2024 Weather Thread

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Tue Apr 16, 2024 11:11 am

I only got .3", what did everyone else get? I know that there is potentially more rain later today, but I was hoping that we would get close to an inch.

Cermak · Post by **Cermak** » Tue Apr 16, 2024 11:58 am

I got a 1/4 “, SW Omaha. Grass should start to really grow and thicken up.

Post by **BRoss** » Tue Apr 16, 2024 12:01 pm

.22" here

Post by **Brad** » Tue Apr 16, 2024 12:41 pm

skinzfan23 wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2024 11:11 am I only got .3", what did everyone else get? I know that there is potentially more rain later today, but I was hoping that we would get close to an inch.

I got the same, and was also hoping for at least an inch. But also thankful we didn't get the hail...

Post by **Brad** » Tue Apr 16, 2024 1:32 pm

There has been a tornado warned storm east of Columbus for quite a while now. However in the past hour, a whole line of storms has fired south of that storm all the way to the Kansas Border. Also an isolated cell popping up on the south side of Lincoln.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Tue Apr 16, 2024 1:39 pm

Brad wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2024 12:41 pm
skinzfan23 wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2024 11:11 am I only got .3", what did everyone else get? I know that there is potentially more rain later today, but I was hoping that we would get close to an inch.
I got the same, and was also hoping for at least an inch. But also thankful we didn't get the hail...

Tru dat....haha. I was going to go to the office today but decided to work from home b/c of the hail threat.

Post by **Brad** » Tue Apr 16, 2024 1:41 pm

skinzfan23 wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2024 1:39 pm I was going to go to the office today but decided to work from home b/c of the hail threat.

I thought you got to parking in the parking garage at work?

Post by **Brad** » Tue Apr 16, 2024 1:59 pm

Brad wrote: Tue Apr 16, 2024 1:32 pm There has been a tornado warned storm east of Columbus for quite a while now. However in the past hour, a whole line of storms has fired south of that storm all the way to the Kansas Border. Also an isolated cell popping up on the south side of Lincoln.

LOL, and just like the the lines breaks up so the OMA Dome is in effect again!

radar-2024-04-16-1400.jpg

EastCB · Post by **EastCB** » Tue Apr 16, 2024 3:30 pm

I got .5". Wished it would have been more but i will take it.

Renovator2559 · Post by **Renovator2559** » Wed Apr 17, 2024 3:05 pm

Does anyone know what's been up with our trees this year?
OKC trees last week were already 90%-100% full on green, and St Louis trees for the most part were green. Meanwhile trees in Nebraska and in KC are still mostly brown and this is mid April.

Is it just me, but didn't we have trees becoming green as early as February?

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Wed Apr 17, 2024 3:06 pm

Renovator2559 wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2024 3:05 pm Does anyone know what's been up with our trees this year?
OKC trees last week were already 90%-100% full on green, and St Louis trees for the most part were green. Meanwhile trees in Nebraska and in KC are still mostly brown and this is mid April.

Is it just me, but didn't we have trees becoming green as early as February?

February? Never. Trees here usually begin bloom out in April, sometimes early, sometimes late and of course dependent on the species. Crabapples (which are some of the earliest) started blooming at the very, very backend of March and that's pretty typical.

Post by **nebugeater** » Wed Apr 17, 2024 3:12 pm

Renovator2559 wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2024 3:05 pm Does anyone know what's been up with our trees this year?
OKC trees last week were already 90%-100% full on green, and St Louis trees for the most part were green. Meanwhile trees in Nebraska and in KC are still mostly brown and this is mid April.

Is it just me, but didn't we have trees becoming green as early as February?

The only green tree you would have in Feb is your Christmas tree if it is artificial and you have not taken it down.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Wed Apr 17, 2024 3:13 pm

Tornado Footage & Fallout
Headline NEWS Nebraska April 17th, 2024

Renovator2559 · Post by **Renovator2559** » Wed Apr 17, 2024 3:42 pm

Louie wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2024 3:06 pm
Renovator2559 wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2024 3:05 pm Does anyone know what's been up with our trees this year?
OKC trees last week were already 90%-100% full on green, and St Louis trees for the most part were green. Meanwhile trees in Nebraska and in KC are still mostly brown and this is mid April.

Is it just me, but didn't we have trees becoming green as early as February?
February? Never. Trees here usually begin bloom out in April, sometimes early, sometimes late and of course dependent on the species. Crabapples (which are some of the earliest) started blooming at the very, very backend of March and that's pretty typical.

