MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... May 4, 2023 May 4, 2023 May 4, 2023 May 4, 2023
One of THOSE days in Oklahoma
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230504/severe-possibilities.png
so they took a vote and that's why I was recently named the best climatologist in the world.
Oh, sorry, looks like part of that was lost. Well, I'm too lazy to type it all again, you'll just have to trust me. Speaking of trust, do you trust the weather today? Because it's one of THOSE days in Oklahoma. No, not one of those days, or even one of these days, but one of THOSE days where you have to stay weather aware and keep your wits about you should the sky turn dark and 60,000-degree bolts of molten death start striking from the sky, pelting you with frozen projectiles followed by fingers of swirling fury (and we all know how painful that can be) scouring the ground with winds of 100+ mph.
Wow, didn't know Mother Nature was so sinister, did ya?
Okay, probably not a high end severe weather event, with many conditional things to consider before we start to get worked up, but all modes of severe weather will be possible later this afternoon if thing line up in that direction. This morning's convection might have foiled severe weather's plans, so that would be a good thing, AND it came with some rainfall. Check out the totals added in with yesterday's haul.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230504/rainrfc.24hr.png
Heck, it's raining right now for crying out loud!
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230504/current-radar.png
So that convection with all its rain-cooled air could help stabilize the atmosphere enough to prevent further convection later today. Or at least lessen the severity. But that doesn't mean you can let your guard down. Or your gourd. But at least your gourds can grow now that it has rained and we've lessened our drought intensity across northwestern Oklahoma. Now remember these maps don't take into account any rainfall after 7 a.m. Tuesday, which is how it works every week, not just this one.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230504/20230502_ok_trd.png
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230504/current_OK_chng_1W.png
So you can see from the light green area there that we improved our drought intensities by one category over a lot of areas to the north and west of I-44, but added a bit of abnormally dry conditions up in the far northeast where the best rains were missed. We lost about 10% of our D4 (Exceptional Drought) area, but those areas are left in D3 (Extreme Drought), so don't celebrate too much just yet. Deficits have lessened in the short term, but longer-term deficits still abound.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230504/60day-rain-totals.png
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230504/del60day_rain.current.png
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230504/pct60day_rain.current.png
We're still expecting several bouts of showers and storms, severe or not, over the next week or so, which should give us some reinforcing moisture like we saw over the previous 24 hours. Some will get a decent amount, some will get an indecent amount.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230504/7day-rain-forecast.gif
So stay weather aware today, just in case. Our weather pattern has turned towards non-droughty and more springy.
Gary McManus State Climatologist Oklahoma Mesonet Oklahoma Climatological Survey gmcmanus@mesonet.org
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