REPORTS & PICS: 1/28/10 Southern Plains Winter Storm

[Steve Miller]

http://chasertv.com has live streams for those of you arm-chairing this event. Here are links to individual CTV feeds:
Kevin Rider (OU Campus)
Charles Edwards (Shawnee, OK)
Steve Miller (Moore, OK)

Check out the site throughout the day / evening as live feeds are checking in and out depending on when they are needed for news.

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

As of 1423cst.. ice now at least 1/8 inch think on trees and my cars here NW of Piedmont. Trees are "creaking" pretty good now. Still alot of ZR going on but IP continues to be part of the mix. I'm counting on a full change over to IP by 23Z .. the sooner the better.

 

[Rocky Rascovich]

Major power outages now being reported south of Norman. Maysville particularly affected. Below is a link to current power outages from OG&E.

http://www.shadetreecarshow.com/oge.html

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Here in extreme northern Arcadia, we're currently experiencing what I'd call light to moderate freezing rain. Actually, I think the rainrate at this time may be the highest I've seen today so far. We did mix in some IP earlier this morning, but it's been primarily light to very light freezing rain. Roads are just wet at this time. OK Mesonet 2" bare soil temperatures (LINK HERE) are mostly in the mid-30s in central Oklahoma, though the 1-day trailing average is in the mid-40s; the 5 cm bare soil temps have cooling rather quickly in the past 6-8 hours. We were probably a little fortunate to have had a few sunny, very warm days in the past couple of weeks, as it helped warm the ground temps such that roads are fairing relatively well right now. Of course, by "right now", I actually mean about an hour ago when I took a trip to one of the Edmond Walmarts. KTLX reflectivity indicating higher rainrates likely moving northward into the northern OKC areas soon.

OG&E SystemWatch showing relatively limited power outtages in the area currently. I'm sure I could find similar power outtage info for whoever oversees/sells power in southwestern Oklahoma, but I don't know of the link offhand.

 

[Jeff Piotrowski]

Snow change over line OKLA

Snow line is now moving SE.

PNC-Watonga-to just north of Elk City.

 

[Chris Vagasky]

Here in Norman we've got a little bit more sleet than earlier in the day, but still a ratio of about 70/80:30/20 for Freezing Rain:Sleet...

The trees around here are all heavily coated with ice, and the power lines are starting to have a really good glaze (including icicles) on them.

 

[Michael Boyd]

Heavy Freezing Rain/Sleet

Heavy freezing rain mixed with sleet has moved into Warr Acres near 63rd and MacArthur - we've had light freezing rain most of the day but this has been the heaviest precipitation all day.

 

[Steve Miller]

Looks like some heavier rain/freezing rain is about to enter the suburbs to the south and the west of the OKC metro. Hobart Municipal is reporting a thunderstorm and 30F. Heard a rumor OKC Will Rogers Airport is now closed.

1/3" ice on elevated surfaces here 5 east of Moore, OK (live vid)
The ChaserTV Wall is now operational now too.

 

[Mark M Smith]

heavy sleet startting to cover the ground. Thats a good thang

 

[Charles Kuster]

As of 3:00pm CST a moderate mix of sleet and freezing rain was falling here in Norman (60-70% sleet, 30-40% freezing rain). The transition towards more sleet than freezing rain occurred at about 2:47pm CST and is ongoing as of 3:15pm CST. Ice accumulations are now about .4" on the trees.

This picture was taken at 3:07pm CST.

EDIT: At 4:00pm CST, primarily light sleet was falling (95% sleet, 5% freezing rain).

 

[Lance Maxwell]

Here on E 24th and Hwy 9 we have transitioned to about an 80/20 mix of sleet/fzra....and it's HEAVY.

 

[Brendon Lindsey]

I am over here in Hulbert, 5-6 Miles west of Tahlequah,Ok I have a bad feeling about tonight... Its been moderate-heavily raining, freezing rain for about 3 hours now. The temperature is 32 here and in TQH 28. There is 1/4 inch of ice on some branches and icicles about 12" long on a few things. I look at the radar and see it will be doing this the majority of the evening, I am worried about after dark temperatures... Maybe the sleet/snow line will come this way...

 

[Chris Wilburn]

Still nothing here in Miami, Ok at this point. That was quite a heavy band went through your area Brendon. Heavy band of precip. has now developed and runs from Shawnee to McAlester moving north. Still showing 6-12 inches for the northern tier counties in OK from Miami over to Ponca City.

 

[Tim Vasquez]

Heard a rumor OKC Will Rogers Airport is now closed.

Looks that way...the regional airlines got most of their planes out during the 9 and 10 am hour, and the last flight out of OKC was a Delta CRJ that took off at 11:30. Funny thing is that cross-country flights are still being routed over Oklahoma (LAS-ATL, LAX-ATL, etc). If any of those flights has to make an emergency landing and can't divert to DFW or ICT, they're going to be in some serious trouble. FZRA = severe clear icing... that Comair crash in Indiana in 1993 was in conditions like this.


Tim

 

[cedwards]

Here in Shawnee, OK, we are getting our first pings of sleet. It is still mixed in with about 60% Freezing rain.
I'm streaming live on ChaserTV.