For the last article of the series, I am covering the most surprising weather events I have experienced in both Colorado and Oklahoma. This would be primarily personal experiences, so take those with a grain of salt.
When I first arrived in Norman, Oklahoma, I stayed on University of Oklahoma campus for the summer throughout my REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) during the summer of 2018. The first thing that surprised me the most about the weather is severe weather, or specifically the structure or appearances of the storms, such as this low-precipitation supercell (did not produce much rain at all) during the first chase in free time. On the second chase, I saw a high-precipitation supercell (produced very heavy rainfall) with such an impressive beauty. I was fortunate to be there during peak tornado season for Oklahoma.
Boulder, Colorado was a different story, however. As I mentioned in previous part, it sits at more than 5,000 feet above sea level, so thinner air did pose mild annoyances for some interns. Also, I first arrive in Boulder in middle of May, and we had snow a few days later. Yes, you read this right. We had few inches of snow in late May. I snapped so many pictures since I have never experienced seeing snow in May before. With a cherry on top, I got involved in snowball fights and built a snowman.
Later in the summer, I saw a few lenticular clouds which were really neat to see. I also witnessed a deep hail event that flooded the parking lot in front of the lab. The hailstones were small, mostly dime-sized and barely quarter-sized at most. However, the city had to pull out snowplows to clear out accumulated hailstones up to few inches deep from the roads.
Finally, my gist of this series is when you pick a school (transfer or graduate) or apply for internships first, then research weather to decide what to take whether it is fall clothes or a pairs of shorts.
I am a trained spotter and weather enthusiast who spent years enjoying learning about weather. I provide my thoughts and commentaries, sometimes with light humor.
