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February 1, 2019 February 1, 2019 February 1, 2019 February 1, 2019
January, we hardly knew ya
We'll get to January in a minute, but for right now, all eyes are on the weekend.
We're set to have a glorious, albeit a bit windy, Saturday and Sunday with
widespread temperatures in the 60s and 70s (dare I say an 80 or two??).
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/saturday-forecast-highs.png
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/sunday-forecast-highs.png
Other than that...blah! A cold front next week, slight chance of moisture.
Typical boring February weather in Oklahoma. Watch out for fires.
Now, onto January! Errrr, back, that is.
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A Tale of Two Januarys
Feb. 1, 2019
The weather was a bit confused in Oklahoma during January. The first half of
the month was on the warm and wet side of normal, while the second half was
dominated by short, intense periods of dry winter’s chill. The state received
an average of 1.86 inches of precipitation from January 1-12, but only 0.31
inches throughout the rest of the month – the 5th wettest and 25th driest such
periods on record, respectively.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/Jan1-12-rain-totals.png
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/Jan13-31-rain-totals.png
The month’s biggest thrill came in the form of a winter storm on January 3,
with freezing rain, sleet and snow falling across much of the state.
Preliminary reports had Blanchard leading the official snowfall totals with 5.5
inches, although unofficial reports of up to 6.5 inches came in from the
eastern side of Moore. Oklahoma City recorded 4.5 inches, their 18th largest
single-day January snow total since records began in 1893. The final bit of
excitement was the frigid weather to end the month. A large area of arctic air
settled over the Upper Midwest and Northern Plains during the final week of
January, breaking many longtime cold temperature records. Low temperatures in
Minnesota and North Dakota approached minus 60 degrees, with similar wind
chills across a larger range. Oklahoma received the extreme southwestern edge
of that air mass – a glancing blow. Wind chills dropped below zero in a few
spots, and single digits over a larger area.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190129/today.TAPP.min.grad.png
According to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the statewide average
precipitation total was 2.17 inches, 0.61 inches above normal to rank as the
23rd wettest January since records began in 1895. Northeastern Oklahoma was
unusually wet at 2.15 inches above normal, the seventh wettest January for that
region. All Mesonet sites in the western quarter saw less than an inch of
liquid precipitation, while areas east of Interstate 35 received 2-4 inches. A
few Mesonet sites in the far northeast recorded more than 5 inches. Totals
ranged from 5.41 inches at Tahlequah to 0.32 inches at Hooker. Far southwestern
Oklahoma had deficits of nearly a half-inch, about 50 percent of normal for
January.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/Jan-precip-totals.png
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/Jan-precip-departures.png
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/Jan-precip-pct.png
The first two months of climatological winter, which runs from December-
February, ended with a statewide average of 5.71 inches, 2.11 inches above
normal and the 11th wettest December-January on record.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/Winter-to-date-totals.png
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/Winter-to-date-depart.png
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/Winter-to-date-pct.png
Burns Flat led the state in snowfall for the season through January with 8
inches, and Erick, Forgan and Shattuck had each reported more than 7 inches.
The official observing site at Oklahoma City had recorded 5.5 inches.
The January statewide average temperature was 38 degrees, 0.3 degrees above
normal to rank as the 52nd warmest on record. Temperatures ranged from 78
degrees at Slapout on January 6 to minus 2 degrees at Eva on the second.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/Jan-avg-temp.png
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/Jan-temp-departure.png
The first two days of 2019 were quite frigid in the Panhandle. Eva’s wind chill
on the first and second of the month was minus 14 and minus 17 degrees,
respectively. Boise City and Kenton had wind chills of minus 10 degrees. The
first two months of winter finished with a statewide average of 39.2 degrees,
0.9 degrees above normal to rank as the 43rd warmest such period on record.
Oklahoma managed to make it three consecutive weeks with no drought or
abnormally dry conditions depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor map, from
January 8-29. The month’s final map had about 1 percent of the state in
abnormally dry conditions. The area was centered on Harmon County in the far
southwest where those moisture deficits continued to accumulate.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/20190129_OK_trd.png
The February outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) showed slightly
increased odds of below normal temperatures across the northwestern two-thirds
of the state, and above normal precipitation for all but the far western
Panhandle. The odds were a bit higher across eastern Oklahoma.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/Feb-temp-outlook.gif
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/Feb-precip-outlook.gif
CPC’s Monthly Drought Outlook does not see drought development anywhere in the
state through the end of February.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20190201/Feb-drought-outlook.png
Gary McManus
State Climatologist
Oklahoma Mesonet
Oklahoma Climatological Survey
(405) 325-2253
gmcmanus@mesonet.org
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