Interesting, at least I thought it was earlier but not this late

Still I find it shocking how lush, lime green western Oklahoma trees were, almost like Arkansas.
Looks like this week, is the beginning of most trees blooming season; I can see the horizon of the tree canopy in Midtown starting to green, and Gene Leahy Mall trees are blooming, finally!

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Wed Apr 17, 2024 11:59 pm

They were budding early. If I had to estimate, thery were about 2-3 weeks early. The fact trees are blooming at and well before the usual last freeze says it's been a warm winter and spring. Luckily it doesn't look like there'll be a hard freeze to accompany the early budding and blooming.

Louie · Post by **Louie** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 6:58 am

Busguy2010 wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2024 11:59 pm Luckily it doesn't look like there'll be a hard freeze to accompany the early budding and blooming.

Which would suckkkkk

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 9:28 am

Louie wrote: Thu Apr 18, 2024 6:58 am
Busguy2010 wrote: Wed Apr 17, 2024 11:59 pm Luckily it doesn't look like there'll be a hard freeze to accompany the early budding and blooming.
Which would suckkkkk

Yes it would. It still looks like a chance it could freeze Saturday night, but hopefully it'll be brief enough, and no colder than 32.

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Thu Apr 18, 2024 11:23 am

Eek, wowt is saying 30 and 31 Friday night and Saturday night. Probably want to bring in or protect the plants you can. Often times I personally can vary from the forecast by a couple degrees. Could be a couple warmer or a couple colder. I won't take any chances.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Fri Apr 19, 2024 6:43 am

With frost in the forecast, wait to plant your flowers, Omaha

With frost in the forecast for the Omaha metro, it's best to wait to plant your flowers.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Fri Apr 19, 2024 7:17 pm

Depends on the plant. We planted pansies on March 29 and they are thriving in cooler weather. But they drooped those days when it got well into the 80s. Some plants love cooler weather and some like it hot.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Sat Apr 20, 2024 6:20 am

Here you go stormchaser, a trained storm spotters…

stormchaser wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2024 4:05 pm Storm initiation is starting to occur west of Kearney, NE (based on visible satellite). Strong tornadoes will be possible in that area over the next few hours...

An expert with the National Weather Service in Omaha discussed the importance of having trained storm spotters in the public.

Cermak · Post by **Cermak** » Sun Apr 21, 2024 7:39 am

Hopefully this morning was the last freeze till next fall. Looks like pretty nice weather this week. With some rain chances later in the week. The grass is starting to grow like crazy. As we are entering the high growth period for grass which usually goes to the end of June.

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Sun Apr 21, 2024 12:14 pm

I planted all my cooler weather stuff on the 16th. This should be our last freeze. I feel confident in hooking up the irrigation for the last time.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Sun Apr 21, 2024 4:00 pm

Coyote wrote: Sat Apr 20, 2024 6:20 am Here you go stormchaser, a trained storm spotters…

stormchaser wrote: Mon Apr 15, 2024 4:05 pm Storm initiation is starting to occur west of Kearney, NE (based on visible satellite). Strong tornadoes will be possible in that area over the next few hours...

An expert with the National Weather Service in Omaha discussed the importance of having trained storm spotters in the public.

Yep - "ground truth" is something that is necessary since it's impossible for a radar to know for sure. I've taken those classes probably about a dozen times just because I liked talking severe weather

Post by **Brad** » Mon Apr 22, 2024 2:33 pm

Looks like we have a chance of storms on Friday:

SPC wrote:

An active period of severe weather is expected Thu through the weekend across the Plains. All severe hazards are possible with the potential for significant severe weather. Specific corridors of greater risk are expected, but will not become more apparent until later in the week.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Mon Apr 22, 2024 3:45 pm

Brad wrote: Mon Apr 22, 2024 2:33 pm Looks like we have a chance of storms on Friday:

SPC wrote:

An active period of severe weather is expected Thu through the weekend across the Plains. All severe hazards are possible with the potential for significant severe weather. Specific corridors of greater risk are expected, but will not become more apparent until later in the week.

Yep, possibly Thursday night some severe stuff as well (or it wouldn't surprise me anyway).

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Tue Apr 23, 2024 11:02 am

The threat for potential tornadoes this Friday not far from the Omaha area continues to increase.

The highest risk currently is east of Omaha though like normal, it'll ultimately come down to timing and it's impossible to know this far out.

