Mesonet Ticker for February 20, 2026

                
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February 20, 2026  February 20, 2026  February 20, 2026  February 20, 2026


Brrrr!




Brrrr. BRRRRR! BRRRRRRRRRR!

Brrr indeed.

Check it out, I have very little time to Tick, but let's Tock about the return to
winter. After several days (weeks??) of above normal temps, we're finally back
to winter again, and in a jarring fashion. I know, because I've jarred a lot!
Check out the statewide average temps so far this year, departure from normal.
Other than our arctic blast (again, I prefer DQ Blizzards) at the end of January,
it's been fairly to profoundly warm this year, both high and low temperatures.



Take Jan. 5, for instance (but give it back please), at a statewide avg. of 55.9F.
That marks Jan. 5, 2026, as the WARMEST Jan. 5 on record in the state, going back
to the 1880s. And we saw plenty of broken high temperature records just in the
past week at individual sites, including broken high minimum temps as well.

And then today happened. Heck, it's cold out there right now, for crying out
loud!





And with some of those fires being barely contained, especially in NW OK, you
have firefighters out there in some case battling blazes with wind chills down
in the lower teens. Yikes!

And speaking of fires, back into fire danger mode for the two western Panhandle
counties with a Red Flag Fire Warning.



As for temperatures, we'll be back to seasonal highs for a few days, a bit cold
(okay, REALLY cold) in the mornings, then back to above normal next week.

And back in fire danger.







Too much brrr, not enough time.

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

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