Area crops getting boost from winter snow

Dalhart Weather Review

(Mar 31 - Apr 6)

by Aaron Graves

Spring planting is just beginning, and this year's crops are getting a helping hand from old man winter. Dalhart saw 34" of snow over the past few months. 

Kerry Todd

"It helped tremendously with soil moisture reserves for summer crops," Kerry Todd said when I asked him about this year's local ag outlook. "At this time we are starting off better than the previous two years as we do have better soil moisture reserves as well as our pasture grasses are greening up due to the winter moisture. Based on moisture and prices summer crops look to be planted on about the same amount of acres as they have been the last few years."

Oats were planted in March. Corn and alfalfa are about to go in the ground. It's still early in the season, with less than 1% of planting done, Todd said. It will peak during the first ten days of May. 

"Keep in mind, though," Todd cautioned, "we have yet to have an average rainfall year since 2010 and will need something more than average to make up for the drought we are in." 

True enough. March left us high and dry, with only 0.08" of precipitation recorded at the airport. No rain has fallen the first week of April either. Non-irrigated winter wheat, which benefited from the snowfall, is suffering again, Todd said. 

We saw high temperatures in the 80's over the past week, the hottest day being April 1 with 86 degrees. A blustery cold front kicked up the dirt and cooled us into the 50's on April 3. 

March 2015 ended with 0.08" of precipitation, some of it from 0.8" of snow. This fell 1.09" below normal for March. Our year-to-date total precipitation is 3.39", 1.10" above normal as of April 7. 

Updated forecast as of Apr. 10 ~ We have a chance of rain over the weekend with some strong thunderstorms possible. Keep an eye on the forecast. Check www.weather.gov/ama for the latest. 

High and low temps the past week

Mar 31: 83, 42

Apr 1: 86, 39

Apr 2: 82, 43

Apr 3: 55, 37

Apr 4: 67, 27

Apr 5: 83, 41

Apr 6: 84, 39

Expect the Unexpected - a severe weather safety case study

Special Update

Not all tornadoes are created equal, making some hard to predict. For example
this funnel cloud, along with two others, spun over the city of  Dalhart in
2004. Possibly a tropical funnel, it had little chance of becoming a tornado.
Had it touched down, its winds might have been in the EF-0 range.
The Amarillo NWS radar did not pick up any organized rotation in the
associated thunderstorm. The city sirens were sounded after the funnels
had been spotted by local law enforcement.  

If tornado alley has a bull's eye - it's central Oklahoma. The city of Moore, OK was surprised by a tornado towards the end of March, with all the drama caught on live TV. It was a weak tornado and no one was killed. Still, it provided an excellent case study in the need to take every warning serious and to expect the unexpected when severe weather comes to town.

The National Weather Service office in Norman saw the storm coming and issued a severe thunderstorm warning. The office sent out alerts over Twitter: "Storms west of OKC producing 60-70 mph winds. These winds will cause damage and produce power flashes." "Very damaging winds moving into SW OKC. Move away from windows. Expect wind damage and power outages!"

However, no tornadoes were expected in that area of the state - the atmospheric ingredients were not right. Still, Oklahoma understands severe weather. At least two of the Oklahoma City TV stations had their helicopters up, broadcasting live video of the approaching storm. Mike Morgan, on KFOR, noted some rotation on the station's radar. He switched to a view from the helicopter, spotted rotation in the cloud base and then, BAM! power flashes were seen on the ground.

A power flash is a bright, visible arc of electricity caused by power lines shorting out. It does not take a tornado to cause power flashes - strong straight-line winds rushing out of a thunderstorm can do it. However, rotating swirls of dirt could be seen on the ground, and Morgan called it a tornado.

The NWS office initially did not see it that way. According to the Norman office Twitter feed, tornado sirens were sounding at Tinker Air Force base, but they were insisting that damage was being done by straight line winds.

After a couple of minutes, the tornado's swirl could be seen on radar, and an official tornado warning was issued by the NWS.  It came six minutes after the tornado had developed.

Keep in mind, this was a not a classic supercell type tornado - the kind you can seen on radar 20 minutes out. This was a hard-to-predict, weak tornado embedded in the storm's gust front. The NWS was operating within the same warning guidelines they had used successfully year after year. Being the only agency in the U.S. that can issue a tornado warning, the NWS was not going to cry "tornado" unless they were reasonably sure it was.

Either way, both the NWS and the Oklahoma TV stations were after the same thing - keeping people safe. The NWS did so by issuing a severe thunderstorm warning due to the damaging straight-line winds. Mike Morgan spotted the tornado a few minutes before the NWS did and did not hold back telling his viewers what he thought it was.