The skew-t soundings on the 12z NAM definitely show an environment favorable for tornadoes with the low pressure depicted to pass almost directly over Omaha itself during the later afternoon hours on Friday.

The sounding included in the image below is for just east of Omaha at 21z (4 PM).

It shows sufficient low level directional/speed shear, plenty of moisture depth, curved hodographs (albeit a big wonky in the image below with convection depicted in the same area), surface based cape near 3,000, LCL levels of around 600 so the bases of the storms should definitely be surface based, SRH values of over 200 (which is typically needed for potential for strong tornadoes), etc.

It's too far out to put too much weight into what's being shown currently, but the trends are looking increasingly dangerous anyway. Only time will tell if these trends continue on future models/model runs. If they continue, potential for strong tornadoes in the area will exist (probably somewhere between Omaha and Des Moines but who knows yet).

Regardless, don't be surprised if Omaha and/or areas just east of Omaha have their risk levels increased in the coming days.

skinzfan23 · Post by **skinzfan23** » Tue Apr 23, 2024 11:20 am

Thanks for the update....hopefully with more to come as it gets closer. My wife and I were going downtown to a concert on Friday night and I would hate to leave the kids home alone with a possibility of a tornado.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Tue Apr 23, 2024 11:50 am

skinzfan23 wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2024 11:20 am Thanks for the update....hopefully with more to come as it gets closer. My wife and I were going downtown to a concert on Friday night and I would hate to leave the kids home alone with a possibility of a tornado.

Will do, obviously plenty of time for things to completely change yet

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Tue Apr 23, 2024 1:51 pm

It's worth mentioning this looks EXTREMELY similar to the storm system we had last week where it produced a few tornadoes not far from Columbus right where the low pressure was (which I managed to see one of them briefly).

Wouldn't surprise me if that scenario plays out again in a very similar area...

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Tue Apr 23, 2024 3:48 pm

stormchaser wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2024 11:02 am

i seriously really wish i knew what each of these sections meant. I've seen those types of things before, but i don't know what each of them means

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Tue Apr 23, 2024 4:27 pm

thenewguy wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2024 3:48 pm i seriously really wish i knew what each of these sections meant. I've seen those types of things before, but i don't know what each of them means

It can look overwhelming but once you start to understand what you're looking at, they're fairly simple (though it takes time obviously and there are a ton of things to look for which takes experience).

Here is a basic breakdown of how I use at least part of them anyway. I won't go over every piece in this reply because it's just too much to explain in a single reply. Keep in mind, I'm self-taught and not a Meteorologist

. Also keep in mind, this is a skew-t sounding from a forecast model so it doesn't necessarily represent what will end up happening. Each day you can see the actual skew-t soundings from the weather balloons that the NWS launches to get the actual measurements (at the time of the balloon launch anyway).

Top left section (image below):

Think of this section like it's measurements that a weather balloon would take as it goes up from the surface of the Earth, all the way up into the stratosphere.

The scale on the far left represents "height" (in millibars - as the pressure changes the further you go up obviously - hence why your ears pop on airplanes, etc). This is from 1,000 mb at the surface all the way to 100 mb. Typically you'll find the main jet stream in the 250 mb to 300 mb range depending on the time of year and the 500 mb range is the approximate level where you'll find the winds that determine the direction of the storms(aka steering winds). If there is capping, you would see a wedge of warmer air somewhere typically around the 700 mb range (this skew-t sounding does not show any capping). There is also a scale to the right of this that shows height in more conventional terms (in KM).

The scale at the bottom represents temperature (in Celsius though it shows the specific Fahrenheit temps as well for simplicity).

To the right of the heigh scale, the green curvy relatively vertical line represents the dewpoint temperature from the surface all the way up, the red line represents the air temperature from the surface all the way up. The white dashed line represents the area of CAPE (the convective available potential energy - aka instability). The larger this area of CAPE, the more unstable the atmosphere typically is (though that doesn't automatically mean storms will occur - just to clarify). If the red curvy line and green curvy line come together, that typically is showing that precip is occurring at that level as the dewpoint and air temp are equal (so the humidity is 100%) - so in this case, this skew-t is showing a storm that is depicted to be occurring at the location of the skew-t. To clarify, you don't need to find a skew-t that is showing a storm like this one does (in fact, it would be better to not have that probably), you should more be looking at the overall environment for IF storms were to occur.

