Mesonet Ticker for August 13, 2026

                
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August 13, 2026    August 13, 2026    August 13, 2026    August 13, 2026


Help me Obi Wan Coldfronty




Every time I say something about how unusually hot or dry it is, some clodhopper
from Gotebo or Bristow or some other such place feels the need to retort:

"It's summer. Duh!"

Well duh to you too, because it's the extremes that cause the damage, not the
season. So a summer that appears to be heading for a top-10 warmest, combined
with the 20th driest July and what's starting to look like a top-10 driest if
we don't get rain soon (we've had 0.18" on average across the state...come on!),
and we're just supposed to say "It's summer. Duh!"?

If we we're having a top-10 coldest and snowiest (or iciest) winter on record,
would we just say "It's winter. Duh!"?

If you had the cyclosporiasis parasite, would you just say "It's Taco Bell.
Duh!"?

Meanwhile, our hundreds continue unabated, and we'll probably see some record
highs today in parts of the state. AND heat indexes will likely exceed 115F.
Record highs in August? No thanks!









Fire danger is back in play. We had numerous wildfires nearly get out of control
yesterday. And even though there's a chance of storms up in the Panhandle and
far NW, those are likely to be "dry" thunderstorms, meaning not much rain and
lots of fire-igniting lightning.





More bad news? Your cat doesn't care about you!

Want to see something scary, look at these 30-day rainfall stats.



Want to see something even scarier? Or more scary, even? Check out this 365-day
deficit map!



No, there is no rain coming, at least for most of us. Don't feel left out. Would
YOU want dry lightning? I thought so.



And no real pattern change either, at least through much of next week.



Just a reminder, the summer of 2022 here in Oklahoma was the 9th-warmest and
30th-driest on record, and this is where we ended up in the fall, with most
of those changes coming after July.



Well, this year we could be headed for another top-10 summer, as noted
previously, and we're currently in the midst of our 15th-driest July-August on
record.

What could be different than that 2022 picture? Well, lots, to be honest. Now
why would I lie to you?? So we could see a pattern change as early as the end
of August. I don't see one out there, but that's fantasy-cast territory anyway,
so anything can happen.

And then, we have El Nino staring us in the face. Already in the "strong"
vicinity as determined by the latest CPC ENSO update this morning, and it's
possibly headed to "historic" strength dating at least back to 1950:

"During the October-December 2026 season, there is a 69% chance of a
historic event that would exceed the strength of previous El Niño
events dating back to 1950."

I won't bore you with yet another explanation of the impacts we COULD see (odds
are greater that we will rather than not, but they ain't 100% either), so let
this graphic help you feel better.



So I guess the real question is, will it actually impact us, and when?

It's El Nino. Duh!

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

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