Mesonet Ticker for June 8, 2026

                
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June 8, 2026       June 8, 2026       June 8, 2026       June 8, 2026


Mad Max Beyond Summerdome




First off, before we get started...heckit'srainingrightnowforcryingoutloud!



Whew, that was building up for an hour...glad I got it out (there's a Taco Bell
joke in there somewhere). The hottest stretch of weather for the warm season thus
far has arrived starting yesterday, and for all intensive purposes (Okie to
English translation: "intents and purposes"), we're gonna call the warm season
this year as starting in February!



And even though we're freshly in climatological summer since June 1, this type of
heat with the heat index values pushing 105-110F is a bit early even for Oklahoma.
I mean, it's not unheard of, but still a bit early as we're pushing vintage
mid-July weather here in early-to-mid June.



Just looking at today's lows thus far screams "July 18th!"



So seeing that heat index soar 5-10F above the actual air temperature is a bit
jarring, but again...it's summer.



The highest heat index on the Mesonet so far in 2026 is 107F at Medford back on
May 31, with a slew of 105Fs over that and the following day. But in reality,
there have only been 238 instances of a heat index of at least 100F on the
Mesonet's 120 sites this year, and I expect that to multiply quite rapidly over
the next few days. Here's a look at our heat wave for this week from our friends
at the NWS.





At least we had substantial rainfall for many over the last week, and at least
SOME rainfall for everybody. There's always somebody that misses out on the
good stuff, though. This time around it was central Oklahoma.



And maybe the best news is we shouldn't see a long period before rainfall
returns...hopefully later this week.



And beyond?



Well, not beyond Thunderdome.

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

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