MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... September 3, 2015 September 3, 2015 September 3, 2015 September 3, 2015
Flash drought expanding in Oklahoma
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20150903/drought-creep.jpg
Just when we thought our Mondays and Tuesdays would be freed up to work on other exciting and fabulous climate stuff, this stupid flash drought decided to ramp up once again. Just look at the U.S. Drought Monitor map released this morning.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20150903/20150901_OK_trd.png
Severe drought is now up to 3% of the state, all across far SE OK, and moderate- severe is up to 9%. Areas in at least abnormally dry (D0) conditions now cover 20.43 percent of the state.
This dry spell really got going about 10 days into July, after "THE WETTING OF SPRING AND SUMMER 2015!!!!" (that's copyrighted, BTW). Check out the rainfall maps for July 10-today. Yikes! That's looks a lot worse than I thought.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20150903/july10-sept3-totals.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20150903/july10-sept3-depart.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20150903/july10-sept3-pct.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20150903/july10-sept3-stats.png
The 2nd driest such period for south central Oklahoma since at least 1921, 4 inches below normal. And the southeast ain't much better. Combine that with that heat dome that sat over the state for so long (and made a comeback this week) and you have the perfect ingredients for flash drought. All those heat indexes of 110-115 meant all that previous 3 months worth of rainfall was evaporating from the soils and the lakes/ponds/reservoirs. Again, check out the soil maps. These are ugly.
http://www.mesonet.org/index.php/weather/category/soil_moisture
I feel sorry for folks preparing their fields to plant wheat with those types of conditions. And that deep, dark brown color from far SW OK prompted us to go ahead and ask for D0 over Harmon and Jackson counties. They have irrigation water for their cotton thanks to the previous rains, but that's some dry soil down that way otherwise. The reservoirs are hanging in there, although still some low levels out west.
http://www.owrb.ok.gov/supply/drought/reservoirstorage.php
Hopes for the near-term are a bit bleak, although there is a chance for a bit of moisture next week. That moisture is just starting to show up on the 7-day forecast map. Let's hope this turns a bit more blue across S OK.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20150903/7day-rain-forecast.gif
Other than that, it's going to be HOT through Labor Day weekend.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20150903/nws-amarillo.gif http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20150903/nws-norman1.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20150903/nws-norman2.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20150903/nws-tulsa.png
It's early September, fall is right around the corner, but we have to escape summer's last gasp first.
Gary McManus State Climatologist Oklahoma Mesonet Oklahoma Climatological Survey (405) 325-2253 gmcmanus@mesonet.org
==================================================
The OCS/Mesonet Ticker
https://ticker.mesonet.org/
To subscribe or unsubscribe from the Ticker
or for questions about the Ticker or its content
Phone or Email the Ticker Manager at OCS
Phone: 405-325-2253 Email: ticker@mesonet.org
---------------------------------------------------
-C- Copyright 2024 Oklahoma Climatological Survey
===================================================
|