Mesonet Ticker for May 6, 2026

                
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Drought's little helper




Ever have a hair dryer on full blast pointed at your face? And yes, it hurts me
to talk about hair dryers. Know what dries my hair? The gust of air from a gnat
flying by. And why can't I say "drys" since it's hair "dryer!" And why can't I
say hair drier? I mean, who invented this language, and why am I so bad at it?

Anyway, this is not what we need in Oklahoma right now. We need rain, and mild
weather, and I don't mean COLD weather like yesterday and today because ain't
no rain falling in this mess (see, English, not good at). Maybe some snow, though,
and a hard freeze up in the Panhandle.





And now we're working on yet another 2-3 week dry spell for much of the state,
on top of a longer dry spell across western Oklahoma that stretches all the way
back to before Thanksgiving, for crying out loud (had to break out the "crying
out louds" for that one)!



So as you can see from the top graphic, you'll be looking at highs in the mid-
90s to 100s late next week, and southwesterly winds blasting 35-45 mph if not
higher. It's days like that that (and that again) can really push that drought
forward, the soil moisture and vegetation a step back, and really push that
fire danger up where it still looks like February across western Oklahoma.





Here's the bad news, after all that bad news...rain looks pretty scarce for the
next week or so.



But here's the good news...it does look like we may go into a stormy pattern
after that.



Remember, these outlooks don't show anomalies, but the ODDS of an anomaly. And
in this case, increased odds of above normal precip. And for mid-May, above
normal precip would be more significant than just about any other time of the
year. The only question is, will it be the same for western Oklahoma?

As we see in this product from our Canadian weather friends up north (duh), the
odds of at least an inch of rainfall accumulation between now and May 20 for
western Oklahoma range from about 40-70 percent, while it's up to 80-90 percent
across central and eastern Oklahoma.



And the bad news (I wish we were talking about Bears) is, we don't need an inch
of rain over the next two weeks...we need INCHES of rain. We don't need these
next maps to come true, which show below-normal precip anomalies through early
June.





I expect Mother Nature to rectify (English to Okie translation: "fix") this
problem immediately with a pattern change! Or at least in the next couple of
weeks. Until then, enjoy winter, then spring, then summer, in the next 7 days.

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

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