In my career as a meteorologist, I’ve visited many towns that have been struggling through some sort of weather disaster. I’ve seen ice, snow, tornadoes, hurricanes, drought and floods. However, up until now, I’ve been fortunate enough to not live in an area hit hard by any of these weather phenomenon. Not this time. Like everyone else, I found myself without power and cold!

For five days, I worked 12 hour shifts only to come home to a cold apartment. I, along with my poor cat, Chloe, buried myself under mounds of blankets and quilts. My late grandmother is no doubt, smiling down at me, knowing that every quilt she ever made me was being used for the purpose it was created. And, like so many others, I ran around the house like a crazy woman turning on all my lights once the power returned! As they say, I was like a kid in a candy store!

Of course, I think it will be a long while before I take my electricity for granted, but that’s not what really got to me this last week… at least not as much as one other thing: The outpouring of support and help from people out of state!

I have seen this happen on many occasions, during my visits to hard-hit communities, and I have been known to donate to relief funds myself. My donations always made me smile, knowing I was helping, but I don’t think anything has warmed my heart so much as to be on the receiving end.

The crew that fixed the power at my apartment was from Ohio. They came all this way to help us. They are living in a make-shift dormatory at the fairgrounds, away from their homes and their families to help us! How cool is that!?

It’s nice to see happening what I’ve always believed: Good really can come out of the bad.

Nollaig Shona!
Merry Christmas!

Katie

It was pitch-black and silent in our house. Then we heard the first cracking sound outside our window. It was followed by several more. Then we heard the loud “thud” sounds of branches, covered in ice, falling to the ground. Soon that’s all we could hear. One particularly loud thud sent me running to the window on the side of our house. A huge branch from our beautiful old oak tree had fallen on our fence, splitting it in two. What can you do? We could only hope and pray that the branches spared our roof. Emergency sirens came and went. As long as they weren’t on my street I thought we were okay.

I covered last winter’s ice storm in Grove. As I sat in our house listening to the trees and branches fall, all I could think about were those people in Grove. I felt terrible for them then… but now I knew exactly what they were going through. It was eerie.

At four a.m. we got a phone call from our next-door neighbor. She told us a gas line had been hit and was spewing gas across the street. We could hear its loud hissing sound and could soon smell gas so strong it smelled like it was leaking inside our own home. I called 911. It took about 5 minutes to get through and I asked for the fire department. I told the dispatcher about the gas leak and he said they’d send some guys out as soon as possible. But he couldn’t promise they’d be there soon. They showed up about 45 minutes later, took care of the leak and went on to their next call.

The next day at work I covered the City of Tulsa’s 2:30 p.m. media briefing. Larry Bowles with the fire department said they’d responded to 50 structure fires in the last 24 hours. (No wonder they couldn’t promise me a crew for my gas leak!) The outlook was not good for people without power. The numbers kept growing throughout the day until we finally ended up with 225,000 people in the Tulsa area without power. It’s incredible to think that virtually all of Tulsa is in the same situation as we are. But working in the news business always keeps me grounded. I know it could always be worse. There is always someone out there whose problems make mine look like small potatoes.

So, today, as we go into our 4th night without electricity, I am thankful for what I do have. I can tell you that I will never take my electricity for granted again though. I hope you are surviving too. Stay warm!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jennifer Loren

Lately, I have read several articles that state scientists have come to a consensus that the earth is warming. First, this is inaccurate, as there are still many scientists who are skeptics. Second, I have to agree with the great author, Michael Crichton when he said:

“Historically, the claim of consensus has been the first refuge of scoundrels; it is a way to avoid debate by claiming that the matter is already settled. Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet, because you’re being had…. Let’s be clear: the work of science has nothing whatever to do with consensus…… In science, consensus is irrelevant. What is relevant is reproducible results. The greatest scientists in history are great precisely because they broke with the consensus.”

As a scientist, I am offended by the term, “consensus.” Science is not about consensus. Much is hypothesis, theories… But above all, there are questions and the thirst for finding answers. Once scientists come to a “consensus,” no more questions are asked and no more knowledge is gained. This is the end of existence.

So, what is the answer to the question, “Does global warming exist?” That is for you to decide… We all have our opinions. I just hope the question keeps being asked and the argument continues to be fought. This is our motivation to find the truth through research.

Katie

So, when you think of the beach, what comes to mind? The rolling ocean waves? Warm sand under your feet? “She sells seashells by the seashore?” How about bananas? Well, maybe in a fruity drink with an umbrella… but actual bunches of bananas on the beach?!? NO WAY!

Well, it happened. Terschelling Island is about 70 miles north of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Earlier this month, the breaking news was “FREE BANANAS… HEAD OUT TO THE BEACH!!” Apparently, several containers full of bananas fell off a carog ship that found itself in a storm offshore. The containers burst open and thousands of bananas washed up onto the shores of the Dutch North Sea islands. It made for a pretty comical picture…

Beachcombers came to gather up the goodies, but were disappointed, since bananas were the least of the treasures usually found on the beach!! A year ago, due to the same kind of accident, tennis shoes, aluminum briefcases and children’s toys washed ashore!

