Southern Plains winter wx thread (2009-2010)

[Extremeweatherguy]

We have accumulations of ice south of Oklahoma City up to as much as 0.20" right now. Everything is icing up nicely and icicles can be seen on the roofs, cars, etc. The grass is crunchy and the trees make the sound of cracking ice as the wind blows. Still not enough ice out there to cause too many tree branch breaking problems yet though, but within the next few hours there probably will be as totals start to approach/top 0.25".

It is worth noting that we are also getting a few periods of sleet pellets mixing in from time to time. The highest ratio of mixing though has only be about 50/50, so not really showing any signs of trying to "change over". More of just an occasional mix, and then back over to freezing rain.

Here are a few pictures I recently took around the area:







Update: Might actually have close to 0.25" now. I just took a ruler outside and measured about that much on top of a railing.

[BlueIce]

Widespread power outages are now being reported from Marlow to Duncan Oklahoma.

[msstateguy83]

gary england just said with the winds out of the ne strong like they are in most areas including here in the falls that could be a sign of the upper level low getting stronger over w .tx...

[BlueIce]

gary england just said with the winds out of the ne strong like they are in most areas including here in the falls that could be a sign of the upper level low getting stronger over w .tx...

Check it out, A tornado warning in central Texas

[Extremeweatherguy]

We have at least 0.25-0.30" of ice now with several limbs starting to sag noticeably outside. What's scary is that it looks like the heaviest bands of precipitation are moving in now. It could get dangerous here soon.

[wx247]

We have at least 0.25-0.30" of ice now with several limbs starting to sag noticeably outside. What's scary is that it looks like the heaviest bands of precipitation are moving in now. It could get dangerous here soon.

I guess winter weather can occur in your neighborhood when you are present.

[Extremeweatherguy]

We have at least 0.25-0.30" of ice now with several limbs starting to sag noticeably outside. What's scary is that it looks like the heaviest bands of precipitation are moving in now. It could get dangerous here soon.

I guess winter weather can occur in your neighborhood when you are present.

lol yeah, I guess so.

[Extremeweatherguy]

Precipitation has recently turned to an 80% sleet/20% frz rain mix here south of OKC. This is a good sign for sure (in terms of avoiding the worst case scenario ice storm), but who knows if it will last. Hopefully it does.

[vbhoutex]

Precipitation has recently turned to an 80% sleet/20% frz rain mix here south of OKC. This is a good sign for sure (in terms of avoiding the worst case scenario ice storm), but who knows if it will last. Hopefully it does.

Radar seems to show the changeover moving into the OKC area within the next couple of hours. It is steadily advancing SWD and there were a couple of "snow pockets" around OKC too.

[Extremeweatherguy]

Seeing a few tree limbs fall around the area, but luckily the sleet is continuing and actually starting to accumulate fairly fast. The whole landscape is getting noticeably whiter and the moderate/heavy sleet falls.

[Extremeweatherguy]

As the back edge of today's precipitation shield approaches, it looks like my precipitation totals so far are as follows..

Freezing rain = About 0.50"
Sleet = About 0.50-1.50"

Overall a pretty nasty storm, but so far nothing like it could have been. Further south and west though it sounds like things were much worse with severe ice damage being reported due to 0.75"+ freezing rain totals.

Now the question arises as to whether or not we will see a significant "round 2" out of this storm. The news media thinks we will, in the form of decent snow tomorrow, but as of now I am in a wait and see mode and will not be surprised if it goes one way or the other.

BTW: As I finish typing this, a large branch just snapped off a tree across the street. Impressive.

[Stephanie]

Just be careful - OK is under a state of emergency, right?

[Extremeweatherguy]

A few more pictures...

Sleet accumulating this afternoon


Small downed limbs like this are a common sight, with a few larger ones down here and there


Ice buildup is pretty significant on some trees


The artificial nighttime light makes the ice shine


Ground is completely sleet covered tonight

[Extremeweatherguy]

Tomorrow's round of snow for central Oklahoma is starting to look more and more likely. Both the 00z GFS and NAM skew-t output depict the air column going completely sub-0C in OKC during the morning hours of Friday, with chances of snowfall developing around the same time and lasting well into the afternoon.

[BlueIce]

I am currently in MWC right now frezzing rain has started again here I would imagine we may see another .02 out of this shower.

[Extremeweatherguy]

Yeah we're getting more freezing rain here too, no sleet. This is definitely not good news. This additional light freezing rain might be just enough to send some of the currently sagging branches to their breaking point overnight.

[BlueIce]

Yeah we're getting more freezing rain here too, no sleet. This is definitely not good news. This additional light freezing rain might be just enough to send some of the currently sagging branches to their breaking point overnight.

EWG I think you are right, we seem to be on the breakover point on the ice, everytime I have gone outside tonight I have heard the trees moanig and groaning. We will see what transpires afer midnight tonight OKC may not be out of the woods quite yet.

[Extremeweatherguy]

Thankfully the ice looks to be over for good now, with the main p-type now becoming snow.

[Weatherdude20]

Its all sleet here now!

[srainhoutx]

ZCZC NFDSPENES ALL
SPENES
MOZ000-ARZ000-OKZ000-KSZ000-
.
SATELLITE PRECIPITATION ESTIMATES..DATE/TIME 01/29/10 1735Z
SATELLITE ANALYSIS BRANCH/NESDIS---NPPU---TEL.301-763-8678
LATEST DATA USED: GOES-12 1715Z CW
.
LOCATION...MISSOURI...ARKANSAS...OKLAHOMA...KANSAS...
.
ATTN WFOS...LZK...SGF...TSA...ICT...OUN...
ATTN RFCS...LMRFC...MBRFC...ABRFC...
.
EVENT...MOD/HVY SNOW DEVELOPING
.
SATELLITE ANALYSIS AND TRENDS...WV IMAGERY IS SHOWING STRONG S/WV
SWINGING ENEWD ACROSS N-CENTRAL TX WITH INCREASING DIFFLUENT FLOW ALOFT.
EXPERIMENTAL MESO WINDS PRODUCT IS ADDITIONALLY SHOWING VERY STRONG
DIVERGENCE ALOFT ACROSS CENTRAL AND ERN OK AHEAD OF THIS S/WV AND WITHIN
LEFT-EXIT REGION OF 100 KT UL JET.
.
ALREADY PRECIPITATION...MAINLY IN THE FROZEN FORM IS FILLING IN NICELY
ACROSS CENTRAL/ERN OK...NW AR...SE KS...SW MO BASED ON RADAR AND STLT
IR LOOPS ARE SHOWING CLOUD TOPS EXPANDING IN COVERAGE ACROSS THE AREA IN
THE LAST 1-2 HRS. RATES ARE EXPECTED TO PICKUP AS MID-UL DYNAMICS FROM
THIS S/WV AND JET HELP IN INCREASING THE UVVS. MOD/HVY SNOW IS EXPECTED
TO DEVELOP OVER THE NEXT 1-3 HRS WITH RATES IN EXCESS OF 1.0"/HR POSSIBLE.
.
SEE NCEP HPC DISCUSSION AND QPF/S FOR FORECAST.
....NESDIS IS A MEMBER OF 12 PLANET....
.
SSD/SAB WEB ADDRESS FOR PRECIP ESTIMATES:
HTTP://WWW.SSD.NOAA.GOV/PS/PCPN/
...ALL LOWER CASE EXCEPT /PS/PCPN/
.
LAT...LON 3755 9435 3461 9415 3448 9761 3683 9787