Ticker for March 9, 2000

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
March 9, 2000      March 9, 2000      March 9, 2000      March 9, 2000


Last Evening's Cold Front Wears a Coat of Many Colors

Yesterday evening, a run-of-the-mill cold front began its slide across
the state, bringing northerly winds and cooler temperatures to Oklahoma
today.  And, while the front has made some impact on today's afternoon
temperatures ( 
 ),
the real story is how it introduced itself in so many different ways.

As the Ticker has evangelized so many times before, there's a great deal
of meteorology packed into a meteogram, so that's what we'll use to look
at five different locations in and around central Oklahoma.

At Norman ( 
 ),
the front just blasted its way in with a stiff wind gust and abrupt
change of wind direction.

At Bowlegs ( 
 )
and Bixby ( 
 ),
the front eased its way through, accompanied by calming winds and a more
gradual change of direction.

At El Reno (
 ),
the wind shift was abrupt and gusty, but the front almost seemed to
apologize for itself with a significant (albeit temporary) warm-up in
its wake.

At Stillwater (
 ),
the front had no immediate effect on the temperature field, but a series
of three or four oscillations in the wind field followed its passage.

At Spencer ( 
 ),
these oscillations were even more apparent, especially in the wind speed
category.

Overall, it was a well-rounded performance by our visitor from the north.