3/30/08 NOW: OK

[Jordan Hartley]

Yep definet wall cloud. Storm must be interacting with this w moving boundary. Hes moving now so if anything does happen we might not get to see it. Also daylight is fading fast since the sun is setting

Edit- Cell to the Ne might be one to watch now aswell. Scott mentioned it earlier and hes right its in better air and is looking alot more healthy.

Looks like David is zoomed into the base of the updraft of the storm the just split from the main body of the cell hes on. Really looking like on big mess actually on radar.

Storm moving into Caddo county just made a right turn.

 

[afischer]

00Z Norman sounding looks pretty decent, though LCLs and 0-1km SRH may not be quite as favorable farther west near the ongoing convection. Be interesting to see what happens if these cells can hold together, esp if the LLJ starts to accelerate. The deep moist layer & modest cap would seem to favor surface-based convection for another few hours.

 

[Kevin Crawmer]

Wow, very impressive storms firing. The cell to the NE appears to be veering into a more easterly direction. The cells to the south are really strengthening too and look to be splitting. I am glad I don't have to make the decision of which one to hop on....southern-most or the one to the northeast.

 

[Mikey Gribble]

Mesoscale analysis page is only showing 35kts of deep layer shear, which is probably what is keeping these storms from getting going a little more. With short hodographs like we saw in the forecast soundings you aren't going to get much in the way of updraft downdraft seperation. Things may improve later tonight as hodographs begin to enlarge, but I'm not surprised we haven't seen any tornadoes up to this point.

edit- if anything is going to tornado in the near future I'm banking on the storm straight East of Clinton

 

[Jordan Hartley]

Storm SW of Clinton just made a right turn and is showing rotation at the mid-lvls. Also has more of a SW to Ne body to compared to the storms from earlier which were more E-W.

 

[Bill Tabor]

Seems like that live stream with SevereStudios was pretty cool. Granted I didn't see it during daylight. The link was down then. But later at night I did see some dudes getting in a white truck, opening doors, etc. I was amazed that the refresh rate was fairly quick, and it was fairly smooth video unlike most webcam type feeds. I have to wonder if my old V120e phone would do it justice? I doubt it.

Anyway, as for the storms, seems like they are getting a bit fatter and staying fairly healthy so far. Will have to start looking at forecast parameters to see when the good juice will start hitting.

 

[Andrew Francis]

There we go.

First Tornado Warning in OK tonight.

Storm headed into Binger, OK. Very nice hook on it.

 

[Bill Tabor]

If that cell maintains it's strength and path it will eventually be nearing the Norman / Oklahoma City metro area. By then I'd think the gravity wave should be around. Wonder if it is still strong enough to have an effect? Anyone able to track it at night? Plus we may have the lower level jet starting up about that time too. As I mentioned in my forecast...things could get rough if the right conditions develop.

 

[Evan Stubbart]

I'm surprised there is no Tor Warning on the storm south of Clinton, OK. From what I'm seeing you can tell on radar that it is 100% rotating, and is about to take on a pretty nice eagle shape. Anyone on this storm?

Over the past couple minutes that cell has also made a strong right turn to stay along I40...

 

[William Reid]

SW OK storm images by Martin Lisius

Martin Lisius shares two images of the big cell in SW OK from late this afternoon:

http://stormbruiser.com/chase/

 

[Evan Stubbart]

Finally a tor warning on the western cell moving down I40. Was long overdue. Storms appear to be holding together pretty well and think that OK metro is in for some damage...

 

[John MacKay]

The rotation on that one was evident, Evan, but I think they (NWS) saw too much of a broad-based rotation until recently (~ 20 min ago), where it has definitely tightened up. At least that's what I saw. I was kind of wondering after you mentioned it, though.

Looks like the area of strong rotation on both of them are moving just barely north of due east. These two could make it very interesting in 2-3 hours if they hold together. We'll see.

 

[Brian McKibben]

There are reports of power lines down in Albert. Sheriff's department reported seeing power flashes as well.

 

[Mikey Gribble]

The tornado threat should be peaking over the next hour or two with the two cells West of OKC. According to the mesoscale analysis page 850mb winds have finally started cranking and backed over the last hour or so. There is almost 90 degrees of turning from 850-500mb on the overlay. LCL heights are low enough for a good tornado threat in the area ahead of these two cells, so I don't see a whole lot standing in their way. SBCAPE has been dropping off so the next couple hours is the best opportunity for tornadoes IMO.

edit - southern cell is heading dead towards OKC. With tornado potential peaking this could be a bad deal. I doubt it will be able to produce any strong tornadoes, but a tornado in the city at night would still be a disaster.

 

[David Drummond]

inflow in to this west storm is freakin insane....like 50-60+ mph into the hook!!