Day 352: Developing Drought Conditions
Above are the last 30 days combined precipitation totals from the Oklahoma Mesonet. Notice the swath along and just northwest of the I44 corridor that has received very little rain the last 30 days? Notice how all of Oklahoma to the west of I44 has much less precipitation than areas east of I44? This lack of precipitation is leading to drought conditions across these areas, which will increase the wildfire potential during any warm periods (unless precipitation occurs).
Day 351: New Mexico Snow
Yesterday into early this morning, a late Autumn storm moved though the southern United States bringing a decent snowfall to much of northern New Mexico. Above are the objectively analyzed snow totals from a regional cutout of the National Snow Analysis.
Day 350: West Coast Deluge
A strong storm is poised to affect the western United States over the next several days. This storm will bring in a very moist airmass resulting in widespread significant precipitation. Of particular interest is the precipitation maximum in the Sierra Nevadas where most of this will fall in the form of snow. Feel free to follow this event over at one of my former student’s website Powdiction.
Day 349: COLD!
Tonight’s image is from Unisys, and depicts just how cold it got this morning across the continental United States. Although the temperatures are lower across the north and east, the deviation from normal are greatest in the southeast and Florida. Most of Florida last night was below 0C (32F) for a large portion of the night! The good news is that it shouldn’t be this cold tonight (in Florida, anyways).
Day 348: Winter in Full Force
As some already know, I’m in the midst of a family emergency so this will be short. Tonight’s National Weather Service’s Watch Warning graphic indicates that winter is in full force across the eastern United States. Winter weather advisories and warnings in eastern Arkansas and the Ohio River Valley to Hard Freeze Warnings for most of Florida.
Day 347: Oklahoma Highs
Unable to do a detailed post tonight, so enjoy a look at today’s high temperatures across Oklahoma (courtesy of the Oklahoma Mesonet). In the wake of this weekend’s strong cyclone, coldest temperatures were in the northeast portion of the state and warmest temperaturess in the southwest and far western Oklahoma panhandle!
Day 346: Mapa del Tiempo de Hoy
The United States has a large hispanic population, and within this population are people who do not understand English. Because of this, many National Weather Service offices try to produce their forecasts and products in both and English and Spanish form. Above is the English version of today’s weather map, and below is the Spanish version. Both of these were generated by the Hydrometeorological Prediction Center. It’s fascinating to see the different symbols used for “Low” (Bajo) and “High” (Alto).
About Patrick
Patrick Marsh is a Ph.D. student at the University of Oklahoma's School of Meteorology. He earned a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics and Physics (cum laude) from the University of Arkansas in 2005 and a Masters of Science in Meteorology in 2007. In addition to working on his doctorate, Patrick serves as the National Severe Storms Laboratory Liaison to the Hazardous Weather Testbed where his research interests lie in working with operational forecasters, data mining, data visualization, and all things high-impact weather. For more about Patrick's work, check out his complete CV!
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