Severe Thunderstorm Watch Until 9 PM April 30, 2006

A severe thunderstorm watch is in effect until 9:00 pm for northern and northeastern Oklahoma. The watch does NOT include the OKC metro area, but does come as close as Kingfisher and Logan counties. The main threats with any storms that develop will be some hail and wind gusts to 65 mph.

Right now there are strong storms in southern Kansas, moving southeast at 40 mph. These will likely affect parts of the northern Oklahoma before supper time.

The chance for thunderstorms will stay in the forecast for much of the week. We are in a fast jet stream flow with numerous upper level disturbances and weak fronts that will affect Oklahoma. While there can be storms in the state each of the next 5 days, it is unlikely that any one location will have a storm every single day.

Outside of the storm chances, our weather looks warm and humid with highs in the 70s and 80s much of this upcoming week.

See you at 10!

Rick

Great Day For A Marathon April 30, 2006

I have returned from running my portion of the OKC Memorial Marathon. I was up dark and early at 4:15 this morning. I arrived downtown at 5:30 and the race started at 6:30. I was responsible for running 6.2 miles for my relay team with KTOK radio. Channel 5′s John Flick was running for his team, The Twister radio station. We ran together and had a very nice time. The people were enthusiastic along the way. Not only the runners, but the observers along the side of the road as well. We finished our leg of the relay about 7:30.

The weather was perfect. Not much wind with temps in the 50s. I could not have planned it better myself.

Now I’m off to my son’s birthday party. I’ll be in to help Aaron for tonight’s 10:00 newscast so I’ll see you then, a little stiff, a little sore, and probably a little tired.

Rick

Unsettled Work-Week Ahead April 30, 2006

Today will be warmer and drier but this week will be a little unsettled. The upper-level flow over Oklahoma will be pretty fast and there will be several cold fronts and disturbances heading our way. Just about everyday this week has an opportunity for rain but it should not rain all of the time.

Highs today in the 70s and 80s. The high temperatures should also rise well into the 80s early this work-week.

I took my Geology class to the Arbuckle Mountains yesterday. It was a good trip and I hope they learned a lot. Did you know that aprroximately 350 million years ago the Arbuckles were as large or maybe a little larger than the Rocky Mountains today? Turner Falls was very beautiful and so were the homemade fresh fried pies off I-35 & exit 51!!!

Take care and have a great Sunday…..

Steve

Rain, rain, go away….? April 30, 2006

Is that what people are saying already, or are they saying just for a day or two and then give us more, more, more!!!???

For the extreme north and extreme south who received a flooding amount, the rest of the state got it just right. 1 to 3 inches were common across the state and was just enough to both ease the drought and the fire danger. This week we should see a rapid increase in green foliage which will help with both the fire danger and drought conditions.

We do have a very complicated forecast for the upcoming week, but the gist is that with a couple of fronts moving in, we should see a few more raindrops form. Even severe weather will be possible again starting as early as Monday.

It’s RAINING AGAIN!! April 29, 2006

This morning another round of non-severe storms are rolling through our state. The worst storms are from OKC to just north of Ardmore. These storms are producing some lightning, 45 mph winds, pea-sized hail and heavy rainfall.

I am headed to the Arbuckle Mountains this afternoon with my Geology class. If you see me on I-35….honk!!!

Take care and have a great weekend. Sunday will be warmer and drier!

Steve Carano

The Proof Is In The Performance April 29, 2006

What a lovely Saturday morning! It is dreary, drizzly, and rainy and my lawn loves it. We’ll have more rain this morning, but this afternoon will dry out. Tomorrow will be dry and warmer.

This was a busy week for weather. If you were watching Channel 5, you saw a tornado heavily damage the El Reno air park live from Sky 5 on Monday. We were also the only station to provide live pictures of the tornado from our ground crews at the same time Sky 5 was showing the tornado. We had at least 5 ground crews that had video of the tornado. No other station even came close.

Yesterday we showed you exclusive video of a tornado that briefly touched down in Greer county north of Mangum. We also were the only station to show video of the flooding that was taking place in Ponca City. There is a reason that Eyewitness News 5 is the fastest growing news station in the state. The proof is in the performance.

I’ll be heading to bed early tonight. I have to get up Sunday morning at 4:30. I need to be downtown by 5:30 to run in the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon. I’m not running the whole thing, just 6.2 miles of it. I am on a relay team with four other people from Newsradio 1000, KTOK. I’m running the first leg of the marathon which starts at 6:30 am. This is the first time I have participated in a marathon and I’m looking forward to it. The weather looks good with temperatures at the start of the race near 50 with a bit of a breeze.

Have a great day and enjoy the wet weather. You’ll be able to spend time outside tomorrow.

Rick

3 to 5" Rain April 29, 2006

According to Chris Caldwell, our strom tracker in Ponca City, he has received about 5 inches of rain today. The Mesonet stations in Blackwell and Breckenridge have recorded over 3 inches of rain. Chris reports that flooding is taking place along highway 156 south of Ponca City. He is shooting video of it and we will have it on our news at 10 pm.

A Tornado In SW Oklahoma! April 29, 2006

Chris Lee has exclusive video of a tornado that briefly touched down north of Mangum near Highway 283 in Greer county. The tornado was brief and occurred about 6:00 pm. No reports of any damage or injuries. We’ll have the video of the tornado on Eyewitness News 5 at 10 pm.

A Nice Rain….Then Dry April 28, 2006

Showers and thunderstorms will continue tonight. Some of the storms will have gusty winds and perhaps small hail, but mainly these storms are going to be good rain prodcuers. Rain totals of 1-2 inches likely central and east with a few spots around 3 inches by the time the rain ends tomorrow.

Sunday will be a dry and warm day with highs in the 70s.

We’ll have another slight chance of a storm on Monday. Dry again for Tuesday and Wednesday. Another storm chance Thursday.

Busy, busy, busy. I’ll see you on Eyewitness News 5 at 5, 6 and 10 pm.

Rick

I LOVE IT!!! April 28, 2006

RAIN…..RAIN….RAIN!!!

This is great for my lawn, bring it on!

Rick Mitchell just paged me in to the station to help this evening. There is a continued chance for severe storms mainly in SW Oklahoma. Here in Central OK, just embedded non-severe thunderstorms and much needed rain.

Gotta run and help Rick….have a great weekend!

Steve