And that is the nature of severe weather - it can, and does, surprise people. That is why every warning should be taken seriously. We might have a tendency to think a severe thunderstorm warning is not as bad as a tornado warning and just brush it off. But a severe thunderstorm, as was proven in Moore, can produce a tornado anytime it wants to. And even if a tornado never develops, strong winds created by the storm can still topple trees, as one did right here in Dalhart last year.

In short, not every instance of damaging weather can be foreseen. It is up to each one of us individually to keep an eye on the sky when storms are on the horizon, and use common sense. If something doesn't look right, or feel right, trust your instincts and take shelter until the storm passes. 

Prepare now for severe weather (it doesn't take too long)

Dalhart Weather Review
(Mar 17 - Mar 30)
by Aaron Graves
 

Storm clouds hang over Dalhart. Are you ready for severe weather season?

Spring has sprung! Officially, it began back on March 20. Lawns around town are turning various
shades of green. Red-winged blackbirds can be heard at the lake, and a group of pelicans were spotted a week ago. Temperatures have been mild, generally in the 60's for the last half of March, with a few 80 degree days thrown in here and there for good measure. 

Unfortunately, March seems to have left us high and dry. We picked up another 0.06" of rain from some light showers back on March 19, which brought March's precipitation total to 0.08".  Thus, the month ended 1.09" below normal. However, our year-to-date precipitation total is 3.39", which is 1.30" above normal. Hopeful April will bring us more rain.

Of course, that rain usually comes with thunderstorms, which have been known to produce damaging winds, large hail, and the occasional tornado to Dallam and Hartley counties. Thus, now is a good time to prepare for severe weather, and it will only take a few minutes to do so. 

In 2010, this tornado touched down after dark north of Conlen.

Preparing involves two things: 1) have a way to receive storm warnings, and 2) decide now where you will go and what you will do in case things get bad. This is important. If you live in a mobile home, or you feel like your house has no safe area to take shelter in, then you need to know where to go, and you need to be there before the storms arrive.

What is the best way to receive a severe weather warning? The National Weather Service says you should have more than one way. For example, don't depend just on the outdoor tornado sirens. You may not be within earshot of them, or the storm might have knocked out the power.

If you live in southern Hartley county - around the Channing area - you might be within range of the NOAA Weather Radio signal that originates from the NWS office in Amarillo. If so, make sure your NOAA weather radio weather is plugged in and has a fresh set of back-up batteries in it.

All residents in the Texas panhandle can sign up for text message and e-mail alerts at www.r2beready.com. The nice thing about this system is that you don't have to have a smart phone to use it, just a phone that can receive text messages. The web address will take you to the Panhandle Area Regional Information System (PARIS) website. From there, click on the Resolve To Be Ready icon on the left side of the screen. Last year, I wrote a blog post walking you through the sign up process, which you can read here:

There are smart phone apps that will alert you to severe weather. For example, the Red Cross has a free app available to iPhone and Android users. Weather Radio by WDT - the makers of Radar Scope - costs $5 on the Apple store and is said to be one of the best apps on the market. Other apps I have used for weather warnings were reviewed in this blog post here:

A tornado warning will do you no good, however, if you are don't know where to take shelter. It is important to decide ahead of time where you will go if you find yourself in the path of a dangerous storm. The Storm Prediction Center offers these tips:

In a well built house, go to the basement and under some kind of sturdy protection. In a house with no basement, a dorm, or an apartment: go to the lowest floor, a small center room (like a bathroom or closet), under a stairwell, or in an interior hallway with no windows.

In a mobile home: Get out! Know ahead of time where the nearest shelter or sturdy building is, and be there before the storms arrive.

In an office building, hospital, nursing home, gymnasium, movie theater: go to an enclosed, windowless area in the center of the building,away from glass and on the lowest floor possible. 

At school: Follow the drill.

In a car or truck: There is no safe option. Safely park out of the roadway and seek shelter in a sturdy building. If that is not possible, and the tornado is far enough away, drive out of its path. If the tornado is too close and you can safely get noticeably lower than the level of the roadway, leave your car and lie in that area. Avoid seeking shelter under bridges.

Again, it will only take a few minutes to download an app and decide where to take shelter. But those few minutes could end up saving your life. 


High and low temps the past two weeks

Mar 17: 55, 39
Mar 18: 64, 39
Mar 19: 52, 43
Mar 20: 62, 40
Mar 21: 69, 34
Mar 22: 81, 35
Mar 23: 77, 39
Mar 24: 75, 39
Mar 25: 65, 38
Mar 26: 67, 30
Mar 27: 72, 33
Mar 28: 84, 39
Mar 29: 73, 43
Mar 30: 80, 42