OK flooding

[Shane Adams]

Surprised no one's talked about this yet, but the leftovers of Erin have been wreaking havoc across much of western OK since yesterday, with several areas reporting rainfall totals over 7-8 inches. Several roads are closed due to high water, including I-40 in places. 12,000 homes/businesses without power as well.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Shane,

We've been talking about it in the 8/18 NOW thread -> http://www.stormtrack.org/forum/showthread.php?t=13520

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

One of my top ten weather oddities!

I think I may have witnessed one of the most unusual weather events in recent time... right here at my farm in Piedmont, OK.

The remnants of T.S Erin, (which if you remember was downgraded to a depression last Wednesday morning just after it crossed the TX. coast near Corpus Christie..then spun itself through the hill country, then on toward Childress yesterday, still, the circulation intact but with winds generally 25mph or less)... decided, quite magically through the ever mysterious processes of our atmosphere.. to rapidly increase in strength starting last evening. Several tornado reports came in from SW Okla. then around midnight, the wind gradually started picking up here at the farm. Probably around 10-20mph from the east. Lightning was flickering frequently across the southern and western horizons. We had a few bands of rain come through earlier starting in the mid afternoon, infact I saw one storm come over downtown OKC that had exhibited some nice banding and inflow cloud spikes in the mid levels at around 5pm.

Cutting to the "chase", the real action got underway around 1:30am with considerable cg activity near the house along with 15-30mph winds that backed more from SE to E. At around 3am, I was in bed and Dee alerted me that a TOR warning was issued for Canadian County (my home county west of OKC). At that time, winds still weren't that bad but were increasing and cg activity was ramping up again.

A short time later, maybe around 3:15, I could hear my skylights in my bathroom whistling and lots of commotion going on, I got up... naturally, and lo and behold, it was mayhem happening, winds sustained at least 50mph, gusts over 60 right out of the east, and a profuse amount of rain wildly whipping by. Lightning activity was still there but was happening much less frequently.

This continued unabated and actually increased as the minutes went by. Between 4 and 4:45 was the peak of the storm. Winds were rarely less than 40mph, most of the time sustained at least around 50-55, peak gusts I estimated was around 65mph, not out of the question, 70. Wind direction for the most part was close to due east, maybe a little ENE at times. Rain was coming down aprox. 2-3"/hr

Starting around 4:45am, winds suddenly abated to around 20mph or so but a couple of times, a period of a minute or two, winds would suddenly increase to around 40-45mph out of the E/ESE. Interestingly, the gusts were not accompanied by any increase of rain, when the sudden wind surges hit, the rain at that time was generally light.

At 5am, our winds came down to less than 15mph, the rain temporarily lessened to a drizzle, we were in the "eye" of this storm... I was glued to KWTV ch. 9 (other channels were not coming in)... my satellite TV was out and the internet went down, so I was only able to see the radar through the tv. I soon after went back to bed, awoke briefly around 6:30 to strong S or SW winds and rain again... and a fair amount of lightning. Conditions gradually improved after 7am.

To me, this was a shock and awe moment, trying to figure out how this storm could actually strengthen... close to 72 hours after landfall, way up here in Okla. My guess is that it tapped into a theta E rich low level jet that was juxtaposed perfectly to feed into the remnant centre of the storm, thus, gave it that boost.
Temps and dewpoints were already reminiscent of that of the tropics to begin with, so it had that to feed off of too.

Despite my lack of the more indepth knowledge that you may have, I'm extremely interested in reading what perpetrated the sudden resurgence of strength, how often this type of phenomenon occurs and other historical accounts of similar incidents.

This sure has been one crazy year for weather here in Oklahoma!

 

[Joel Wright]

Wow! What an amazing event! I'm moving to Oklahoma. Man, you guys have everything down there. Blizzards, strong tornadoes, icestorms, AND strengthening tropical storms? Simply incredible.

Anyway, check out this two hour radar loop from OKC ending at 6am. If you set the animation speed at about 50 percent, you can really see just how tight the circulation was.

http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/rad...=black&endDate=20070819&endTime=11&duration=2

 

[Rich Thompson]

Interesting morning in central OK. I chased one of the early supercells in eastern Cleveland Co. yesterday afternoon from 5-6 pm, then came home to a 10 hr power outage. The power came on in time for me catch the excitement with "Erin".

A few pix are included from yesterday and this morning in the east Norman area:

http://www.chasetolive.com/gallery2/v/2007+Chases/18+August+2007/

The storm total at my house has been 7.66" as of 11 am. We had ~4" in 90 minutes from 5-6:30am, and another ~2.5" in 40 minutes around 8am.

