Ice And Snow Projections Shift Slowly North; More Ice, Less Snow Now Likely

NewsOn6.com

TULSA, OK -- Most of northern Oklahoma is under a Winter Storm Warning which will be in effect from 6 a.m. Thursday through noon Friday.

As projections are updated the snow/sleet/ice areas have shifted north putting the Tulsa Metro area and especially Creek County just southwest of the Metro in danger of severe icing while reducing the amount of snow likely.  

The News On 6 WARN Team says a major winter storm moving east across the southwestern U.S. is expected to collide with cold air from Canada late Wednesday night and early Thursday morning.  

Southwest Airlines says Thursday, only the first four flights out of Tulsa International Airport will be leaving.  After 8:15 a.m. Thursday, all Southwest Airlines flights have been canceled.

Tulsa International Airport met with the airlines Wednesday afternoon to discuss their winter weather plans for Thursday. Southwest and Delta have both announced flight cancellations.

The rain is expected to begin Thursday morning and could quickly change over to freezing rain across portions of northern Oklahoma. 

By midday or early afternoon, precipitation will be in the form of sleet with freezing rain near the I-40 corridor. 

Thursday evening, the sleet will transition to snow across the northern third of the state, with freezing rain remaining along the I-40 corridor.  

Snow will continue to fall into Friday, with significant accumulations likely along and north of the I-44 corridor. 

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Because of the potential for freezing rain, an Ice Storm Warning will be issued for portions of eastern and central Oklahoma Thursday afternoon. 

With that in mind, The News On 6 WARN Team says power outages are possible, especially across the I-40 corridor into east central Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas. 

Some locations could lose electric service for several days. 

City of Tulsa officials say street maintenance personnel will work to make expressways and arterial streets safe and passable as soon as possible after ice or snow begins to fall.

A news release from the city lists the resources they have ready for this latest storm:

• 58 truck-mounted spreaders – assigned to 35 specific routes totaling 1,742 lane miles.
• 34 truck-mounted snow plows.
• 3 motor graders for use as plows.
• 1 truck-mounted liquid de-icer spraying unit.
• Approximately 6,000 tons of salt (More salt is arriving from an order placed after the December 2009 storm.)
• 116 employees.

You can track weather with WARN Interactive Radar and get safety tips in our Storm Zone Section.

You can get the latest WARN Team forecast in the NewsOn6.com Weather section.

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