Ticker for March 12, 2014

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
March 12, 2014     March 12, 2014     March 12, 2014     March 12, 2014


Need some dirt?

Colorado and Kansas are happy to oblige. Here's what it looked like from out in
the Oklahoma Panhandle as the dirt approached along this windy cold front. A
brilliant blue sky, about to be obliterated by our friend to the north. Thanks for
the pic, Randy!



Here's what the "Haboob" (dust storm) looked like from space, courtesy of the
"Texas Storm Chasers" group.



Easy to see the culprits here. Start with the drought plagued High Plains region
to the north of Oklahoma (and also in the Oklahoma Panhandle and points south)



where bare fields provide plenty of available topsoil to blow. Add in a strong-
but-dry cold front with winds gusting to over 60 mph





and you have the ingredients to chew a lot of dirt overnight. Winds have calmed
in the last few hours, now gusting to "merely" 25-35 mph.




Annnnnddddd, add in the low relative humidity from the last couple of days
and you also get extreme fire danger. News from across the state show a lot of
wildfires still burning, although many more were extinguished or brought under
control. That fire danger will stay high throughout the week into the weekend,
it appears, but is particularly high today.




The next chance for rain, albeit not a great chance, comes in this weekend
through early next week. The 7-day moisture forecast shows about an inch or so
is possible in the southeast to less than a tenth up in the northwest. Wishful
thinking in some cases, probably.



It looks dry once again as we go farther out, which is certainly NOT good news.
Again, from our friends up north, pretty meager chances across western Oklahoma
to see at least an inch of rain accumulate through March 27.



Take a look at the CPC's 6-10 day (March 17-21) outlooks. We still see the
influence of that battle between the big trough to the east (and all that frigid
air) and the ridge to the west (and heat).




That leaves us with more fast-moving fronts and little chance to see a return
of Gulf Moisture into our area.

And dirt in our Cheerio's. Just think of it as good fiber.

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