The structure of the 00z OUN sounding shows a profile with surprisingly large CAPE, very high pw, and little potential for cold pool/downdraft formation:

http://www.spc.nssl.noaa.gov/exper/soundings/07081900_OBS/

This may have helped maintain latent heat release without having outflow disrupt the convection. The pre-existing circulation provided the impetus for the initial development, and then it deepened through a positive feedback. It's tough to do this in the Plains because you need an existing low (warm core), as moist a profile as possible, CAPE, but without the usual cold pool formation. Perhaps we just witnessed all of that working in tandem last night.

Rich T.

 

[Brandon Goforth]

Interesting morning in central OK. I chased one of the early supercells in eastern Cleveland Co. yesterday afternoon from 5-6 pm, then came home to a 10 hr power outage. The power came on in time for me catch the excitement with "Erin".

A few pix are included from yesterday and this morning in the east Norman area:

http://www.chasetolive.com/gallery2/v/2007+Chases/18+August+2007/

Nice pic, what time did you say that was taken? I was in Norman at the OU scrimmage from 5-7:30 and wasn't even really aware of the weather event unfolding at this time. Just a continuous moderate rain.

EDIT: Nevermind, I see the time there is 5:30 pm. That's wild man, I would've hauled out there if I knew about it, I guess it just goes to show you should never take your eyes off the weather around here.

 

[Chris C Sanner]

Interesting morning in central OK. I chased one of the early supercells in eastern Cleveland Co. yesterday afternoon from 5-6 pm, then came home to a 10 hr power outage. The power came on in time for me catch the excitement with "Erin".

A few pix are included from yesterday and this morning in the east Norman area:

http://www.chasetolive.com/gallery2/v/2007+Chases/18+August+2007/

The storm total at my house has been 7.66" as of 11 am. We had ~4" in 90 minutes from 5-6:30am, and another ~2.5" in 40 minutes around 8am.

The structure of the 00z OUN sounding shows a profile with surprisingly large CAPE, very high pw, and little potential for cold pool/downdraft formation:

http://www.spc.nssl.noaa.gov/exper/soundings/07081900_OBS/

This may have helped maintain latent heat release without having outflow disrupt the convection. The pre-existing circulation provided the impetus for the initial development, and then it deepened through a positive feedback. It's tough to do this in the Plains because you need an existing low (warm core), as moist a profile as possible, CAPE, but without the usual cold pool formation. Perhaps we just witnessed all of that working in tandem last night.

Rich T.

Nice pics Rich! I saw that thing on radar but for some reason I was a bit lazy (actually just had company over) and just decided to pass on it. I do believe I might've been the only fool out and about getting film last night. But with this being my first week in Norman it was kind of a treat to get film like that during such a unique event. Either way, last night was definitely interesting and unique and I'm very excited to hear some of the bigger experts on tropical cyclones on what exactly went down. I think the theory behind the LLJ fueling the intensification (with an already tropical airmass in place) seems pretty solid. Definitely a night I won't forget for a long time.

 

[Rich Thompson]

Nice pic, what time did you say that was taken? I was in Norman at the OU scrimmage from 5-7:30 and wasn't even really aware of the weather event unfolding at this time. Just a continuous moderate rain.

EDIT: Nevermind, I see the time there is 5:30 pm. That's wild man, I would've hauled out there if I knew about it, I guess it just goes to show you should never take your eyes off the weather around here.

Brandon,

Ironically, I was intending to go to the scrimmage when I saw the storm and decided to take a little detour. I wasn't sure how much rain they would tolerate before moving it indoors, and we weren't able to check anything by 6 pm. I saw the stadium lights as we drove into town to grab some chow.

Rich T.

 

[Joerg Kachelmann]

Facts from our www.weather.us station at Omega (Kingfisher, OK):

Max gust 83 mph, sustained winds up to 53 mph from easterly directions.

8,63 inches in 6 hours

Heaviest hour 3,62 inches followed by 3,02 inches the following hour, means 6,64 inches in two hours.

