* 8 is how many states (or parts thereof) that are under the gun for a Moderate Risk of severe weather today and tonight. A Slight Risk covers a much larger area all the way from Houston and Baton Rouge north to DesMoines, Milwaukee, Chicago and Ft. Wayne and as far east as West Ohio, Chattanooga, Huntsville and NW Alabama.
* 6 is how many tornadoes have been reported in the last 24 hours along with 79 hail reports and 35 wind reports. Almost all of those were concentrated over North Texas and the SE half of Oklahoma.
* 4.26 inches is the rain amount in the last 24 hours at Ft. Smith, Arkansas and 4.08 inches at Stillwater (home of Oklahoma State University). Many roads are flooded in Lone Oake County, Arkansas and flood damage has been reported from all parts of Stone County in Arkansas. The city of Leslie, Arkansas is flooded.
* 10.50 is the rain amount so far this year for Oklahoma City, which is 4 inches wetter than normal. They got 2.73 inches yesterday. Remember last year Oklahoma City also ran a huge surplus of rain. We tried to get them to share, but no luck.
* 3.38 inches of rain in Tulsa in the last 24 hours.
* 6 to 18 inches is how much additional snow is expected today in the mountains west of Denver, most of it north of I-70. Loveland Pass, west of Denver, is closed. US-287 and US-85 also closed north of Denver into Wyoming. Out on the plains of Eastern Colorado, 5 to 10 inches of additional snow is expected today with 40 mph wind gusts and a lot of blowing and drifting snow.
* 12 is the number of inches of new snow for today for the Laramie Range in Wyoming.
* 131 inches is the snow depth at Alta, Utah this morning after they got 8 more inches yesterday.
* 20 inches of snow still on the ground at Caribou, Maine this morning. (We seemingly cannot post any winter stories without mentioning Caribou.) They have received 193 inches of snow this season–an all-time record and they will most surely reach 200 inches before the season is over. Even in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, snow showers are expected Saturday night and Sunday in the higher elevations. Do not be surprised to see Mt. LeConte report a snow depth by Monday morning.
* 15.81 inches is how much rain Birmingham Airport has received this year. That is more than double the amount we had at this same time last year–an even 7 inches.
* 8.69 inches is how much rain Mobile has received in only the last nine days and 22.15 inches for the year. That is more than double the 10.53 inches they had at this same time last year. Mobile County got some very heavy rain last weekend and they stand to get more good amounts Friday and Friday night.
* 97 was the national high in Laredo, Texas yesterday. On Guadaloupe Pass in far West Texas, the wind gusted to 60 mph yesterday afternoon and the humidity dropped to 6%.
* 18 below zero was the coldest in the USA this morning at Anaktuvuk Pass, Alaska. Down here in the lower 48, where all the states are connected, the cold spot was Stanley, Idaho with 5 above. I know you have heard this ad nauseum and are probably tired of it, but the last time I drove through Stanley both the population and speed limit was 35. Stanley is in the heart of the Sawtooth Mountains. You can be in the heart of the town and look toward the south and it looks like a huge crosscut saw the peaks are so sharp. Stanley is located on the Salmon River. We camped there once and the campsite we picked was littered with newspapers. I gathered all the papers up and was astonished to learn that it was a week old Birmingham News. What are the odds of that?
IMPORTANT STATEMENT FROM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE/MEMPHIS
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEMPHIS TN
845 AM CDT THU APR 10 2008
…A SIGNIFICANT SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK IS LIKELY ACROSS PORTIONS
OF THE MID SOUTH THIS AFTERNOON INTO TONIGHT…
A POWERFUL STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE EAST INTO THE MID SOUTH LATER
TODAY AND TONIGHT. A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS HAS ALREADY
DEVELOPED IN ADVANCE OF THIS SYSTEM ACROSS THE SOUTHERN PLAINS
EARLY THIS MORNING AND WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EAST AND INTENSIFY
THROUGH THE DAY. BY LATER THIS AFTERNOON…SURFACE HEATING WILL
ALLOW THE AIRMASS OVER MUCH OF THE MID SOUTH TO BECOME MODERATELY
UNSTABLE. AS LARGE SCALE LIFT OVERSPREADS THE HIGHLY SHEARED AND
UNSTABLE AIRMASS IN PLACE…EXPECT THE POSSIBILITY OF THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPMENT AHEAD OF THE APPROACHING LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS. ANY
STORMS THAT CAN DEVELOP WILL BECOME SEVERE QUICKLY AND BE
CAPABLE OF DAMAGING WINDS…LARGE HAIL…AND TORNADOES. A FEW STRONG
TORNADOES WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH ANY STORMS.
THE LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL EVENTUALLY MOVE ACROSS THE
MID SOUTH LATER THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT. THIS LINE OF STORMS
WILL LIKELY BE SIGNIFICANT AND CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIDESPREAD
DAMAGING WINDS. WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 80 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE IN
ISOLATED AREAS WHERE SIGNIFICANT BOW ECHOES MOVE THROUGH. LARGE
HAIL AND ISOLATED TORNADOES WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE.
THE GREATEST RISK FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE BETWEEN 1 PM CDT AND
9 PM CDT ACROSS AREAS WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER…BETWEEN 3 PM
CDT AND 11 PM CDT ACROSS FAR WEST TENNESSEE AND NORTHWEST
MISSISSIPPI…AND BETWEEN 6 PM CDT AND 2 AM CDT ACROSS THE
REMAINDER OF WEST TENNESSEE AND NORTHEAST MISSISSIPPI.
PERSONS LIVING IN THE MID SOUTH SHOULD PREPARE NOW FOR THIS SEVERE
WEATHER EVENT. PLEASE REVIEW SEVERE WEATHER SAFETY PROCEDURES
AND BE READY TO TAKE ACTION TO PROTECT YOURSELF IN THE EVENT A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OR TORNADO WARNING IS ISSUED. ADDITIONAL
SEVERE WEATHER WATCHES AND WARNINGS WILL LIKELY BE ISSUED LATER
THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.
