and bowls its way east across the Tennessee Valley by Saturday. Then off the Mid-Atlantic coast by late Saturday or early Sunday morning. The models and ensembles have been highly supportive of this solution. Snowfall amounts will change many times based on strength of the low, amount of moisture ahead of the storm and speed of the system. However I can see a nice 4-8 inch snowfall along the I-70 corridor. This is only the first week of our 3 week stretch of our fast split flow.

National Weatherman's Day

When : Always February 5th

National Weatherman's Day honors weathermen, and woman who work hard to accurately predict the often fickle weather. Despite major technological advances and supercomputers, forecasting the weather is still a tricky, and ever changing business.

Knowing the weather is important in so many ways. It affect how we dress, where we go, and even if we go. Space launches are made or delayed depending upon the weather. And, knowing the weather can save lives. The most obvious example is knowing when and where hurricanes or tornados may hit.

According to the Air Force News, Weatherman's Day "commemorates the birth of John Jeffries, one of America's first weathermen". Jeffries was born on Feb 5, 1744. He kept weather records from 1774 to1816.

If you see a weatherman today, give them your appreciation for a job well done.

Let the snow melting begin as we see temperatures soar

The pattern change talked about for several on here is beginning to take shape across the country. As south winds will take over from the Rockies east that will allow temperatures finally get above normal. So places like in the Ohio Valley, Great Lakes and Even the Northeast will start thaw out. This will allow an active jet stream to roar across the United States helping to develop several low pressure systems. Each one of these will help draw up warm and humid air from the Gulf States. So despite the warmer weather parts of the east will still see several bouts of rainy weather.

The warmer weather could possibly crash with the colder air digging into the southwest U.S. That could actually cause the first severe weather of the new year across the Southern Plains by Sunday. I'll have more details later but here is the latest SPC outlook for Sunday and Monday.

Winter Storm coming but not big Daddy

As mentioned earlier this week the possibility of an blizzard has pretty much been thrown out. The three jet streams that were predicted to phase over the east will remain separate. So the pieces of the puzzle will not come to together to produce a big daddy for the East Coast. With this being said a winter storm will still form with snow, wind and cold temperatures. However instead of starting in the southeast and producing snow in the Tennessee Valley the low pressure will form much further north. The snow will likely be light across the Ohio Valley then really gets going across Virginia just west of DC then races northeast along the I-95 corridor. Where places will receive a general 3-6 inches will some isolated areas across New York and Massachusetts getting up to 10 inches. Very Cold air will get tucked in behind the storm with the upper level low as the winds pick up.

Here is the current water vapor and the analysis of the players on the field or storm ingredients.

This will likely be the last post on this winter storm as this is now short term forecast. So if you're across the Northeast keep checking with the local forecasts through National Weather Service or local television stations.

Even if this storm doesn't deepen and become a big storm this is really not our active time that I have been talking about. This will come after our warm up later this week and weekend. As advertised a couple weeks ago an very active stormy period starts by mid month and last through the end of February. This is still looking very true and almost to good to be true as every indicator is showing this. So There will much more storms with the battling of cold air and the increasing warmth. So there if you don't get any snow with this snow or enough snow. I believe even bigger storms look to be in the future especially across the Northeast and Northwest. Much more on this later this week!