A shipping official at the local lighthouse said of the bananas, “I think everybody on the island has a bunch now!”

Is maith liom bananai! (I love bananas!)

Katie

The Leonids are named for the constellations, Leo, the lion. The moon looks to set around midnight, so there looks to be dark skies during the prime hours to view the shooting stars. Scientists are prediction about a dozen meteors per hour this year.

Here are some tips for the best viewing of the Leonids:

1. Drive out away from city lights. For the Leonids, driving north, toward the constellation of Leo will be best.
2. Find a dark spot, free of car headlights or any other light that will impair your night vision.
3. Lay back, keeping the horizon in your peripheral vision.
4. When you can see each star of the Little Dipper, you know your eyes have adapted to the darkness and you’re ready to see the Leonids!

Slainte!

Katie

Photojournalist Todd Ruffin was assigned to go with me. One of our producers, Richard Clark, went along as well. We drove about 30 minutes south of town to an address on a gravel road in Mounds, Oklahoma. On the property, there was a trailer and what looked like a kennel with dog runs in the back. However there was no sign of a single dog on the property. There were actually chickens in the dog runs. No one was home.

Strangely we could hear several dogs barking in the distance. Could Bartmann live here, but keep the puppies somewhere else? It sounded like it could be a puppy operation. We decided to follow our ears and find it. I was shocked to see the operation we found. The property was surrounded by a tall wooden privacy fence. We drove onto the property to see what looked like an ocean of puppy pens. There were rows upon rows of pens. They were surrounded by low, chain-link fences. Each pen had a dog house in the middle and at least two small dogs running around barking.

Todd got out and talked to the owner. It was not Bill Bartmann. This man presented himself as a good breeder with a clean operation. As I looked around I noticed the grass was all cut short. The dogs had plenty of room to run with food, water and shelter. As we left I told Todd and Richard I didn’t like it. But, compared to the horror stories we’ve heard about puppy mills, this one seemed to be okay.

Back at the trailer, a car was now in the driveway. I knocked on the door, hoping Bartmann would answer. But it was not him. A Hispanic man answered the door. He didn’t speak much English. But he did tell me Bartmann no longer lived there.

When we got back to the station I tried to find Bartmann’s new address and phone number. I couldn’t find it. But I found his mother’s phone number. She told me she was no longer in contact wither son Bill. I gave her my number anyways and told her to have him call me if she happened to bump in to him. He called ten minutes later.

My first impression of Bill Bartmann was that he was a very nice man. He seemed genuinely sorry that the woman’s puppy had died from parvo. He said he’d never had that problem before. He told me he was a Christian, a church-going man with children whose mouths he had to feed. He said the woman in New York was crazy and trying to ruin him. He also said he had refunded her money and offered to pay her vet bills.

Have you ever worked on something all day and suddenly found out you were going to have to scrap it? That was my feeling. I hadn’t talked to the woman in New York yet. He sounded like he was telling the truth. I was frustrated. I asked Bartmann to e-mail me a copy of the receipt for the credit card refund to the woman in New York. While I waited on that I told our producers that my story was probably not going to happen that night, if at all. About thirty minutes later I got the credit card refund receipt. He had refunded the money the woman had paid for the puppy.

I called Mr. Bartmann and told him my story was cancelled. Then I called the woman in New York to see why she was pursuing this man, even though he refunded her money. According to her, Bartmann had not refunded the money… and she had a receipt of her own to prove it. My interest was sparked again. I continued looking into the situation. This time I couldn’t let Bartmann off the hook…

I’ll blog more on this soon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jennifer Loren

First off, I heard that this year was the driest ever in the last 200 years. This was in an interview with one of the disaster management officials in California. I learned that this is a slight exaggeration, seeing as how precipitation records for San Diego only date back to 1850, meaning we can only know what happened in the last 150 years or so. However, the claims that this year has been unusually dry are not exaggerated.

I looked up the annual precipitation for this year, 2007, since January 1st. San Diego has received only 2.60” of rain so far this year. Now, keep in mind that November and December are relatively wet months for the area. However, the normal rainfall amounts for these months add up to less than 2.00” of rain, according to climate data. This means, that even if the area receives the average amount of rainfall in both November and December, the total rainfall for the year will still be less than 5.00”. Sounds pretty dry, right? Well, let’s keep digging…

Precipitation data dates back to 1850. Since that time, the driest year on record was 1863, when San Diego only received 3.02” of rain for the entire year! Other notable years include 1968, with an annual rainfall total of 3.68″” and 1989 when the city only received 3.83″. The rainfall amount during the driest year, from Jan-Oct 1863 was 2.25”. Compare that to this year’s 2.60” and you’ll see that this year doesn’t look to go down in the record books, IF the area sees normal precipitation amounts through the end of the year. That’s a pretty big IF. However, comparing the values so far this year to 1863, the driest year on record, less than ½ of an inch would keep 2007 from beating out the standing record.

