Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Storms, Easter, and April Fools Chill

We have a lot to talk about over the next 2 weeks.   This video goes over everything in detail from A to Z.

  • EXACT timing of storms tonight and specific threats
  • Easter sunrise weather
  • Possible late Easter rain and storms.  I am not ruling out some hail
  • Early April chill
  • Possible comparison to April 2007.... POSSIBLE 

3 comments:

Mr. C.A. Hudson said...

Just a curiosity question but why did the National Weather Service out of Little Rock not issue a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for the storm over Johnson County on Thursday morning? Radar data was consistent with hail several times up to and over 1 inch in diameter and winds to 60 mph and now their own damage assessment shows winds of 80 mph to 85 mph. All that was issued was a "Special Weather Statement" for winds in excess of 40 mph and pea to half inch sized hail. Unless you specifically had Special Weather Statement on your weather radio no warning went out. SWS are for strong storms, not severe storms with 80+ mph winds. There was also low level rotation on base velocity that looked more like a mesocyclone with perhaps a wall cloud or perhaps even a funnel from north of Hagarville that traveled over Fort Douglas and into Newton County over the town of Lurton before falling apart. Sometimes I believe Stevie Wonder should be watching the radar data instead of the NWS Little Rock for the rural northern parts of Arkansas because it's rather obvious how we rate.
A Concerned Skywarn Member

Anonymous said...

I agree with A Concerned Skywarn Member to a certain point. It seems that there should be a coordinated effort between National Weather Service in Springfield, MO and National Weather Service in Little Rock, Arkansas to make sure north central Arkansas is covered. NWS Tulsa appears to do great job covering the far Northwestern Counties. Anything south of Clinton, NWS Little Rock does great covering. Between Clinton and Missouri appears to be the problem. Either side of Hwy 65.

Cody Reno said...

Hi Todd, I partially agree with Mr. Hudson and Anonymous but also only to a certain point. This last round, Little Rock and Tulsa dropped the ball. Mr. Hudson was right on the NWS LZK with Johnson County but NWS Tulsa also failed. The tornado warning was issued 1 minute before the Evansville tornado lifted. Nothing was issued for Adair County, Oklahoma, Crawford County, AR, and for a whole minute with a tornado on the ground at Washington County. One problem covering North-Central Arkansas is that radar coverage from Springfield, MO and Little Rock is stretched to the limit going that far north for LZK and south for SGF. There's also the problem of storm chasers seeing something in the "jungle" of the Ozark's. It's bad enough during the day but at night it's nearly suicidal. All local NWS agencies did excellent on March 13th including Tulsa and particularly Little Rock. Until Congress gets it's act together and gives more money to the NWS for new radars such as the Phased Array to replace the aging WSR-88D NEXRAD network these things will happen. Same with the weather satellites (GOES 13,14, and 15 are aging fast and we need the GOES R series now but there again the budget is crippling the NWS). To err is to be human and it happened with Little Rock and Tulsa however with the tools they have, I'd say they are doing an extraordinary job under such difficult circumstances. Thank You.

The NEW Arkansas Weather Blog