Mesonet Ticker for April 24, 2025

                
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Bobby colors




I always like to bring out my good friend Bob Ross when I'm feeling good about a
forecast, because I do think we're gonna continue to see rain over the next week
or so. But, in the "be careful what you wish for" department, we know what that
rainfall can come with in Oklahoma. In an aside, a couple of decades ago I once
wished "I wish my head wasn't so hot all the time" and, well, you know what
happened after that!

Yeah, be careful what you wish for. That bad stuff showed up out in the Panhandle
and SW OK last night, and there are the same types of risks for tonight...
especially on the large hail side of the severe weather hazard ledger.









The tornado threat is low (but not zero), but we still have to be weather aware,
don't we. We've had 28 confirmed tornadoes thus far in 2025, and it seems like
maybe half of them were in the "low (but not zero)" territory. Trust me, I know
about this because my bank account is often "low (but not zero)."

Now obviously these are not bigtime severe weather days lately, but that's
coming early next week on Monday and Tuesday, where the SPC has already placed
us in "sit up and take notice" mode.





Right now the cap (warm air aloft) looks like it might be difficult to overcome
for any storm development, but that can change for the worse just as much as
for the better, so it bears watching. I'd rather be watching bears, frankly.

Another hazard is still painfully hanging in there, but at least showing some
movement. Drought continues to shrink, albeit slowly, as the best rains
continue outside of the main drought area in NW OK. But, like I said, we have
made progress.





I did travel back to Woodward (and Buffalo) yesterday to give a drought talk
in far NW OK yesterday, and the drive there was like driving back in months of
time as the vegetation switched over from very April-ish to about Seiling but
then quickly switching over to very February-ish the farther NW you went. Some
of that is a bit more of a freeze in that region recently, but most of it is
the prevailing drought, so we really need this rainfall forecast to hit.

So keep those hits coming...just not hail hits. Or tornadoes.

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

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