Holy ****, I just got owned by a WALL CLOUD.

[Easy 10]

Well, they said on Channel 9 that it wasn't tornadic, and that combined with the fact that it was way west (and pounding Mustang, take that Schwabby!) made it only a weak deterrent to a ten-mile lap of Lake Hefner. I started out at Stars and Stripes Park on the south side of the lake, heading clockwise towards the far away clouds. About 17 minutes later, at the extreme southwestern edge of the lake, some dark clouds were coming in above me. I was almost to the top of the lake when several huge sheets of water came whipping out of the sky, soaking me. Then the rain went away, and above me, as I headed east along the northern edge, I could almost see some sunlight through the clouds. It was beautiful; it was paradise.

I cruised easily around the dam. As I looked back, I saw something that both shocked and amazed me. From the west, an extremely dark, emmense cloud with a shear face was moving towards the lake. It looked like it had been cut with a razor; it stretched almost all the way across the horizon over the entire metro area and seemed to come straight out of the cloud layer almost down to the ground. I've lived in Oklahoma all my life, and I know what it means when you see a wall (SHELF, thanks Filipe :) )cloud: get under cover, NOW. The wall was still about ten miles away when I started heading south along the eastern shore. It was entrancing to look at, almost enough to soften it's sinister edge. I thought for a moment I would be able to get back to Stars and Stripes before it hit. A minute later, though, and I could see plainly that the wall was over my house several miles south of the lake.

Oh sh!t.

The my legs seemed to be rejuvinated as a surge of adrenaline and 30 mph gust of wind accelerated me to roughly 4:50 pace, and then even faster. Above me, the darkness had reached the western shore and every couple of seconds the ground, sky, and water would light up in a brilliant glow of lightning. I could feel the thunder in my body. I was now about a half mile from the cluster of restaurants half-way down the side of the lake. Grass and dirt started flying through the air as the wind kicked up further. I started flat-out sprinting towards Bahama Breeze. Just as I got under the entrence canopy, sheets of water started screaming horizontially out of the sky and soaked me for the second time on the run. Dripping, I went in the restaurant as visibility outside decreased to about a hundred feet and the winds increased to about seventy miles per hour. My mom picked me up during the worst part of the storm and we almost drove off the road on the way home.

It looked like this approaching me
http://www.tapestryweb.org/tornado/images/wallcloud.jpg

Here is the weather channel. I got wallopped hard by that first massive wave now east of the city. Right now that third wave is crashing in. Damn.
http://photos.rockclimbing.com/photos//558/55834.jpg

[Filipe]

Even though I'm in Michigan right now, I was looking at the News 9 webcams, and I don't think that it was a wall cloud, I'd be more willing to believe that it was a shelf cloud, which is much more indicative of straight line winds.

From the west, an extremely dark, emmense cloud with a shear face was moving towards the lake. It looked like it had been cut with a razor; it stretched almost all the way across the horizon over the entire metro area and connected the ground with the cloud layer thousands of feet above.

The way you described it makes it seem much more like a shelf cloud than a wall cloud. Wall clouds are lowerings in the storm base, where there is a strong updraft/downdraft point. These were not supercell thunderstorms, making it less likely that there was such a point.

Looking at the News 9 webcams on the newsok website, the clouds looked like you described, and to me appeared to be a massive shelf cloud.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/oun/images/thunderstormsb.jpg If that's what you saw (which is what I saw on the webcams), it was a shelf cloud, not a wall cloud.


sorry, this is just the meteorologist in me coming out.

[Filipe]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v623/huronicane/radar825.jpg

This is the radar image of the thunderstorm that went over you. This storm had a sharp leading edge which produced the cloud that you saw--which in fact was a shelf cloud.

[Easy 10]

WELL THEN






;)

[Filipe]

WELL THEN






;)


Sorry ;)

I'm just a meteorology student...had to give my input :p

[Easy 10]

So that's why you're in Oklahoma?

Well, tell me then, what are these? I took this picture right after the tornado-producing storm last Saturday.

http://photos.rockclimbing.com/photos//558/55841.jpg

[Filipe]

They are mammatus clouds. You can read more about them here:

http://ww2010.atmos.uiuc.edu/(Gh)/guides/mtr/cld/cldtyp/oth/mm.rxml

Attached is a picture I took of them May 8, 2005.

And yes, I'm in Oklahoma for the OU School of Meteorology

[merkelmachine]

R. U. Kittenme????

You guys have to have something better to do than to argue what kind of clouds the pictures are of.

