Ticker for March 13, 2019

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
March 13, 2019     March 13, 2019     March 13, 2019     March 13, 2019


Wind schmind!




Mother Nature would never disrupt the best March 13 of my life! Well, wrong, it's
not the best March 13 of my life, and I'd consider today disrupted! We did get a
heckuva rain today across a good portion of the state, and that rain is still
occurring as the line of storms marches east.



And in total, we had a good 77-county rain over the last few days. Some more than
others, of course, but that's the way it is with rainfall. Flooding is occurring
along rivers from southwest through northern Oklahoma.





Now the big story turns to wind. As is often the case during the spring in
Oklahoma, after the rain clears out then the winds come. We have a monstrous
surface low pressure system forming to our northwest along with a strong
upper-level low. It's producing blizzard warnings to our north with the same
winds we're about to get here.





This isn't the best view of that low pressure, but you can see it here.



At any rate, with that setup, prepare for another windstorm. Hopefully we won't
see a lot of dust after the rains, but there will be fire danger present across
far western Oklahoma, despite the moisture. That's the way fire danger works
this time of year. Keep in mind the vegetation is still mostly dead/dormant, so
it gets wet with the rain, but with winds gusting to 50-65mph in that area,
it will dry out quickly, awaiting a spark. And if fires do occur, they will be
difficult to reach effectively because of muddy ground.

After today's excitement, we'll have a slow warm up and then we'll go from
there. And here to think I was going to have a picnic today.

RAT FARTS! (Before you get mad, watch "Caddyshack").

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