For the Pros the raw synos. Wind is in knots, temperatures (sorry, it's a syno) in centigrades. Hourly precip is the 2nd group in the 555 line in tenths of millimeters, so in the first syno hourly precip is 1,1 mm. 1 inch=25,4 mm. In the heaviest hour you'll find an hourly precip of 92,0 mm (3,62 inches). All time UTC/zulu. If there are more questions, don't hesitate to contact me:

ZCZC
SM 190600
AAXX 19064
72358 14/// /1019 10244 29095 60071 7////
333 10297 20236 3/025 55300 2//// 70082 91129 91219
555 00245 1011/ 20255 91129 91219
666 10245 20242 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 190700
AAXX 19074
72358 44/// /1528 10244 29095 7////
333 55300 2//// 91152 91234
555 00239 1062/ 91152 91234
666 10245 20242 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 190800
AAXX 19084
72358 44/// /1238 10232 29096 7////
333 55300 2//// 91166 91240
555 00226 1201/ 91166 91240
666 10245 20227 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SI 190900
AAXX 19094
72358 34/// /0418 10220 29097 7////
333 55300 2//// 61221 91166 91240
555 00221 1920/ 91146 91231
666 10240 20219 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 191000
AAXX 19104
72358 44/// /0625 10213 29096 7////
333 55300 2//// 91166 91240
555 00217 1766/ 91156 91234
666 10226 20207 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 191100
AAXX 19114
72358 44/// /0725 10221 29097 7////
333 55300 2//// 91172 91246
555 00216 1217/ 91172 91246
666 10222 20210 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SM 191200
AAXX 19124
72358 34/// /1013 10227 29095 62191 7////
333 10297 20207 3/022 55001 2//// 55300 2//// 72273 91172 91246
555 00217 1025/ 91132 91222
666 10228 20220 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 191300
AAXX 19134
72358 44/// /3405 10228 29094 7////
333 55300 2//// 91172 91246
555 00219 1002/ 91116 91209
666 10229 20226 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 191400
AAXX 19144
72358 44/// /2909 10237 29088 7////
333 55300 2//// 91132 91222
555 00222 1000/ 91113 91209
666 10238 20227 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SI 191500
AAXX 19154
72358 34/// /3104 10249 29085 7////
333 55306 2//// 61011 91116 91209
555 00230 1000/ 91113 91209
666 10251 20237 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 191600
AAXX 19164
72358 44/// /3005 10273 29071 7////
333 55310 2//// 91113 91209
555 00249 1000/ 91112 91206
666 10278 20251 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 191700
AAXX 19174
72358 44/// /2706 10287 29064 7////
333 55310 2//// 91113 91209
555 00282 1000/ 91111 91206
666 10289 20274 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SM 191800
AAXX 19184
72358 14/// /2403 10299 29062 69921 7////
333 10301 20207 3/022 55310 2//// 72274 91116 91209
555 00300 1000/ 91109 91205
666 10301 20287 7////=
NNNN

 

[Kiel Ortega]

I guess I'll post in here since the other thread was a NOW thread (MODS do as you wish). Went out to survey signatures today in support of the phased array radar. Found probable tornado damage in NE Minco (no mention of it by OK media)...mostly roof and tree damage but a couple mobile homes were hit pretty good (one lady was injured but family said she'd be alright). Actually, this survey wasn't really in support of the PAR 'cause it wasn't on at the time....oh well, good data none the less. Went ahead and decided to tour Watonga and Geary...nice (or bad) wind damage around there. I think the retirement home in Geary was just unlucky by being hit with N-NNW winds and at the end of an open field; the rest of Geary had decent tree damage and one mobile home (still on wheels) was tipped over. A house next to the facility had peeled off siding and pushed in garage doors. Watonga was a mess, especially the north side---poles and trees everywhere. Two collapsed light poles at the HS baseball field, one was bent and a couple a T-Hangers at the airport bit it. ASOS tower still standing and looked like the wind instruments were still there. Tried to find the destroyed barn near Hobart, but was quickly running out of light and probably didn't drive far enough east (and I thought I had gone too far!). Anyways, one hell of day and it was fun to see the Canadian River swollen...though the raging current (could tell from the flood damage/vegetation/newly scoured banks) that was Buggy Creek near Minco was simply amazing. Tomorrow out to survey PAR signatures again and hopefully avoid the Wa-s-h-i---ta (censored for no reason! ) outside its banks.

 

[Robert Rohloff]

Nice link to Erin over Oklahoma early Sunday morning.
About as close to having a hurricane in Oklahoma as I have ever seen.


http://talk.kfdm.com/viewtopic.php?t=6928&sid=54fceea3a8e200c1bac80aeabd8f9c5b

 

[Kiel Ortega]

Went surveying PAR signatures again today with Greg Stumpf and Angelyn Kolodziej. Found probable tornado damage southwest of Norge; mobile home had lost a roof and plenty of tree damage. This brings the total number of probable tornadoes to 4 (if my fingers add up right) for the Oklahoma TD/TS/whatever.

