Ticker for December 21, 2011

                
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December 21, 2011  December 21, 2011  December 21, 2011  December 21, 2011


And since we've got places to go ...

Let it melt! Let it melt! Let it melt!

Yeah, I'm no Dean Martin. I will settle for Jerry Lewis, however. A look at
today's rainfall map from the Oklahoma Mesonet shows light precipitation falling
over northwestern Oklahoma. Or does it?



What we're seeing here is a consequence of the non-heated rain gauges of the
Oklahoma Mesonet measuring melting snow. With air temperatures rising above
freezing (and some very pleasant weather showing up in much of the state) and
plenty of sunshine, the snow that sits inside the Mesonet's rain gauges is now
beginning to melt. That melt-water then registers as liquid precipitation. After
the fact, of course.




The snow and its drifts of up to 10 feet in the western Panhandle show up quite
nicely on the latest visible satellite image.



How do we know that's snow and not clouds in the High Plains region of the
Southern Plains? You can clearly see the river and stream beds in the Oklahoma
Panhandle. Those types of geographic features would not be visible if clouds
were present. The river bed you see belongs to the Beaver River, or as those
west or east of the Panhandle know it as...the North Canadian.

Snow reports indicate from 4-15 inches fell in parts of the Panhandle from
about Beaver westward and can be seen on the map below from the NWS. A great
dose of moisture for the area of the state still the hardest hit by the
drought. If we can see anywhere close to the sometimes normal snow/rain ratio
of 10:1 with this event, then this blizzard provided a nice, slow soaking
"rainfall" (ahem ... complete with all the headaches of a blizzard, mind you).



Preliminary data from the Boise City NWS COOPerative observer (who will melt the
snow and get a liquid equivalent) shows 15 inches of snow on the 19th and 20th
and 1.59 inches of liquid precipitation (rain and liquid equivalent of the snow
added together).

Gary McManus
Associate State Climatologist
Oklahoma Climatological Survey
(405) 325-2253
gmcmanus@mesonet.org