Mesonet Ticker for September 16, 2026

                
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1936 for the win!




I've talked about this before (I've been writing the Ticker for 17 years...I've
talked about EVERYTHING before), but there are some years you don't want YOUR
year hanging out with.

Like for cold weather, no 1983, 1989, 2011, or 2021, please.

Tornadoes and flooding, stay away from 1999, 2011, 2013, and 2015 if you can.

Summer heat, 1934, 1954, 1980 and 2011 come to mind. In fact, just stay away from
2011 altogether. 2011 is that friend your teenager has that smokes, drinks, and
uses the old five-finger discount when they go to Wal Mart.

Just stay away. And for summertime drought, 2011 is in there, and generally most
of the 1950s and the Dust Bowl 1930s, but in particular, 1936, which easily had
the driest summer on record in Oklahoma. And whilst our summer didn't jump to
any cellar-dwelling rankings at 56th-driest, thanks to a wet June, things turned
downright nasty since mid-July or so.

And now, we're hanging out with 1936. The statewide average for the last 60
days, encompassing July 18-Sept. 15, finished at 1.91 inches, 4.02 inches below
normal and ranked as the second-driest since 1921. 1936's statewide average was
1.58" to claim the dubious driest record.



YEEEARGH (a downgrade from the not-quite-as-unpleasant "ARGH")!!

And for west-central Oklahoma, it's even drier than 1936! The maps tell the
story.





That dryness is on top of the third-warmest August we've ever seen, and the
sixth-warmest July-August on record. ANNNNNDDDDDD we're in the midst of possibly
the warmest SEPTEMBER on record in the state.

All problems easily cured by a few cold fronts and rain. The cold fronts start
early next week, and so does the rain. At least we hope.





Until then, September is grounded!

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

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