 

[Kathryn Piotrowski]

Okmulgee, OK Flooding

Sunday, Jeff and I were out enjoying the day and heard on the weather radio that a severe storm was approaching Okmulgee, OK. We ran into extreme flash flooding on the north side of Okmulgee and then as we entered into the heart of the city...wow...the flash flooding was nuts. Here are a few pics from that day. http://www.twisterchasers.com/storm_chasing_august_19,_2007_okmulgee,_ok_flood.htm

 

[Jack Beven]

Joerg and all,

We are quite interested in gathering data on Erin over Oklahoma to aid our post-analysis. We're going to get the mesomet and other conventional data, but we would also be interested in any private weather station data such as Joerg's that might be available.

If anyone has such data to share, could you please get in touch with me at [email protected]? I'll forward it along to Rick Knabb, my colleague who is doing the post-analysis of Erin.

Joerg, do you have the times that the maximum sustained winds and peak gusts occurred? Also, what is the averaging time for your sustained winds?

Jack Beven
National Hurricane Center

Facts from our www.weather.us station at Omega (Kingfisher, OK):

Max gust 83 mph, sustained winds up to 53 mph from easterly directions.

8,63 inches in 6 hours

Heaviest hour 3,62 inches followed by 3,02 inches the following hour, means 6,64 inches in two hours.

For the Pros the raw synos. Wind is in knots, temperatures (sorry, it's a syno) in centigrades. Hourly precip is the 2nd group in the 555 line in tenths of millimeters, so in the first syno hourly precip is 1,1 mm. 1 inch=25,4 mm. In the heaviest hour you'll find an hourly precip of 92,0 mm (3,62 inches). All time UTC/zulu. If there are more questions, don't hesitate to contact me:

ZCZC
SM 190600
AAXX 19064
72358 14/// /1019 10244 29095 60071 7////
333 10297 20236 3/025 55300 2//// 70082 91129 91219
555 00245 1011/ 20255 91129 91219
666 10245 20242 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 190700
AAXX 19074
72358 44/// /1528 10244 29095 7////
333 55300 2//// 91152 91234
555 00239 1062/ 91152 91234
666 10245 20242 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 190800
AAXX 19084
72358 44/// /1238 10232 29096 7////
333 55300 2//// 91166 91240
555 00226 1201/ 91166 91240
666 10245 20227 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SI 190900
AAXX 19094
72358 34/// /0418 10220 29097 7////
333 55300 2//// 61221 91166 91240
555 00221 1920/ 91146 91231
666 10240 20219 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 191000
AAXX 19104
72358 44/// /0625 10213 29096 7////
333 55300 2//// 91166 91240
555 00217 1766/ 91156 91234
666 10226 20207 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 191100
AAXX 19114
72358 44/// /0725 10221 29097 7////
333 55300 2//// 91172 91246
555 00216 1217/ 91172 91246
666 10222 20210 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SM 191200
AAXX 19124
72358 34/// /1013 10227 29095 62191 7////
333 10297 20207 3/022 55001 2//// 55300 2//// 72273 91172 91246
555 00217 1025/ 91132 91222
666 10228 20220 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 191300
AAXX 19134
72358 44/// /3405 10228 29094 7////
333 55300 2//// 91172 91246
555 00219 1002/ 91116 91209
666 10229 20226 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 191400
AAXX 19144
72358 44/// /2909 10237 29088 7////
333 55300 2//// 91132 91222
555 00222 1000/ 91113 91209
666 10238 20227 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SI 191500
AAXX 19154
72358 34/// /3104 10249 29085 7////
333 55306 2//// 61011 91116 91209
555 00230 1000/ 91113 91209
666 10251 20237 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 191600
AAXX 19164
72358 44/// /3005 10273 29071 7////
333 55310 2//// 91113 91209
555 00249 1000/ 91112 91206
666 10278 20251 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SN 191700
AAXX 19174
72358 44/// /2706 10287 29064 7////
333 55310 2//// 91113 91209
555 00282 1000/ 91111 91206
666 10289 20274 7////=
NNNN
ZCZC
SM 191800
AAXX 19184
72358 14/// /2403 10299 29062 69921 7////
333 10301 20207 3/022 55310 2//// 72274 91116 91209
555 00300 1000/ 91109 91205
666 10301 20287 7////=
NNNN

 

[Joerg Kachelmann]

Jack, you get mail.

jk

www.weather.us