The green LCL/yellow LFC in the bottom right corner of this section basically represents the level where you will find the base of the clouds/storms. For tornadoes, you typically want the base of the storms to be below 1,000 mb (in this case they are depicted to be around 600 mb). Otherwise if the bases are too high up, the storms would be known as "elevated storms" and typically produce more of a damaging wind threat (depending on the setup anyway).

The white "arrow" looking icons (to the right of where it says LFC/LCL in green/yellow) represents the wind direction and strength of the wind at each level of the atmosphere. When an environment is favorable for supercells/tornadoes, you'll see a "twisting" motion with direction of the wind as you go from the surface on up through where the storms would be with more of a northeasterly wind aloft (which is why you'll see the anvil of a storm pushed out sometimes 100+ miles out ahead of a storm). In particular you're looking for strong low level winds preferably out of the east/southeast which this skew-t shows to an extent (though it isn't completely ideal in this case either - rarely will you get. a setup where everything looks ideal for tornadoes). Having a east/southeast wind is often referred to as "backed" surface winds and it leads to the inflow you need for tornadoes (it's where the "notch" or "hook" comes from that you see on radar with tornadic storms - or at least contributes to it anyway).

This is just the top left section to get you started. There obviously are tons of other things to look at and look for with these but I don't want to overwhelm you with my dorky weather knowledge as I could keep going and going and going.

Anyhow, hope it helps!

Also, here is a video that you can watch that should help.

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Tue Apr 23, 2024 7:01 pm

This should be pinned. Excellent write-up!

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Tue Apr 23, 2024 9:04 pm

almighty_tuna wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2024 7:01 pm This should be pinned. Excellent write-up!

Thanks!

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Tue Apr 23, 2024 9:22 pm

Now if you take that skew-t sounding I did a basic breakdown of above and then look at this "schematic" of what is happening in a supercell, it starts to really make sense how things are coming together with these types of storms.

Busguy2010 · Post by **Busguy2010** » Wed Apr 24, 2024 12:30 am

Just responding to the above graphic. I'll never forget 5/11/2014. That supercell was the most prime example I can recall in my life that hit Omaha directly. The anvil extended hundreds of miles and hours ahead of the mesocyclone's arrival. It was huge. There was so much energy with that storm. Most of the time we get QLCS, and as we all know, they break up most of the time. Theres been a couple damaging thunderstorms since then, but we haven't had a true, bonafide, isolated supercell thunderstorm since 2014. It was a true spectacle.

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Wed Apr 24, 2024 7:39 am

@stormchaser...

holy |expletive|, that's a fantastic explanation, thank you!! I've always been fascinated by weather, as many of us are, it's awesome to get some insight as to what you all talk about!

Post by **Brad** » Wed Apr 24, 2024 8:54 am

stormchaser wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2024 4:27 pm Also, here is a video that you can watch that should help.

I have watched a lot of skew-t videos over the years and this one is still the best out there. Also, for those of you that liked his video, that was only part 1 of a 17 video series.

That said, as many times as I have watched it, there are still things I don't fully understand. I know just enough to be dangerous.

stormchaser · Post by **stormchaser** » Wed Apr 24, 2024 12:56 pm

thenewguy wrote: Wed Apr 24, 2024 7:39 am @stormchaser...

holy |expletive|, that's a fantastic explanation, thank you!! I've always been fascinated by weather, as many of us are, it's awesome to get some insight as to what you all talk about!

No problem - happy to help!

Brad wrote: Wed Apr 24, 2024 8:54 am I have watched a lot of skew-t videos over the years and this one is still the best out there. Also, for those of you that liked his video, that was only part 1 of a 17 video series.

I 100% agree!

thenewguy · Post by **thenewguy** » Wed Apr 24, 2024 2:36 pm

stormchaser wrote: Wed Apr 24, 2024 12:56 pm
thenewguy wrote: Wed Apr 24, 2024 7:39 am @stormchaser...

holy |expletive|, that's a fantastic explanation, thank you!! I've always been fascinated by weather, as many of us are, it's awesome to get some insight as to what you all talk about!
No problem - happy to help!

Brad wrote: Wed Apr 24, 2024 8:54 am I have watched a lot of skew-t videos over the years and this one is still the best out there. Also, for those of you that liked his video, that was only part 1 of a 17 video series.
I 100% agree!

lol. For what it's worth, i actually said "holy c-r-a-p" and it expletive'd it