Head's up Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and points northeast

Hello all,

As some of you may know, I'm a weather watcher. Today we had severe high winds out here in west Texas. Usually when we do, storms will get ugly farther to the east. Our winds gusted about 70 mph. Very weird, it's a spring-like set up, with warm air all the way up into Illinois, and a very active low swirling its way towards the states listed above. The winds were extremely fierce, and there are no natural mountains to slow it down until at least Arkansas.

I pray that it's just thunderstorms and some wind and that's it...Lord knows we've had enough bad news in this country for one day. I would have posted this earlier but I had a pet at the vet's office and couldn't sit down to post until this evening.

Previously when we had something like this, it would get kind of ugly out of the blue, and I felt the need to post a few warnings: www.abovetopsecret.com...

And this one: www.abovetopsecret.com...

The wind out here never lies. Let's hope it's not anything bad, but we're still having gusty winds after dusk, and will continue tomorrow.

Better to be aware of the weather, particularly overnight when your guard is down, than to ignore it and be caught unaware. Spring patterns are usually trouble, no matter what time of year they hit.

Stay safe, y'all

And the benefit of driving through West Texas as a matter of fact right now I am in Sonora Texas and I've never encountered dust storms like that.

reply to post by totallackey


It was fairly vicious today. We had hundreds of tumbleweeds blowing by like cars on the freeway. If we hadn't picked up a little rain, the dust would have continued unabated. It is supposed to be blowing dust tomorrow as well, although I don't anticipate the winds to be as strong.

Before the rain hit, the sky became dark with tan colored dust. I picked up my mail later in the day, and the inside of my mailbox was full of dust. My truck (which is white) was dust covered, and then got just enough rain to turn it into a muddy, gross mess. Such is life in west Texas!

However, severe winds out here = nasty storms to the east, hence this thread.

reply to post by FissionSurplus


Thank you FissionSurplus for the update! I will keep my eyes open to the weather tonight! Thanks again for giving us in the areas you listed a heads up!

reply to post by Katharos62191


You're welcome. Ever since I moved out here two years ago, I saw a strong correlation between high winds out here and nasty weather farther east. Of course, it's common sense if you think about it, but this is not typical for out here this time of year. We're having spring weather in the freaking wintertime.

Anyway, I'd rather be wrong and have posters blast me for "fear-mongering", than to have not said anything and then there were tornadoes or destructive thunderstorms overnight with injuries or loss of life. The overnight storms are the worst, because everybody is sleeping, or cannot see what is coming their way until it is too late.

I have a present for you, if you haven't seen this before. It's a real time depiction of winds across the Continental United States at any period. It shows your high wind and right now, almost dead calm to the east. It's odd that way...and it shows where all your wind is going. Looks like I-40 is a pain to drive across the whole Western length right now.

U.S. Wind Patterns - Real Time Display

reply to post by FissionSurplus


We all know you have a pretty good track record. Hopefully nothing big happens though.

I don't personally know anyone out that way, but maybe a few on here will be able to tell others to keep an eye out. Weather has been super weird lately. Not two or three days ago it was freezing here and then today I'm wearing shorts again.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


Wrabbit, that is awesome! I've never seen a wind map like this before. It appear to be meeting north of here (I almost want to say Kansas).

I need to look up to see if there is a barometric pressure with this swirling low. Seems to me that, the lower the pressure, the higher the winds, and the worse the storms are.

I've seen some brisk wind out here in December, but it's usually coming from the north / northwest, not south / southwest. The sucking up of the wind from the desert southwest and from Mexico means it's warmer than normal (which was true, it was 65 degrees here with cloudy skies before the winds hit, and last night, it only dropped to 50....keep in mind that, just about 4 nights ago, we had a low of 11 degrees).

The weather is very confusing right now!!

reply to post by fictitious


I know, right? We Texans should be used to the bipolar weather, but this particular weather patten is quite confusing to me.

I checked the Weather Channel and they said that this low would fizzle out over the southern midwest somewhere. Let's hope they're right, but high winds such as what we had don't usually just "fizzle", they go somewhere else and cause trouble.

