MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... December 28, 2015 December 28, 2015 December 28, 2015 December 28, 2015
I don't know what to say?
As the monstrous post-Christmas storm of 2015 slowly winds its way through the state to the northeast, we remain with life-threatening flooding across eastern Oklahoma, a frozen western half of the state, and over 100,00 utility customers without power. Here's the radar loop so you can watch this unwanted guest leave the area.
http://radar.weather.gov/ridge/Conus/southplains_loop.php
I don't even know how to begin to describe the amount of wind and moisture with this storm, so I'll just jump right in. First, the moisture. Take a look at the 3-day rainfall map (remember, some of the stations across western OK are still waiting for the frozen precip to melt).
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20151228/rainrfc.72hr.png
A wide area of 4-12 inches of rain fell across the eastern half of the state, as well as 1-3 inches of rain/snow/sleet/freezing rain across the western half. Tahlequah led the Mesonet with 11.75 inches, and rain is still falling! The eastern half of the state is littered with flash and areal flood warnings. In some cases, this is the flood of record for those river basins.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20151228/nws-tulsa-flooding.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20151228/latest.oklahoma.flood.gif
Places like Watts, OK, are experiencing their flood of record on the Illinois River.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20151228/watts-flood-of-record.png
Ugh, so much to talk about I don't even know where to continue. Can you believe that? THE TICKER IS SPEECHLESS! Let's turn to records. The statewide average rainfall for December thus far, at least according to preliminary data from the Mesonet, is 5.71 inches (and climbing), 3.81 inches above normal, which makes it the wettest December on record! The previous record was 4.87 inches from 1984. Remember that? I don't either, but it must have been pretty wet. Here are the rainfall stats and a map or two from December thus far.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20151228/dec1-28-totals.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20151228/dec1-28-stats.png
Now, add that 5.71 inches to the January-November statewide average of 48 inches and we now stand at a preliminary total of 53.71 inches. We had already topped the wettest year on record for Oklahoma (47.88 inches) through November, so get this. Everybody grab a knee.
WE HAVE NOW SMASHED THE PREVIOUS WETTEST YEAR ON RECORD FOR OKLAHOMA BY 5.83 INCHES!
Absolutely incredible. I don't know if you're quite getting it there. We just topped the statewide average rainfall total by nearly 6 inches. Wow. There were only 7 previous years above 47 inches, so let's rank them so you can see the enormity of this new record.
2015: 53.71 inches (preliminary) 1957: 47.88 inches 1908: 47.24 inches 1915: 46.01 inches 1941: 45.83 inches 1923: 44.61 inches 1945: 41.82 inches 1905: 40.89 inches
Now we won't get the "official" total until later into January when NCEI releases their statewide average, but safe to say it will be somewhere in the neighborhood of 53-54 inches.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20151228/jan1-dec28-totals.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20151228/jan1-dec28-departure.png
32 inches above normal. As Dr. Evil would say..."Riiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhhhhhtttt."
Here's another year-to-date map with the radar overlay thrown in. It's a bit easier to see, but all the stations haven't been added yet. Still, the amounts along with the radar totals give you an idea of the enormity of the rains during 2015.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20151228/jan1-dec28-totals-radar-gauge.png
Notice some of those totals across eastern Oklahoma? Many of them are over 80 inches.
Stigler: 88.21 inches McAlester: 86.97 Broken Bow: 85.71 Cookson: 85.61 Eufaula: 85.06 Wilburton: 84.32 Mt. Herman: 82.80 Tishomingo: 82.78 Sallisaw: 81.90 Tahlequah: 81.85 Stuart: 81.05 Centrahoma: 80.56
The previous highest total for any Mesonet station prior to 2015 was 76.61 inches from Broken Bow back in 2009. So those 12 stations have topped that record, and an additional 10 stations exceeded it as well, but fell below 80 inches. Now here's the kicker (a Ticker kicker!!). The highest annual total for any site in the history of the state (so Mesonet, NWS COOP, ect.) was 88.27 inches from Tuskahoma back in 1990. A station called "Flagpole Tower" also had 84.72 inches from 1990. So five Mesonet stations have topped Flagpole Tower for #2 on the all-time list, and Stigler is dangerously close to topping Tuskahoma as the wettest location in the history of the state.
Incredible, eh?
Please stay tuned to our Facebook and twitter accounts for updates.
TUSKAHOMA MUST FALL!!
http://www.facebook.com/mesonet/ https://twitter.com/okmesonet
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
===================================================
|