Mesonet Ticker for January 26, 2026

                
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January 26, 2026   January 26, 2026   January 26, 2026   January 26, 2026


Ah-choo




Well that about covers winter, if'n you ask me, and you didn't but I have the
clicker. Unfortunately, Mother Nature controls the streaming, and she sure
premiered a biggie over the weekend. From lots of record cold temperatures to
a blanket of 4-12 inches of snow and ice over nearly the entire state, spring
can't get here soon enough.

Take this morning for instance. Please. Kenton's -12F broke the record for lowest
temperature on, uhhhhhhh...record, for a January 26 in Oklahoma, dating back to
the 1880s, beating out El Reno's -8F from 1902 (Ft. Reno AND El Reno), as well
as Meeker's -8F from 1894.



Bad year, that 1894. Lots of horse manure on streets and all that. Yesterday,
January 25, was no picnic either.





All of this is being aided by the snow pack, of course. Speaking of snow (and
ice), here are some totals from our NWS friends.





Luckily, it wasn't the historic storm for us that was first feared, although
plenty of daily snowfall records were broken over each of the last 3 days.
That's not exactly a chore, since we're not a big snow state, but impressive
nonetheless. Most of our snow STORM records are still intact, looks like. How
about Poteau with 5 inches of sleet, though? Good luck shoveling that!





The challenge now will be to start melting some of this stuff. Sun is the best
remedy, but today looks more likely to break lowest max temperature records
vs. pct possible sunshine.





In fact (okay, opinion), it might be until Tuesday or Wednesday until we get
back above freezing for much of the state.





Don't get too excited, we'll see another Arctic front next weekend and winter
will be back for awhile.



The Ticker will be off for the rest of the week for a POSSIBLE conference trip,
provided I can get out of town, so hold down the fort.

When's spring?

Gary McManus
State Climatologist
Oklahoma Mesonet
Oklahoma Climate Survey
gmcmanus@ou.edu
                

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