[Lef Runner]

the clouds in Janesville are WAY better than the clouds in Menominee.

[Hall_@ss1088]

There are some WIERD clouds here in Neenah. Talk about the heebie-jeebies...

[Hall_@ss1088]

You Oakies should say [G]owned, like we Cheese Eaters do...

[jaguar]

Ahhhh, the most exciting thing about Oklahoma is the weather! :D Great stuff last night! There was like 3 waves of storms that went through.... looked nasty.

Last year I was out running around the campus, it was pouring down rain, and the tornado sirens went off. I was completely oblivious to the sirens and didn't even take notice until a truck came by, slowed down, and yelled at me that a tornado was coming. I sprinted back to my apartment, turned on the TV, and couldn't believe all the "action" going all. I don't believe the tornado(es) touched down but simply "went around" Tulsa. That seems to always happen with tornadoes and big cities..... with the exception of the May 3rd tornadoes.

[Easy 10]

Actually, in Oklahoma it just happens to Tulsa. Tulsa is the only decent city, so when they get to Tulsa, the tornados say 'Nah, I'll just take out Sand Springs, or Sapulpa, or sumpin' like that' and go about their merry way.

(Oklahoma City has gotten hit at least three seperate times in the last six years)

[Filipe]

Supulpa...don't get me started on Sapulpa. :D

[jaguar]

Actually, in Oklahoma it just happens to Tulsa....
It's the river! They hit the river and lift up. Can you confirm this, Felipe?

[Filipe]

I can neither confirm nor deny the statement posed by Ms. Jaguar.















Actually, that's not really the case. A river will not stop a tornado from colliding into Tulsa. A tornado can (and many times they have) crossed rivers. I would have to do some additional research to figure out why Tulsa hasn't been hit by a tornado.

[JATC dad]

Oh tornadoes do hit Tulsa...June 8, 1974 was really bad. Another big one hit in 1981, and remember Catoosa in 1993. However, OKC has been hit far more often recently. The biggest reason for this is that the dryline is typically closer to OKC than Tulsa, so when the storms fire up late in the day, they are already near OKC at the time of day that most tornadoes occur. By the time the storms get to Tulsa, they normally have weakened due to the loss of daytime heating, so tornadoes are less likely.

We've had wind damage near my home though twice in the past 10 days...once from a heat burst and once from a thunderstorm (just this past Sunday night).

[luvaofdarunnas!]

Supulpa...don't get me started on Sapulpa. :D
hey hey hey-- what do ya have against us chieftains?? well... besides we really suck at football.. i mean we are just horrible. BUT dont worry-- we beat BA last year.. ha ha ha ha ha!!!! and ya know what is even more funnier than the fact that we beat them?? they graduate like what--- between 1000-2000 and we graduated 315!! OMG!! ha ha--- keep it up tigers!!! oh yeah-- sapulpa has never gotten hit by tornado-- it always jumps over us bc the indians do their chants and keep us safe- lol. it always hits poor ol glenpool.

[Filipe]

The only thing I've got against Sapulpa is the 2 guys I met from Sapulpa this year at OU. I was out with a girl I liked, and they came over and started hitting on her. :mad: Then she started hanging out with one of the guys more than me.

So that's what I've got against Sapulpa.

[harryrunner]

The only thing I've got against Sapulpa is the 2 guys I met from Sapulpa this year at OU. I was out with a girl I liked, and they came over and started hitting on her. :mad: Then she started hanging out with one of the guys more than me.

So that's what I've got against Sapulpa.

Who were the guys? I mean what are there names?

[harryrunner]

hey hey hey-- what do ya have against us chieftains?? well... besides we really suck at football.. i mean we are just horrible. BUT dont worry-- we beat BA last year.. ha ha ha ha ha!!!! and ya know what is even more funnier than the fact that we beat them?? they graduate like what--- between 1000-2000 and we graduated 315!! OMG!! ha ha--- keep it up tigers!!! oh yeah-- sapulpa has never gotten hit by tornado-- it always jumps over us bc the indians do their chants and keep us safe- lol. it always hits poor ol glenpool.

I was watching Oklahoma's state and BA had a 4x8 in the top 5 the entire time and then with like 5 steps left they got past by two teams and so they didn't medal. I bet they felt pretty bad.

[Filipe]

Who were the guys? I mean what are there names?

