This U.S. Geological Survey map shows how far away people felt Saturday's record quake in Oklahoma.
Intensity falls with distance away from the epicenter, as shown in this graphic. Info provided by the U.S. Geological Survey.
Oklahoma Mesonet map of 10-day rainfall total statewide as of Nov. 9.
Yesterday I tried to answer all questions about the severe weather we've had in Oklahoma lately, but since there's updated info, I thought I'd share what I could on each.
Earthquakes:
According to our Oklahoma Geological Survey observatory site in Leonard, Oklahoma still has had at least 28 quakes this month statewide. Once again, here is preliminary information (I must emphasize "preliminary" throughout this blog!) are the major ones:
8:46 p.m. Monday: 4.7 magnitude and an epicenter five miles northwest of Prague, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (5.0 magnitude according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey)
3:39 a.m. Sunday: 4.0 magnitude, epicenter 2 mile east/northeast of Meeker, according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey
10:53 p.m. Saturday: 5.6 magnitude, epicenter 5 miles northwest of Prague according to the U.S. Geological Survey (5.3 magnitude according to the Oklahoma Geological Survey)
2:12 a.m. Saturday: 4.7 magnitude, epicenter 6 miles southeast of Sparks
The Associated Press is reporting that damage estimates could take several weeks, with the latest aftershock being a 3.0 magnitude on Wednesday.
Our own story today had that really cool map that is displayed in the upper right corner of this blog showing how far our record-setting earthquake was felt around the country, as well as the graph below that shows how the quake feel less and less intense away from the epicenter, as can be expected.
Want to read previous stories on our state quakes? Here are some links:
Nov. 9: Social media helps gauge Oklahoma quake's pulse Nov. 8: Oklahoma's quakes prove that you can't predict them Nov. 8: Bridges mostly undamaged Nov. 8: Boone Pickens Stadium inspected after earthquakes Nov. 8: Demand for quake insurance up Nov. 7: Damage left in wake of Saturday's quake Nov. 6: Earthquake jolts OklahomaFor background reference, here's our graphic of the four major quakes again:
Tornadoes:
I wasn't kidding yesterday when I said that the tornado info was preliminary! There are now six tornadoes reported in southwest Oklahoma from Monday.
Doug Speheger, Norman National Weather Service meteorologist, said that each of these six events were confirmed to be tornadoes, but that most do not have intensity ratings yet. Here's the new preliminary info:
2:54 p.m. Monday: 3 miles south of Tipton, began at about 2:38 p.m. near the Texas side of the Red River south-southeast of Altus. EF-2 rating.
3:15 p.m. Monday: 2 miles northwest of Manitou. Dissipated near U.S. 183 south of Snyder.
3:38 p.m. Monday: 3 miles east of Snyder.
3:50 p.m. Monday: 6 east-northeast of Mountain Park, on the ground about 35 minutes. Moved into the Mountains Wildlife Refuge, causing a lot of tree damage, but no structural damage reported yet.
4:45 p.m. Monday: 7 miles south-southeast of Carnegie. Lasted a few minutes.
5 p.m. Monday: 3 miles northwest of Fort Cobb. Lasted about 10-15 minutes.
How soon will we know how large these tornadoes were? Speheger said that classification may take through the rest of the week, possibly into next week.
Rain:
Tulsa received 3.42 inches of rain so far this month, with 2.64 of that from Monday and Tuesday alone, according to the weather service.
According to the Oklahoma Mesonet, a lot of areas have had a lot more rainfall than La Nina usually allows for our area. I am using Halloween here because it's Nov. 9 today and their closest month-long report is a 10-day one :)
The most rainfall we've had in any part of the state was south-central Oklahoma near ringling, with 7.48 inches. Closer to Tulsa, Haskell had the most, with 6.36 inches reported. Near Porter, 6.05 inches. In north-central Oklahoma near Foraker, 4.48 inches.
Hopefully all of this recent rainfall will be reflected in the U.S. Drought Monitor report scheduled to be released Thursday. Our state is in a moderate to exceptional drought still! We need moderate to exceptional rainfall to combat it!
-- Althea Peterson
