Mesonet Ticker for August 5, 2026

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
August 5, 2026     August 5, 2026     August 5, 2026     August 5, 2026


100+1




With 100s in the forecast through November 12 (I KID, I KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID! Or do
I?), I thought it would be interesting to put our little heat wave we're
suffering through into (in??) a little perspective. Sort of like, how would I
put my scalp into perspective? I mean, I don't have Brad Pitt's mane (just his
face and body...COME ON!), but I'm not exactly The Rock either. It could always
be worse!

The next 7-10 days are looking pretty brutal with lots of triple-digits in site.







So let's take a look at one metric on a "miserable" summer: triple-digit temps.
Starting with the Grand Poobah of summer heat in Oklahoma (and the country), the
summer of 2011. We'll look at where we were through Aug. 4, 2011, for comparison.
This is all on the top graphic, but we can take a closer look here.



Yikes! And remember, Oklahoma's summer (June-August) ended as the hottest in
U.S. history. We actually tied with Texas, but keep that in mind...no state has
had a hotter summer than Oklahoma did back in 2011, and that map shows why.

2012 was pretty brutal, too, pretty much year-round. It did end up finishing
as the warmest YEAR on record for Oklahoma, and was since tied by 2024. But it
was all part of the beginnings of that 2010-15 drought, which was especially
horrible during that 2-year 2011-12 period.



Don't sleep on 2022, which was the hottest summer we had SINCE 2011, and the
4th-hottest summer since 1980 behind 2011, 1980, and 1988. Remember 2022, when
it was nice and cool right up until June 10 when the bottom dropped out?



So the perspective is, this summer isn't so bad.



However, we keep adding those 100s on there and it could start to rival 2012,
and maybe even 2022. Just for kicks (and some of these will kick you right in
the teeth if you remember them), here's how those years we've compared 2026
actually ended up.





And finally, the Grand Poobah of Heat, the Ayatollah of Perspiration...2011.



And remember, it could always be worse.



Or worser.



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

---