More record-breaking heat for southern Plains

[Justin Turcotte]

See you all in North Dakota!

 

[Jonathan Whitehead]

MMMWWWAAAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Well, quite a few records broken in KS today (Salina, Russell, Wichita, etc), some of which broke the old records by 3-4F. Here's an interesting one:

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE("DDC Record Event Report")</div>

MEDICINE LODGE REACHED TRIPLE DIGITS THIS AFTERNOON WITH A RECORD
SETTING HIGH OF 100 DEGREES. THIS SMASHED THEIR PREVIOUS HIGH OF 92
DEGREES...WHICH WAS SET IN 1981. THIS WAS ALSO THE EARLIEST 100
DEGREE READING ON RECORD FOR MEDICINE LODGE...SHATTERING THE PREVIOUS
RECORD OF APRIL 29TH BY 16 DAYS. [/b]

Great.

 

[Joerg Kachelmann]

Regarding 850-temperatures we at least have exceeded daily records since 1948, the present values are well above the old max (upper black line) and at least GFS Ensemble not allowing any precip near OKC before 21st

Ensemble T850 and precip for Oklahoma City

 

[Kenny Drake]

You from MN Jeff? Cool, me too. I'm fine with chasing in the northern plains if I was there at the right time of year. If I remember... 2003? Iowa was getting hammered week after week, and it appears to be occuring this year too (so far in the month of April.) When I go back during summer I have work and my work schedule blocks are by the month, so taking time off for a known chase day is almost impossible. Anyways for location, I am happy chasing anywhere south, west, or NW of MSP. North or east of MSP will leave you in the land of 10 million trees (especially north).

Anyone for duststorm chasing?

Maybe... maybe... the much higher than usual hurricane forecast for this year will produce a T.S. that plows right up through central TX. I'm not saying I want destruction, just moisture. That would bump the moisture at the surface up through OK given southerly winds. However, I can picture it already: a nice TS dumping insane amounts of rain on south TX with radar echoes continuously dissapearing along E-W line north of Houston. Of course, one negative feedback would be the ocean temps along the path of the TS lowering. *sigh

-Thanks UCAR

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Daily high temperature and warmest minimum temperature records fell all over the area today... Here is a brief synopsis:

Oklahoma City: 98 (old record: 92 in 1987)
Dallas / Fort Worth: 101 (old record: 94) ** All-time record high for Aprilhttp://www.srh.noaa.gov/printable.php?pil=RER&sid=DFW&date=20060417220531 (old: 100 in 1925)
Waco: 97 (old: 93)
Fort Smith: 94 (old: 90 in 1945)
Tulsa: 94 (old: 92 in 1987)
Fayetteville: 93 (old: 84 in 2002) ** All-time record high for April (old: 90 in 1972)
Wichita Falls: 101 (old: 98 in 1928)

 

[Bob Schafer]

This is a bit off-topic, but I think worth noting: I'm looking at metars, and Trinidad CO reported T/Td of 81/-8F an hour ago. Springfield CO: 89/-4.

Can you say dewpoint depression?

 

[Shane Adams]

Dallas / Fort Worth: 101 (old record: 94) ** All-time record high for Aprilhttp://www.srh.noaa.gov/printable.php?pil=RER&sid=DFW&date=20060417220531 (old: 100 in 1925)[/b]

I was out in that all day working. I figured it was hot, but I didn't realize it was all-time record hot. I guess we're better conditioned than we thought B)

This now makes two all-time record highs for Dallas I've worked through. I also worked in early September 2000 (forget the exact date) when the temp was 111. I don't know what the heat index was, but I guarantee it rivaled any HI Iowa's ever had in the Summer corn fields.

 

[Carrie Halliday]

I was out in that all day working. I figured it was hot, but I didn't realize it was all-time record hot. I guess we're better condionted than we thought B)
[/b]

Just when you thought the heat was enough....Noooooo...lets do rolling brownouts!

80% of Texas was under rolling brownout orders this afternoon. I was one of the first affected, weird because all that funky stuff usually stays with Houston and leaves me alone over here. Tomorrow may deal us the same hand. 15-20 mionutes of sticky fun!

Its 12:15am and still 74. Ick. Since when did summer start in April?

 

[Billy Mason]

This will probably continue again today as the DFW Metroburbia will more than likely set another record this afternoon...



Notice of Power Outages From TXU
-----------------------------------------------------

TXU Electric Delivery Shuts Down Sections of System To Assist ERCOT

DALLAS -- April 17, 2006. --- TXU Electric Delivery began reducing
load by shutting power off to sections of its System today as the Electric
Reliability Council of Texas System moved to its highest emergency level.
At 4:24 p.m., ERCOT requested that every electric delivery company in the
state reduce load throughout system. This is the fourth and most drastic
step in the ERCOT emergency curtailment plan.

"We're urging everyone experiencing an emergency at this time to
please call 911," said Rob Trimble, president and chief operating officer,
TXU Electric Delivery. " Temperatures are close to 100 degrees and ERCOT
has requested our help. TXU Electric Delivery is working closely with
ERCOT to ensure the state's electric grid remains stable and providing
power during this time."

TXU Electric Delivery is currently reducing load by 380 megawatts,
rotating outages every 15 minutes in pre-designated areas. These are
planned outages designed to protect the state's grid during a period of
instability. At 4:30 p.m., approximately 28,000 customers were affected in
the Dallas area and East Texas.

TXU Electric Delivery Company, the transmission and distribution
subsidiary of TXU Corp., delivers power to approximately three million
electric delivery points over more than 100,000 miles of distribution and
14,000 miles of transmission lines.

Additional TXU Electric Delivery information can be obtained at
www.txuelectricdelivery.com

 

[shawn_turner]

I live just outside Austin, TX. We hit 104 degrees yesterday with rolling blackouts due to the heat!!!

 

[Kenny Drake]

Luckily an end to this record heat is in site, cold front currently entering NW Oklahoma and should stall out over TX by tomorrow. This stalled boundary will also provide enough lift for some much needed rain... yay! I doubt it will be nearly enough to dent the drought we're in. Hopefully it will get enough moisture in the ground to help the Td's and cool the soil temperatures.

These temps are normal though for July and Aug... oh its April.

 

[Jonathan Whitehead]

I just found an interesing article/statement put out by NWSFO-FWD regarding this summer

TITLE: Are We Headed for a Hot Summer?

Originally posted by NWSFO-FWD


PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
650 PM CDT MON APR 17 2006

...ARE WE HEADED FOR A HOT SUMMER?...

ACCORDING TO THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER (CPC)...TEMPERATURES
WILL MOST LIKELY REMAIN ABOVE NORMAL THE REST OF THE SPRING AND
THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER MONTHS. BUT HOW HOT COULD IT GET?

LAST SUMMER (2005) WAS QUITE DRY...BUT THE UPPER RIDGE OF HIGH
PRESSURE SO CRUCIAL FOR EXTREME SUMMERTIME TEMPERATURES DID NOT
SETTLE IN UNTIL SEPTEMBER. SEPTEMBER 2005 WAS THE HOTTEST ON
RECORD...TYING 1939 FOR THE HIGHEST AVERAGE...AND EXCEEDING THAT
YEAR FOR THE HOTTEST AVERAGE HIGH TEMPERATURE FOR THE MONTH.

AT DFW...

If you would like to read the entire discussion you can go to http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/productview.ph...NSFWD&version=0

Also NWSFO-FWD has updated drought info here: http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/drought.html