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