Mesonet Ticker for May 15, 2025

                
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May 15, 2025       May 15, 2025       May 15, 2025       May 15, 2025


No return needed




Well, the good news is I was finally accepted into the astronaut program, so you
won't have to put up with me much longer.

The bad news is it was the Latvian Space Agency.

Well no, that didn't really happen. Let's try again:

The good news is we're finally gonna get some rain.

The bad news is it's gonna come with some significant severe weather, it appears,
and while the graphic sez this weekend, the fireworks really start tonight. Now
tonight it'll just be sparklers and snakes (DON'T LEAVE BLACK STAINS ON YOUR
PARENTS' DRIVEWAY, KIDS!), then black cats and pop-bottle rockets (banned, you'll
have to go black market on those) Friday and Saturday, then we bring out the
roman candles and cherry bombs for Sunday and Monday, and maybe again on Tuesday.

Here are the graphics for tonight and Friday, and again for Tuesday.







It's actually been 2 weeks...TWO WEEK!!!...since we've seen severe weather in
Oklahoma. In May. Two weeks. All the way back to May 1.



Now when's the last time that happened? No, I'm asking you because I can't
recall too many 2-week periods with NO severe weather during May in Oklahoma.

Now obviously, we're still 3-5 days away from the possible high-end severe wx
events later in the weekend, so there's still plenty of uncertainty as to
HOW severe, WHERE are the main threat areas, WHAT threats will be most
likely, and WHO gets to go down to the Walmarts and buy me my Cherry Pop-Tarts
to keep me calm.

My suggestion...get the Pop-Tarts now, but also start tuning into your local
NWS office's graphics for more precise and professional advice:

Norman: https://www.weather.gov/oun
Tulsa: https://www.weather.gov/tsa
Amarillo: https://www.weather.gov/ama
Shreveport: https://www.weather.gov/shv

And also keep abreast of things through your favorite media source.

We'll have varying degrees of tornado chances and all the good (i.e., bad)
stuff that goes with them over the next 6 days. With all the activities going
on this time of year, you just gotta stay weather aware and have a plan should
something crop up in your area to protect you and yours.

It's May in Oklahoma, you know the drill. We've had more than a half-dozen
storm-related deaths in Oklahoma already, and we don't want that number going
up.

The rain doesn't look like much, but this is gonna depend on whether you get
under one of those big storms or not. Still tons of water around with saturated
soils due to the record rains of May, so flash flooding will be a concern.



More good news? We have drought on the run in Oklahoma, now confined to far
NW OK and the Panhandle.



The bad news, and stop me if you've heard this before...the best rains aren't
forecast for the areas in drought. But they're not in the tornadoey area either.

It's May...pick your poison.

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


                

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