April 2024 - General Weather Discussion

[NikonNurse]

I think I recall back in the 90s (when I was growing up) they didn't do wall to wall coverage as much. It seemed like they more often just kept the map in the corner and provided updates with the blue scroll, cut in only on the commercials. They only went wall to wall when a tornado was on the ground or imminent.

I could be recalling incorrectly, but my impression was that when they went wall to wall then it really meant something. Now not necessarily.

when I was a kid, Fred Norman, Ross Dixon and Gary England would yell tornado, we would go out and see if we could see a funnel. No shelter, just see if you can get a pic

Since then, there have been quite a few F5 city eating tornados with loss of life..... everyone takes criticism for poor forecasting, whether there is something or not. So I would rather them do wall-to-wall coverage and bust. then be caught by surprise...

[NikonNurse]

Pretty sure Norman and Moore aren't saying "bust" at the moment.

[Ginkasa]

when I was a kid, Fred Norman, Ross Dixon and Gary England would yell tornado, we would go out and see if we could see a funnel. No shelter, just see if you can get a pic

Since then, there have been quite a few F5 city eating tornados with loss of life..... everyone takes criticism for poor forecasting, whether there is something or not. So I would rather them do wall-to-wall coverage and bust. then be caught by surprise...

I'm not complaining! Just noting a difference.

[Mississippi Blues]

Ardmore getting hit on the southern end.

[SoonerDave]

What a difference the LLJ makes....

[NikonNurse]

things are ramping up, luckily they’re not here in the city, but I feel bad for Ardmore, etc.

[NikonNurse]

I'm not complaining! Just noting a difference.

oh I know, I was just thinking out loud about what I remember9

[sayyes]

Is OKC metro done with tornados since leading edge is out East?

[Bunty]

Finally getting a good heavy rain in Stillwater.

[Libbymin]

The OKC Metro was largely spared today thankfully but there’s been quite a bit of tornadic activity elsewhere - Sulphur, Norman, Ardmore, etc. And eastern Oklahoma isn’t done yet.

[bison34]

Still a bust?! Lol

My house got about an inch of rain in 30 minutes earlier this evening. Just north of Norman. It's insane! Still raining, as well. Hasn't stopped, just not severe rain.

[SoonerDave]

Is OKC metro done with tornados since leading edge is out East?

Yes

[jedicurt]

Still a bust?! Lol

My house got about an inch of rain in 30 minutes earlier this evening. Just north of Norman. It's insane! Still raining, as well. Hasn't stopped, just not severe rain.

i think the only one saying that was a troll. that is why the ignore feature is great on here.

i am in norman and got 1.2 inches in that probably same 30 minutes.

[bison34]

i think the only one saying that was a troll. that is why the ignore feature is great on here.

i am in norman and got 1.2 inches in that probably same 30 minutes.

I hope they were trolling.

But the people of Sulphur and Holdenville and Spaulding would definitely say it wasn't a bust.

[SEMIweather]

I would say the Moderate Risk will easily end up verifying, really bad situation unfolding across southern/eastern Oklahoma right now.

[Will Dearborn]

Severe weather is a big part of our identity and culture. We have the NWS and the best school of meteorology. Two Twister movies have been filmed and set here. When I lived in California there were two things people knew about Oklahoma: OU football and tornadoes.

Then you have the business model of all the local news stations almost completely driven by weather coverage (they will all freely admit that).

We just have so many resources devoted to severe weather, and that apparatus is increasingly looking for things to do. At least from the TV perspective, that's a formula for disproportionate hype.

agree with the local TV spin but they're not the ones issuing the guidance - it's the NWS that hasn't gotten things right recently

unlike the local media yahoos though, I have confidence the NWS professionals will actual have a retrospective to see if there's anywhere to improve.

[bison34]

But they weren't wrong in this case. This was a major, major tornado outbreak. In what world is over 20 tornados not a PDS? None. So they were right. People just called it a strikeout before it was even in the on-deck circle. And it's coming through with a home run. Sulphur is literally on fire, right now.

So those who predicted a make outbreak, were dead-on. Anyone bashing them was dead wrong.

[Mississippi Blues]

But they weren't wrong in this case. This was a major, major tornado outbreak. In what world is over 20 tornados not a PDS? None. So they were right. People just called it a strikeout before it was even in the on-deck circle. And it's coming through with a home run. Sulphur is literally on fire, right now.

So those who predicted a make outbreak, were dead-on. Anyone bashing them was dead wrong.

It’s honestly a blessing they weren’t *more* right about everything before dark. In hindsight it feels like the action prior to sundown was just the calm before the actual storm, even with the first tornado warning coming almost 12 hours before stuff really went bonkers.

[TornadoKegan]

apparently the homeland in Marietta was completely destroyed. the hospital and dollar tree distribution center also had damage

[C_M_25]

But they weren't wrong in this case. This was a major, major tornado outbreak. In what world is over 20 tornados not a PDS? None. So they were right. People just called it a strikeout before it was even in the on-deck circle. And it's coming through with a home run. Sulphur is literally on fire, right now.

So those who predicted a make outbreak, were dead-on. Anyone bashing them was dead wrong.

Do you understand the term PDS tornado? There were none of those yesterday. All the tornadoes that touched down were of the smaller size. There were no PDS tornadoes yesterday.

I’m calling this a partial bust because storms failed to initiate in their PDS tornado watch area over the majority of the area. There were supercells but they failed to organize any type of real tornado threat. If they just issued a standard tornado watch, I would say not a bust; however, that PDS tornado watch is a big darn deal. Not seeing anything pop up in that window is going to set up a boy-who-cried-wolf scenario. Remember, that’s already happened once before this season.

The rest of the day went as forecast. You had a major line of storms develop that had all major types of severe weather associated with it.

[PhiAlpha]

Do you understand the term PDS tornado? There were none of those yesterday. All the tornadoes that touched down were of the smaller size. There were no PDS tornadoes yesterday.

I’m calling this a partial bust because storms failed to initiate in their PDS tornado watch area over the majority of the area. There were supercells but they failed to organize any type of real tornado threat. If they just issued a standard tornado watch, I would say not a bust; however, that PDS tornado watch is a big darn deal. Not seeing anything pop up in that window is going to set up a boy-who-cried-wolf scenario. Remember, that’s already happened once before this season.

The rest of the day went as forecast. You had a major line of storms develop that had all major types of severe weather associated with it.

Im not sure that’s the case. There was at least one tornado that likely fit that description near Holdenville. It was on the ground for 30 minutes to an hour, looked to be huge and based on initial reports, sounded like something over an EF-3. It just fortunately didn’t hit a population center. The Sulfur tornado may have fit into that category as well damage wise, but it wasn’t on the ground as long.

Edit: the Sulphur tornado absolutely fit that description

[Jeepnokc]

What is today looking like for OKC?

[jn1780]

It was always going to be a messy setup with the second wave expected to be the worse. Was the first PDS a bust, probably? I am not sure that holdenville storm occurred in that original PDS watch or not. NWS thought the storms ahead of the dryline would end up being being even worse than the second wave. Luckily they were wrong

[SEMIweather]

What is today looking like for OKC?

Today will be fine, no rain and skies will gradually clear throughout the day.

[yukong]

The tornado that hit Sulphur was pretty big. Downtown is likely a total loss. From the videos and pics coming out it was devastating. It was also on the ground for quite a bit.