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. . . Ticker for December 21, 2014 . . .
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... December 21, 2014 December 21, 2014 December 21, 2014 December 21, 2014 Some of my hair, Earl's tea and the first three weeks of December... http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/Carnac2.jpg What is "grey." I don't know who this "Earl" guy is, but me messed up my joke with his spelling of gray, but let's just all pretend we're British and go with grey. And even though my hair has fled my scalp like a herd of antelope on the African Savanna being chased by a pack of lions, most of it's still its lustrous brown-ish black. But it's also no secret that Mother Nature took away the sun this month and appears reluctant to give it back. We just happen to have a statewide network of pyranometers on the Mesonet that measure the incoming radiation from the sun as proof. Proof of what you say? That this has been the least sunny first three weeks of December since the Mesonet was commissioned in 1994. You can view the current amount of sunlight (at least in the form of solar radiation) and also the daily total for the current day here: http://www.mesonet.org/index.php/weather/category/solar_radiation_satellite But what if we took all those daily totals for Dec. 1-21 for all the years since 1994 and compared them versus the theoretical maximum for each of those periods? In other words, how much did the Mesonet measure versus the theoretical maximum that could be expected to reach the surface if we had no atmosphere (thus removing the impact of clouds, fog, haze, terrain, etc. etc., but mostly clouds). Here are the values in graphical form. Pretty easy to see at 31.7% that the current Dec. 1-21 period easily outpaces the next "grayest" period of Dec. 1-21, 2011. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/dec1-21-pct.sunshine.png And we can only dream of the glorious sunshine of 1996 (62.8) and 2004 (61.9). Something else strikes us, however...in general, at least in the 21 years of Mesonet data, it's generally not too sunny during December. We're not talking Seattle miserableness here, but it's generally less than 50% of possible sunshine. Now if we look year by year (again, for the Dec. 1-21 period), we can also see the non-shocking result that it's generally "sunnier" in western Oklahoma than eastern Oklahoma. The access to what little Gulf Moisture that makes it up this way in December still provides more cloudiness for the eastern half of the state. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.199412.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.199512.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.199612.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.199712.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.199812.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.199912.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.200012.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.200112.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.200212.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.200312.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.200412.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.200512.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.200612.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.200712.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.200812.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.200912.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.201012.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.201112.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.201212.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.201312.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/srad.201412.png So what the heck's been going on with all this cloudiness, and will it go away soon? Well, our friends at the Norman NWS office gave a pretty good graphical explanation, and it has to do with the vertical profile of moisture and temperature in the atmosphere, and also the lack of wind. Take a look for this easy to understand explanation. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/NWS-norman-cloudy-days.png We also look to those folks for harbingers of good tidings and joy (i.e., THE SUN!). Lo and behold, after a couple/three more days of this mess, looks like we'll finally see some pretty good skies ahead. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20141221/nws-norman-7day-planner.jpg Yeah, highs in the upper 50s for Christmas Day. DEAL WITH IT! You don't hear Australians complaining about highs in the 100s on Christmas Day, do you? But remember this special gift from the Mesonet...actual proof of this BAH HUMBUG weather over the last three weeks. 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 ===================================================