12/07 - WINTER STORM: SRN PLAINS

[Tony Laubach]

In Fort Collins Colorado, a place that averages about 45" per year, they would run street cleaners after every snow melt to remove the salt and gravel. I never understood this. I grew up in upstate NY, and leaving that stuff on the roads throughout the winter really helped - especially that layer of salt - always melted these tiny snows like we just got in Norman.

Yea, and plows came down every single residential street in upstate NY. They only hit the primary and secondary roads in Norman (and Ft. Collins, believe it or not).


greg

That's cause all the yuppies don't want their over-price gas guzzlers to get dirty! They do the same in Denver, too with the mag-chloride!

 

[Jonathan Whitehead]

everyone around here must be having amnesia cause the deflector shield is and has always been working at 100% today, yesterday, the day before, etc...
If all of yall are calling this weeks dusting a "kink" or "loss of power" in the deflector shield then well, like i said, amnesia.
Let me say that this weeks event is right on schedule/par for seasonal/monthly climate for OKC/central Oklahoma.
During the winter in OKC, the average or normal pattern for winter weather events calls for the first event to occur sometime before Xmas and is usually very minor (eg this weeks event). The next winter weather event typically occurs on average around mid to late January and that one is usually noteworthy with around 2 to 4" of frozen precip. Other events can be found scattered throughout late January and all throughout February. I remember my soph yr (winter '03/'04) there were several mini snows scattered throughout the winter, from December to February.
Also remember that OKC averages 8" snow a winter. Now, yes, last years winter was a dud, but the 8" is an average taken over several decades so there are going to be a few aberations every so many winters or so but the few winters I have been here (this is my 4th), ive found that 8" to be about right to slightly generous.

SO, 1" of dust in Norman..... call me when something on order of 2 to 4" of snow or heavy ice is imminent or is occuring here, then Ill listen to your comments about deflector shield issues. :?

and as far as OUN supposedly "over hyping" this event, Ill say this: the Winter Storm Watch was prob a little overkill but OUN along with local OCM's were right to hype the extreme cold aspect of this system. Jeff, I love you dearly but im going to have to disagree with you on this one. Anytime daytime highs are in the teens and wind chills values are hovering right around/at 0 degrees here in central OK, thats deadly, life-threatening, not different than serious severe wx situation. Im all for warning the residences/public of the impending cold. I was at the bus stop this afternoon waiting for the apartment bus to come pick me up at the oval i was in the sheltered bench that you see at bus stops and I had total three layers of clothing on abover then two for my legs both including my thermal/long underwear I was wearing underneath plus heavy jacket and santa hat to cover my ears. So I was not freezing while waiting 20 min for the bus but 6 or 7 other people in that shelter were shivering notably, which was just a microcosm of a lot of people i saw on campus today. Funny how I didnt see any METR majors shivering, maybe b/c they were prepared b/c they saw the forecast and headed warnings.
So I agree with the hype of cold weather. Its not uncommon at all for wintertime highs in the teens in central Oklahoma but almost always only a handful of days in the winter that that happens. I know Jeff mentioned the day in Feb 03. I distinctly remember that day. I remember it was like three days in a row at the very end of month of highs teens and lower 20s. And it was overcast to and somewhat windy. So it does happen.

Well that should satisfy my daily blog requirements for the next week.

EDIT: Karen, please tell me that wasnt DF that made that comment about freezing precip on the map. Hes the one I watch while at home, I like his way of forecasting and "stay calm lets look at this from all angles" type approach

 

[Tim Stoecklein]

In Fort Collins Colorado, a place that averages about 45" per year, they would run street cleaners after every snow melt to remove the salt and gravel. I never understood this.

I think all those chemicals have a rather adverse effect on road surface after an extended period of use. Roads in Michigan are a good example of this! On another note of guessing, think about where all those chemicals eventually end up once they are flushed through the storm drainage. Ft. Collins is a very eco-aware city :wink:

I had a good 4" of snow by the time it was done last evening. Some places SE of the turnpike recorded 10". Not bad for the first actual snowfall of the season.

Tim

 

[Ben Prusia]

I am checking in with a good 11.5" of snow here in southern Johnson County, Kansas. Some folks just a tad southwest of here got over a foot of snow, up to 14", not too shabby!

 

[Robert Dewey]

I am checking in with a good 11.5" of snow here in southern Johnson County, Kansas. Some folks just a tad southwest of here got over a foot of snow, up to 14", not too shabby!

Wow, 14 inches?

I've been trying to verify if the NAM or the GFS had the best QPF fields... SFC obs indicated no higher than 0.45 inches of total melted QPF, but we all know that the network doesn't cover 100% of the US. If 12-14 inches did in fact fall, I'd be more confident in the NAM's higher QPF solution for today and tomorrow (i.e. my Great Lakes thread). Not to mention, pretty high radar echoes are now breaking out over a large portion MO - drifing in this direction.

 

[Karen Politte]

LOL........anybody know what the roads are like in Norman this morning????

I have to leave for work in half an hour.......want to know if I should up my commute time from 12 minutes to an hour.......

KR

 

[Anthony Silver]

I am checking in with a good 11.5" of snow here in southern Johnson County, Kansas. Some folks just a tad southwest of here got over a foot of snow, up to 14", not too shabby!

12.5 inches here in Shawnee...one heck of a storm we got. Now it's on to the ugly task of shoveling it and removing it from the cars.

 

[Mike Peregrine]

This is one of the prettiest snows we've had in a long time ... it's like everything is coated with a foot of powdered sugar. Now that the sun is out (along with my sunglasses), it really looks like a winter wonderland. Getting these kind of snows used to be the norm around here ... maybe this winter it will be again! Going to head out in the woods during lunch to take some stills.

I-35 was surprisingly good in Johnson County today ... though the city streets (particularly on the Missouri side) are in their typical sorry state. When I used to commute I never ran into problems with road clearing until I got into the city, which is always a mess, seems like.

 

[Amos Magliocco]

A Fedex guy delivered a package to my house a few minutes ago. I asked him about the road conditions in Denton and he said, "Terrible. It's a mess up here." UNT already planned to close until noon and now the Dallas Morning News is reporting they will be closed all day.

 

[mikegeukes]

Here in Kent County Michigan

The plows and salt trucks usually come out
after it starts snowing, It would be a waste of money
to pretreat the streets before a snow in West Michigan.

The various governments,have a budget for what they
will use for salting and plowing the roads.

In southern Kent County, the cities, county, and MDOT
do a good job on the roads, especially the primary roads.

Just to my south, Allegan County, the roads are much worse
often they use a sand/salt mix on the roads. Once again,
the county has less money to work with.

Mike

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

This Yankee is happy!

Hey whats up all: All I can say is that I'm liking this every bit as much as a raging supercell over the Oklahoma prairies... Can you believe I woke up to 1F temps at 7am...the coldest temps I've experienced since I moved here in '96. The only thing lacking is the snow...hardly an inch fell here at the farm. At least our streak broke after 36 days of no precip. at all. After another night in the single digits, our gradual warming trend sets in tomorrow as we'll be back in the 50's by weeks end.