Storm Recap

The above image shows what fell last night and where. As I look at that map, there is no way to have forecast the storm accurately. I would have never gone on-air with a forecast map that has an "ice storm sandwich" between "heavy snow bread". Regardless, I'm my toughest critic and I'm looking for ways to learn from last night.

At my house, I had at least 0.25" of freezing rain, if not more. All rain gauges were frozen. I left and drove west to find snow. As I came down Crowley's Ridge by Mrs. Addies on Hwy 412, I started noticing white rooftops. By the time I got to Light, they had a dusting of snow. I kept driving west and by the time I arrived in Walnut Ridge, they had 2-3" of snow. That's only 20 miles! I then turned north and found the 5-6" in Randolph County. A direct path from my house to the 6" of snow is 31 miles. Folks, that's a tough forecast.

I've taken the slamming on social media from those that saw no snow. It comes with the job. In my bitterness, I banned a few people that I shouldn't have. If that was you, I'm sorry. Maybe.

I have an idea for a blog post soon that compares Meteorologists to Referees. We don't always get the call right, but we don't do it on purpose.

Have a great weekend. You guys are the best viewers in the world.

Ryan

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fake Tornado Reports Are Not Funny

Image
For anyone that knows me, they know that I have pulled some pranks. My friends know that I will do anything to make them laugh or smile. The guy who posted this picture to Facebook last night was probably trying to do the same thing. I get it. But, posting fake tornado reports is not funny. It's dangerous. It creates false panic. And, it wastes time for those trying to warn people in the line of storms. The pic above was NOT from Region 8 yesterday. It is a picture from Marshall Brozek in Moore, OK in 2013. Let me explain more about the picture above: Its' a picture of a tornado that killed 25 people in Moore, Oklahoma on May 20th, 2013: NWS-Norman It's the picture of a tornado that killed kids, pregnant mothers, dads, sons, and daughters. Here are their names, ages, and links to their lives: Terri Long – 49 Megan Futrell – 29 Case Futrell – 4 months Shannon Quick – 40 Sydnee Vargyas – 7 months Karrina Vargyas – 4 Jeany Neely – 38 Antonia Candelaria – 9 Kyle Davis – 8 Janae...
Read more

Our Hazy Sky Comes From Africa

Image
Many of you have probably noticed the HAZE over the past day or two. You may have also noticed that it's not like our normal summer haze. It has a little bit of a "dusty" look to it... Well, that's because it is from the Saharan Desert! As you can see in this animation, the general wind flow is from East to West in the lower latitudes. If the wind patterns are just right... that dust is scooped northward into Region 8: The above animation is a forecast over the next few days. Notice that while the dust is still moving across the Atlantic, it will lesson over Region 8. Yesterday was probably the worst day: One good thing about having Saharan Desert Dust over the Atlantic is that it helps suppress hurricane development. Have a great day! Ryan
Read more

Severe Weather Possible: Memorial Day Weekend

Image
First off, I think we are going to salvage a lot of the weekend. If you have outdoor plans, you will want to watch the TIMING of the storms, but don't cancel your plans. Here are the bullet points as of today (5/24/17): A few spotty storms are possible on Friday evening, but we are not too worried about these storms and anything that develops should not last long. On Saturday, most of the day will be dry. The greatest threat is Saturday EVENING. Greatest threat: STRAIGHT LINE WINDS. Hail is possible Tornado threat is LOW. A lot of Sunday AFTERNOON may be dry.  Memorial Day looks dry. So, let's dig into some specifics. Remember, we are still FOUR days out and this forecast may change a little. As of now, here's where I think the greatest risk will be on Saturday and Saturday night: For us in Region 8, we may see several hours of dry weather on Saturday. The latest data shows that most of the rain between 1PM and 7PM will be north and west of us: Later Saturday evening and Sa...
Read more