So, will they receive that ½ of an inch? Good question. So far, the predictions for the next couple of months call for below normal rainfall for much of Southern California. So, the stakes are high.

These dry, hot conditions are not unusual this time of year. In fact, we’re in the middle of what Californians refer to as the “Fire Season.” Just as severe thunderstorms and tornadoes are a yearly threat every spring to Oklahomans, Wildfires are a threat during the late summer and early fall for Southern California. But knowing the threat exists, doesn’t help the heartache of being a victim.

Some good news in the forecast: the winds look to decrease a bit over the next few days and firefighters are expected to deal with cooler and more humid conditions, which will help the on-going battle with the flames.

Katie

The reason that they call this particular shower the Orionids, is because the meteors seem to originate from the constellation Orion. Most people have heard of the constellation, Orion. If not, you can find Orion by looking first for his belt. Three brigth stars in a row make up Orion’s belt, while surrounding by a square of four stars that make up his arms and legs. Just reference this picture.

Another link to the Orionids may be familiar to you, too. That would be Halley’s Comet! Halley’s Comet was the first comet to be recognized as periodic. The Orionids meteor shower is a result of Earth passing through dust trailed by Halley’s. The most recent appearance of the comet was in 1986. The next time the comet will be visible to us will be 2061 or 2062!!

Another link to the Orionids may be familiar to you, too. That would be Halley’s Comet! Halley’s Comet was the first comet to be recognized as periodic. The Orionids meteor shower is a result of Earth passing through dust trailed by Halley’s. The most recent appearance of the comet was in 1986. The next time the comet will be visible to us will be 2061 or 2062!!

Slainte!

Katie

When the National Weather Service puts together it’s long range forecasts, a lot of information goes into it. This includes normal climatology for the region, current conditions, including dry or wet soils in the summer and snow and ice coverage in the winter, the Southern and North Atlantic Oscillations, and much, much more.

Most of us here in Oklahoma are fairly keen on weather vocabulary, so you’ve probably heard of El Nino and La Nina. Each has a different impact on our seasonal weather conditions. This year, looks to be a developing La Nina year, corresponding to below average sea surface temperatures.

So what does all this mean for us?

Above normal temperatures are predicted through December and average precipitation totals. For Tulsa, our normal high temperatures range from 74 degrees in October to 50 degrees in December. As for rainfall, in October, we expect just over 4”, November nearly 3 ½” and December near 2 ½”.

Only a week into October, and we’re certainly seeing the above normal temperatures… Rainfall is actually above normal as well.

Sláinte chugat

Good Health to You!

Katie

Boomer Sooner! The Red River Rivalry does not disappoint. I had the opportunity to attend the OU/Texas game this weekend. It was a lot of fun, especially since we won. But let me tell you what my whole OU/Texas experience was like.

First of all, I went shopping at Northpark Mall as soon as I got to Dallas. The mall was decorated with OU and Texas flags. All of the shops had their red and orange items in their windows. OU sorority girls were everywhere, wearing their “Beat Texas” t-shirts. The fraternity boys must have been there too. They weren’t wearing t-shirts. But you couldn’t miss them. Every 10 minutes or so, from the depths of the mall’s corridors, you would here a booming, “Boomer!” “Sooner!”. It was as if OU fans had taken over the city. I thought, “Where are all the Texas fans?”

As we entered the Texas State Fair, several hours before game time, it was difficult to move because of all the people crammed in there at one time. I don’t think I saw a single person wearing any color besides crimson or orange. The trend for both teams’ fans was cowboy boots. Girls were wearing them with jean skirts and red or orange sun dresses. Men even wore them with shorts. As my husband and I cut through a building to move toward the stadium, we found all those other Texas fans. Oh boy did we ever. The walls were shaking to the sounds of the Texas fight song and screaming fans, “OU sucks!”. People were not afraid to let us know we were going to lose. We got out of there fast.

Game time: Both OU and Texas were coming off disappointing losses. We had been knocked off the top 10 list. People who had been looking forward to the big game had sold their tickets on e-bay. I bet they regretted that decision when they watched the game from home. The stadium was electric. Fans stood the entire time. No one stopped cheering because they were tired. We had an elderly gentleman, probably 70 or so, in front of us who was louder and more “enthusiastic” toward the referees than any one else. It was an experience every fan around us will remember. All on all, it was a classic Red River Rivalry, keeping fans on the edge of the bleachers until the final seconds of the game. Of course, in the end, the Sooners were victorious. That has to be sweet for anyone in Oklahoma… Sooner fan or not

Thanks for stopping by!

Jennifer Loren