Updated Tornado Stats…. February 29, 2012

These are some great stats provided by John Robinson from the NWS in Little Rock.  Here is an explantion below…. Things to keep in mind:  On the map showing the number of verified tornadoes, if a tornado passed through more than one county, it is counted in each county that it entered (in other words, it [...]

Severe Weather Recap February 29, 2012

 A couple potent thunderstorms moved through Benton, Washington and Madison counties last night. Two of these cells had significant rotation and had tornado warnings in effect for them. The cell in northern Benton county is the same storm that produced a tornado in Branson, MO. The second cell did put down a path of hail [...]

Tornado Watch Until 5:00 A.M. February 28, 2012

A strong to severe line of thunderstorms continues to move in our direction.  The SPC has issued a Tornado Watch across the area until 5 a.m. The wind shear remains extremely strong tonight, so it’s possible to get a few storms within the line that rotate.  Those storms will be capable of producing isolated tornadoes. [...]

10:00 P.M. Update February 28, 2012

A line of strong to severe thunderstorms has developed to the northwest of the Tulsa metro area.  This line of storms will move in between Midnight and 3 a.m. The overall tornado threat remains low within the line; however, an isolated tornado is possible with the amount of wind shear present in the atmosphere.  Quarter [...]

6:00 P.M. Update February 28, 2012

All remains quiet across the area this early evening.  The weather should remain quiet through 10 p.m.  Showers and storms will move in between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.  Now it’s looking more like the storms will arrive closer to midnight. The clouds have limited the overall instability this afternoon.  The cloud cover has helped to weaken the overall severe [...]

2:30 P.M. Update February 28, 2012

The clouds have filled back in across the area this afternoon as expected.  This stratus indicates of the warm moist air being transported from the Gulf of Mexico.  Isolated showers are possible across the area this afternoon and evening. The warm front is slowly creeping north across the Ouachitas.  The models still indicate that the front will [...]

10:00 A.M. Update…Increasing Moisture February 28, 2012

The forecast will quickly evolve this afternoon and evening with showers and thunderstorms developing.  One of the necessary ingredients for severe thunderstorms is surface based moisture.  We look at dewpoints to indicate where the deep moisture resides. This is a surface map made up of many station plots.  The bottom green number represents the dewpoint [...]

It All Comes Down To The Sunshine February 28, 2012

We are still under a slight risk for severe thunderstorms for tonight. This is what we call a high shear low instability set up. In other words, the winds in the atmosphere will be very supportive of severe weather later on tonight, but there won’t be a lot of instability available to help get violent [...]

Tuesday’s Severe Weather Update February 27, 2012

I really have no major changes from Ross’ thinking from earlier today.  The entire viewing area remains under a slight risk for severe weather for Tuesday evening.  The severe storm potential will mainly be from 6p.m. until Midnight.  Storms will develop out west during the late afternoon and early evening, and head in our direction toward [...]

Severe Storms Possible Tomorrow Night February 27, 2012

As Drew mentioned last night, severe thunderstorms are possible Tuesday evening. A few showers and storms are possible in the morning hours along the warm front but the biggest severe weather threat will be between 6pm and Midnight on Tuesday. The biggest threats will be damaging winds. Large hail and isolated tornadoes are also a [...]