Holy Dry Air Batman!

[David Drummond]

Currently at the mesonet station near my house (35 SW of LBB), we have 82F/-2F. Yes, an 80 degree dewpoint depression.

I just spilled a glass of water and it evaporated before it hit the floor it's so dry!

 

[rdale]

Currently at the mesonet station near my house (35 SW of LBB), we have 82F/-2F. Yes, an 80 degree dewpoint depression.

Even more notable at 84 degrees

El Paso officially recording 82 / -3, for a RH of 3%...

 

[Jeff Snyder]

There was some extremely dry air on sfc obs earlier this week in western TX and eastern NM as well. This may well have direct implications on the chasing prospects next week, as any veered 850mb flow over TX, OK, and southern KS will be drawing up that same extremely dry air atop the moistening boundary layer east of the dryline. Oy!

 

[David Drummond]

We're up to about 15F dewpoint now. Must have been that water I spilled.

 

[Chris Foltz]

The dry air back on Tuesday extended northward into eastern Colorado and western Kansas. Here in Goodland, we had an 86 degree dewpoint depression (86/4, RH 4%) while across the border in Colorado, the ASOS at Lamar registered a 96 degree dewpoint depression (92/-4) for a whopping 2% RH. That's certainly the largest spread I've ever personally witnessed. We're looking at RH values in the single digits again tomorrow. Certainly not excited about the chase prospects in northwest Kansas this year, that's for sure.

 

[Willie Dines]

I remember saying to a friend of mine about 2 weeks ago, that I couldn't help but notice how quiet it is this year as reguards tornado developement compared to other years, but in saying that, haven't there been times where it's been kinda quiet for a year or 2 and then the following years tends to be pretty hectic?...

I don't think that there's any kind of pattern, but I get the feeling there is that possibility, either that or else it may be quiet mid spring and then maybe become a little more active further north, but when it comes to the weather, one can never really be too sure

Willie

 

[Chris Foltz]

Actually Willie, if you look here:

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/torn/monthlytornstats.html

You'll see 2008 has started off well ahead of the 10 year average not to mention 2004 and 2005 which were crazy years. I'm not sure whether the pattern will continue but would like to see the dryline within chasing distance for me. That distance has, of course, gotten smaller this year with the price of gas continuing to climb.

 

[Willie Dines]

I see what you mean, it seems a bit weird for there to be so many tornadoes for it being so early in the year, which is always worse because of the daylight hours being shorter and therefore the higher risk of being being injured or possibly worse.

It's totally understandable though in what you're saying as reguards gas prices going up, the price of gas is crazy, but one can only do one's best with what one has got

Willie

 

[Jason Foster]

Some other thoughts

What could these dry dew pt. temps mean for such things as dust in the atmosphere, or dust storms. Even if we get good moisture flow into the plains for a chase set-up, with the ground being dusty and kicking up a lot while we are driving. Will there be a lot of dusty looking tornadoes this year. All possible impacts from a sustained dry air system that David brought up with this thread.

It is also an interesting thing to see, and now I wonder, what it was like during the Dust Bowl years?

 

[David Drummond]

The dust bowl era though was mostly created by man using poor farming techniques exasperated by severe drought.

I can tell you know though, the dust kicks up out here every day the winds get over 20 mph, which is nearly every day.

 

[Shane Adams]

I'm not a fan of predictions or comparisons, but if you ask me what this year reminds me of, it's 2004.

 

[Dann Cianca]

I wonder what the highest recorded dewpoint depression is ... I did a search and couldn't find anything official. Anyone have any idea?

 

[Mike Peregrine]

I'm not a fan of predictions or comparisons, but if you ask me what this year reminds me of, it's 2004.

Same here ... but man, I hope you are right. There are some similarities to 2004. While ended up being a crazy busy year, it took a while for it to really swing into gear. It ended more like what a 'typical' year should be (who knows what that is, anymore). It's totally a gut feeling, but I still think May will see a swing into Gulf moisture and southwest flow.

 

[Billy Griffin]

Shows what I know... I was starting to get encouraged by the recent amount of heavy rains over the far eastern parts of the Midwest region. I was hoping that would be a sign of things-to-come and moisture return would not be a problem this year.

My concern now is: is this going to become an extreme drought year for the Southern Plains?

 

[rdale]

I wonder what the highest recorded dewpoint depression is ...

I'll set the bar with this from Las Vegas:

ON JULY 2ND LAS VEGAS ASOS RECORDED A DEW POINT DEPRESSION OF 120F AND A RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUE OF 1 PERCENT (ALTHOUGH THIS IS NOT AN OFFICIAL RECORD...THIS IS THE GREATEST DEW POINT DEPRESSION IN RECENT MEMORY).