MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... August 24, 2010 August 24, 2010 August 24, 2010 August 24, 2010
Oklahoma Wets Its Whistle
Just as flash drought began to take hold over the southern half of the state, Mother Nature came through in the clutch and provided some nice relief in the way of rain and cooler temperatures. The three maps from the Oklahoma Mesonet below tell the story:
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20100824/current.TAIR.grad.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20100824/current.TAIR_24H.grad.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20100824/rainrfc.24hr.png
As you can see from that last figure, flash drought has become flash flooding in some parts of Pottawatomie and Carter counties. Unfortunately, the rain has been fairly localized along the I-35 corridor so areas in the southwest and east central haven't had much help yet. Beating the proverbial dead horse here, but our bi-polar summer began its manic heat phase on July 12 when the widespread rainfall stopped. When you combine a month and a half of triple-digit temperatures with less than 20% of normal rainfall, you have flash drought.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20100824/flash_drought_conditions.png
So enjoy the cool weather for a few days. A word of warning to those wanting to write an epitaph to summer with this latest cold front: that might be just a tad premature. We're an upper-level ridge away from the heat again.
Oklahoma City, for instance, has had 74 September days with highs of 100 degrees or greater since 1896, and averages 11 days over 90. The latest 100-degree temperature ever recorded in Oklahoma City occurred on September 30, 1977. The highest ... 108 degrees on September 2, 2000 (football fans at the UTEP/OU game will remember that day not so fondly).
And the numbers are worse in other parts of the state, judging by the top-20 highest September temperatures(again, 2000 is not good company to keep):
114 EUFAULA 2 SW 9/1/2000 114 WAURIKA 9/4/2000 113 CHATTANOOGA 3 NE 9/5/2000 113 HOLDENVILLE 9/2/1951 113 WILBURTON 9/4/1998 112 ALVA 9/4/2000 112 ATOKA DAM 9/8/1985 112 BUFFALO 9/4/2000 112 BUFFALO 9/5/2000 112 BUFFALO 9/6/2000 112 CENTRAHOMA 2 ESE 9/4/2000 112 COALGATE 1 WNW 9/2/1951 112 GUTHRIE 9/2/1998 112 MANNFORD 6 NW 9/2/2000 112 MCGEE CREEK DAM 9/2/2000 112 MCGEE CREEK DAM 9/4/2000 112 PAULS VALLEY 4 WSW 9/4/2000 112 TUSKAHOMA 9/4/1998 112 WAURIKA 9/3/2000 112 WEBBERS FALLS 9/5/1998
So skip the epitaphs for now and stick with epithets. But above all, enjoy our cool break.
And hey, we can always hope for short-sleeve weather for Halloween!
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20100824/sep-nov_outlook.gif
Gary McManus Associate State Climatologist Oklahoma Climatological Survey (405) 325-2253
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