Danny (don't know the last name) was the one I had the biggest problem with, because it ended up he'd be laying in her bed a lot.

[Filipe]

Speaking of wall clouds, there was a rain shower with a very strong updraft today, creating a wall cloud--which was interesting for a non-severe event.

[runshorty05]

Coolest thread ever.

I wish I lived in OK, just for the weather!
And cuz Filipe is cool.

[Filipe]

Aw, shucks. :o

[Easy 10]

Filipe, you're the expert; WHY DO WE KEEP HAVING MASSIVE STORMS?!?!?!

[Filipe]

I'll tell you right now, I don't know for sure, but whatever answer I give you will be fully researched. Did you like that derecho last night, though? That was a pretty good storm complex.

[Easy 10]

What's a derecho?

[jaguar]

Man, I've been out of internet commission today because of the storm last night. Wow, it was really blowin'!!!!!! There's trees everywhere.

[Filipe]

What's a derecho?

A long lasting complex of thunderstorms that produces extremely damaging winds.

[runshorty05]

Isn't derecho spanish for something?

Why don't I know that? I just finished espanol 4!

[Filipe]

derecho = straight

Derecho wind events are events with extremely damaging straight line winds.

[runshorty05]

Oh.

Fun.

[alexandria_distance]

The reason why Oklahoma has so many severe thunderstorms is because it gets the cool air from the Canada coming down and colliding with the warm, sultry air from the Gulf of Mexico, which creates the fronts for those massive storms you get. Obviously I'm not weather expert, but I think it's somewhere along the lines of that, and that's also why you get way more tornadoes than a state like Minnesota (where I live).

[Filipe]

The reason why Oklahoma has so many severe thunderstorms is because it gets the cool air from the Canada coming down and colliding with the warm, sultry air from the Gulf of Mexico, which creates the fronts for those massive storms you get. Obviously I'm not weather expert, but I think it's somewhere along the lines of that, and that's also why you get way more tornadoes than a state like Minnesota (where I live).

Well, that's a very general reason for storm development--though that can happen everywhere--for instance, why did Wisconsin get so many tornadoes recently?

The question being asked was why Oklahoma was getting so many massive storms recently--when the main severe storm period for Oklahoma is May.

[Quenton Cassidy]

hows the depression coming fillipe?

[luvaofdarunnas!]

Danny (don't know the last name) was the one I had the biggest problem with, because it ended up he'd be laying in her bed a lot.

holy crap!!!!!!! what year was this exactly?? the only guy named danny that has been on the xc team that i know about was my older brother!! HA HA HA!!! what school you from/were??

[Filipe]

holy crap!!!!!!! what year was this exactly?? the only guy named danny that has been on the xc team that i know about was my older brother!! HA HA HA!!! what school you from/were??

It wasn't your older brother...trust me.

This Danny smoked, and it had nothing to do with running. I was at a concert with this girl, and him and his friend came up and started hitting on her.

[luvaofdarunnas!]

It wasn't your older brother...trust me.

This Danny smoked, and it had nothing to do with running. I was at a concert with this girl, and him and his friend came up and started hitting on her.
well... he was probably indian... so it doesn't count. real sapulpans are cool... trust me on that one.

[Filipe]

well... he was probably indian... so it doesn't count. real sapulpans are cool... trust me on that one.

Nope, he was white.

[jaguar]

real sapulpans are cool... trust me on that one.

I agree. I've never met a Sapulpan who wasn't cool. They can party like no other!!!!

[Easy 10]

ANYWAY

:D

When's our next storm going to hit, Filipe? I've been spoiled - I want a big powerful storm right now!

Can you make one for me? I hear they have powerful equipment down in Norman.



(PS: Please include some mammatus clouds to watch in the morning when everything has calmed down.)

[harryrunner]

I agree. I've never met a Sapulpan who wasn't cool. They can party like no other!!!!

Hell YES!!! I agree completely 100%

[Filipe]

When's our next storm going to hit, Filipe? I've been spoiled - I want a big powerful storm right now!

Can you make one for me? I hear they have powerful equipment down in Norman.



(PS: Please include some mammatus clouds to watch in the morning when everything has calmed down.)

You've got A LONG time to wait, my friend. Oklahoma is trapped under a bubble of high pressure, and it's not going to move for a while. It's freaking dry in Norman, too.

http://www.rap.ucar.edu/weather/upper/oun.gif

[JATC dad]

Not so dry there anymore after the past couple weeks...they're actually well above their normal June rainfall now. Of course, up until that time, it had been extremely dry. At the very least, the recent rains will delay the 100 degree weather for a little while at least. The last few days have been very nice for late June with low dewpoints and that should continue another 2-3 days before it really starts warming up and getting more humid.

