Monday, 12/30/19 – The NWS Tulsa survey team confirmed a tornado touched down in Broken Arrow on Saturday afternoon. The tornado will be rated an EF-0 with max est winds 80-85 mph, a path length of 1.2 miles and a width of 160 yds.
7:54 pm – The rain has moved on to the east and I’m looking forward to a quiet evening. Temps will drop into the 40s tonight and daytime temps will be more seasonable the rest of the week.
We did have power outages in Tulsa and structure damage on the east side of Broken Arrow. It was a powerful storm.
That’s all for now. Have a great evening!
3:49 pm – The NWS issued a Tornado Watch for several counties. For now, Tulsa isn’t included.
3:35 pm – That hit quickly. A Tornado Warning has been issued for areas to the east and northeast of me. I can hear the sirens going off.
3:23 pm – A Severe Thunderstorm Warning has been issued for the Tulsa area, in effect until 4:00 pm. Wind gusts to 60 mph can be expected.
11:28 am – The Storm Prediction Center issued a Mesoscale Discussion for today. There’s a 60% chance of a watch being issued.
SUMMARY...Severe threat is increasing across portions of the southern Plains. Damaging winds appear to be the primary threat, although a tornado can not be ruled out. This region is being considered for a watch between 18-19z.
11:10 am – I woke early this morning to begin looking at the weather models for today. Rain is expected, but there’s a cold front that will move into the area later today. With that, we have the potential for severe storms, including strong winds and tornadoes. Yes, it is the end of December, but the calendar has never dictated when severe weather will develop.
Right now a light rain is falling here and the front is in western Oklahoma.
I’m not going to raise an alarm yet, but this is something to keep an eye on as we move forward through the day.
This graphic issued by the National Weather Service shows the areas of concern for today, as of now.
