Eastern Sebastian County Wall Cloud April 30, 2009

Here are a sequence of pictures from the lone severe thunderstorm of the day.  They were taken from near Washburn in Eastern Sebastian County.  As I approached the storm a bit of a hook developed and I began to see a well defined wall cloud through the trees.  When I finally got to a good [...]

Ozark Tornado Confirmed April 30, 2009

Last night at 5:07 p.m. a tornado touched down 4 miles northeast of Ozark.  It was an extremely short lived tornado; however, it damaged 6 homes, 1 barn, and several trees.  No injuries were reported!
You can read about how the Ozark tornado formed in my earlier blog post.
Drew Michaels

Tricky Temperature Forecast For NWA Friday April 30, 2009

Below is the surface temperature forecast for 7pm tomorrow from the GFS computer model. A stationary front will separate the chilly air to the north from the warm temperatures to the south.

The front will be positioned right on top of Benton, Delaware, and McDonald counties tomorrow afternoon. This along with a few showers could keep [...]

12:45 PM Update April 30, 2009

Some showers and thunderstorms are developing near Tulsa, OK. These storms will drift into our area later this afternoon with more rainfall and some hail a possibility. Here is the 12:50 pm Super Doppler Radar image.

The sunshine will help to destabilize us later this afternoon. This along with cold air aloft and yesterday’s outflow boundaries, [...]

10:30 a.m. Update April 30, 2009

 This morning we’ve seen scattered showers and a few isolated thunderstorms in response to another disturbance aloft.  This trend will continue into the afternoon.

In order to detect some of these waves you need to look at the atmospheric flow around 18,000 ft or 500 mb.  Look closely in the red box to see the wind barbs [...]

THURSDAY STORMS STORM CHANCES… April 30, 2009

We are under a slight risk of severe weather today.  We have a 500 mb (approximately 19,000 feet) shortwave stalling out right over us today and this will be the focus for our shower and thunderstorm chances.  The moisture is readily available and it won’t take much energy to give us some storms.  So an upper level [...]

10:00 P.M. Rainfall Update April 29, 2009

Drew Michaels

Possible Ozark Tornado Tonight April 29, 2009

We’re still gathering information regarding a possible tornado that touched down northeast of Ozark tonight.  A bow echo moving northeast shortly after 5 p.m. was likely responsible for the tornado.

The diagram above is of a bow echo.  The winds in the middle of the bow are known as a rear inflow jet.  These winds are responsible [...]

6:00 P.M. Rainfall Updates April 29, 2009

Drew Michaels

Flash Flood Watch Through Thursday April 29, 2009

Rainfall continues to fall across the area this late afternoon.  Many locations have received between a .25″ to 1.00″ of rain; however, some locations across eastern Oklahoma are approaching 1.50″ of rain.

Here are some notable totals as of 4:30 p.m.  The National Weather Service in Tulsa has issued a Flash Flood Watch for the entire area until [...]