I agree with Filepe though that the next rain is a LONG ways off...

[Filipe]

I was speaking dry in terms of humidity, not in terms of rainfall. The green line is dewpoint, red line is temperature, they're still pretty far off, meaning it's pretty well dry (as evidenced by the 49% humidity).

The heat is going to return without a doubt this week, starting to push towards 100 again; as for the humidity, I'll have to check that after my orientation at Home Depot.

[Easy 10]

I've never seen a graph like that before....

Okay nevermind it appears to be a log...
The mutated 'F's are wind speed and direction, right? Not sure about the upper-left doohicky, or the multi-colored parallel and concentric lines... I can see the low-high pressure shift at about 550 on the horizontal blue lines...help me understand this Filipe! :confused:

[luvaofdarunnas!]

I agree. I've never met a Sapulpan who wasn't cool. They can party like no other!!!!
hell yes also!!! i can back that one up anytime.... just give me a call and i'll prove it. lol. :p

[Easy 10]

STORMS > sapulpa





;)

[luvaofdarunnas!]

[QUOTE=Easy 10]STORMS > sapulpa

huh? i dont get it-- sorry!! storms are greater than sapulpa?

[Easy 10]

Yes.

[luvaofdarunnas!]

how can storms be greater than sapulpa?? like i said... mother nature loves us, we never get hit by the tornados.

[RJ]

yeah i live really close to sapulpa and they do like to hit the creek county

[Filipe]

I've never seen a graph like that before....

Okay nevermind it appears to be a log...
The mutated 'F's are wind speed and direction, right? Not sure about the upper-left doohicky, or the multi-colored parallel and concentric lines... I can see the low-high pressure shift at about 550 on the horizontal blue lines...help me understand this Filipe! :confused:

http://www.scalialab.com/classpages/304/Skew%20T%20Log%20P%20Diagrams.ppt

This power point gives you all the information you need to know about the Skew-T Diagram. Even I don't understand some of it, since I have only taken my Orientation to Meteorology class--this fall I take my Intro to Meteorology...so I'll be able to better describe it.

PS. There is no low-high pressure shift (I don't even understand what you're getting at by that).

[Filipe]

Now for a little self promotion:

Presentation about a supercell that went over my house (http://students.ou.edu/V/Christopher.A.Vagasky-1/supercellpresentation.ppt)

[Lef Runner]

When me and Hall visit and sleep in a car...what are the chances we get swept away in a tornado? From what ive heard they are quite the norm down there.

[JATC dad]

When me and Hall visit and sleep in a car...what are the chances we get swept away in a tornado? From what ive heard they are quite the norm down there.


Zero...tornado season is over until probably October.

[luvaofdarunnas!]

When me and Hall visit and sleep in a car...what are the chances we get swept away in a tornado? From what ive heard they are quite the norm down there.
aw.... that is sad. you are always welcome to stay here im sure if ya need a roof. :)

[Easy 10]

This is the fourth day in a row with zero clouds over central Oklahoma. How long do the high pressure bubbles usually last? What causes them to move on or dissolve?

[jaguar]

I don't know about you guys, but May/June has definitely not been as hot and humid as I remember from the past. I'm definitely more fit than I've ever been around this time, but I'm surprised I'm not sweating more and drinking more water on the run. It's really odd (?)!

[Easy 10]

Jaguar, you're severely dehydrated and about to expire.


I'm sorry. :(

[jaguar]

Haha! Good one. :D

[Easy 10]

How nice, a fourth of July storm! Hey Filipe, was this just your average everyday thunderstorm....

...or was it something else?!?!? :eek:

[Schwabby]

yup

[RJ]

bump

[Hall_@ss1088]

bump
Why? Did it happen again?

[Easy 10]

Not yet...we've been having somewhat of a draught...we've had our WORST WHEAT CROP EVER


All of our indians are starving, and we don't have any way to get to school!!!


Good thing it is summer:)

[RJ]

haha i just was looking thru all the old threads today and this is one of them that i decided to bump because it was a pretty good one at the time.

[bdub525]

one time a storm blew our fence over it was crazy

[Speedy_Gonzalez]

so um when did all this storming happend mark?

[RJ]

probably around june 12 2005.