Plus we will continue with our winds into tomorrow, which tells me the low is strong and will continue to pull winds with it as it tracks eastward.

Just today, I exclaimed to myself, "I am -sick- of these high winds!"
I persist within the lower right ovary area of FEMA Region 5, and it's been high winds every day for awhile. Because the temps have dropped, (December, don'tcha know) winds make things super cold.

reply to post by Saucerwench


Not quite sure where the ovary of FEMA region 5 is (Midwest somewhere?), but down here, the winds are always directly related to something that will go on someplace else. It's always somewhat windy out here, that's not news, but today's vicious winds are a harbinger of nasty weather.

And the wind was being sucked up from a warm area. Not good. When it meets the colder air from your area, it can be explosive.

Here in OKC the rain started about 45 minutes ago. My radar shows a narrow squall line moving through with tops in the 6,000' range. Wind is steady at 20, gusts 45. Temp 49.8F. Long range wind analysis shows wind 20 - 25 south easterly, converging on a low in eastern Colorado.

So far nothing but some much needed rain!

Thanks for the heads up though. SnF

Should be an interesting Winter...

Cheers!

reply to post by LetsGoViking


Glad to know that it's just basic thunderstorms where you're at! We had a thin squall line come through around 3 this afternoon, but the winds preceeding it were 70 mph, it was wild (and dusty!)

Thanks for the update from your area of Oklahoma!

I'm not into the weather patterns in the states but is there any connection with the jetstream?? I always find it hard to find a good source for current jet stream patterns, but I know from cold winters in europe there is an connection with it. Be back later something was up in Russia where the high altitude air was expected to be 80 degrees higher then normal. If anyone knows. It was the map that looked like a "ying-yang" be back in a couple of hours when I can explore the net from a desktop instead of a phone..

reply to post by IgnorantSquare


Yes, the jet stream and its position across the United States has everything to do with our weather and where the storms go.

I'm sure this is also true in Europe and Russia.

Jet stream link for your part of the world: www.wund.com...

Windy here too . With dust. Has my asthma acting up so bad I was in the hospital for a week.
Here in Az, no winter this year. Still running my AC! Unheard of this time of year.
No break in my electric bill this year I guess.

reply to post by amatrine


Yes, my asthma has gotten so much worse since I've been out here where it's dusty.

I've had to use the air conditioner in the truck quite a few days this month. I know that it is unreasonable to expect the weather patterns to always stay the same, year after year, but the past few years have been drier and warmer than normal.

Typically I wouldn't care, except I think that it is going to hit us all in the bank account when we shop for food next year.....along with higher taxes, etc., etc.

Perhaps next month, or February, things will cool down sufficiently in Arizona. We can only hope.

We rarely get hard gusty winds here. I live in the foothills of the Ozarks.

reply to post by lonewolf19792000


I imagine the only time you get them is briefly during a storm.

The issue where I live is that it is absolutely flat for hundreds of miles in any direction, so there is nothing to stop the winds or slow them up. Many flat desert areas, and prairies, have the wind issue. However, I find that, when the wind stops, it starts to get way too hot, so in a way, I'm grateful for them.....just not blowing steady at 50 mph and sand-blasting me as soon as I step outside!

Originally posted by FissionSurplus
reply to post by lonewolf19792000

 

I imagine the only time you get them is briefly during a storm.

The issue where I live is that it is absolutely flat for hundreds of miles in any direction, so there is nothing to stop the winds or slow them up. Many flat desert areas, and prairies, have the wind issue. However, I find that, when the wind stops, it starts to get way too hot, so in a way, I'm grateful for them.....just not blowing steady at 50 mph and sand-blasting me as soon as I step outside!

Yeah, i used to be a truck driver. I got stuck in Wyoming once coming out of Cheyenne because the interstate was shutdown because the winds were in excess of 75 mph and were laying trucks over. I remember trying to walk into a Flying J truckstop and i had to put all my weight on the door just to get out of my truck and then i had to lean all my weight into the wind just to make it to the store. Never seen that kind of wind hold a man up with nothing but pure force, it could literally blow the hair off your head. I also remember my arms were so tired and aching from fighting the steering wheel just trying to keep the truck straight.