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July 12, 2011 July 12, 2011 July 12, 2011 July 12, 2011
1980, here we come
My own memories of the sweltering heat wave of 1980 are tinged with the carefree
attitudes of youth. I don't remember complaining about the heat very much - surely
an affliction that strikes us during adulthood. My memories of that summer from
out in Buffalo are dominated by fishing trips to Buffalo Creek out northwest of
town. My friends and I would go out during the late afternoons on our bikes and
fish until the sun went down. There were plenty of grasshoppers for bait. I
quite vividly remember seeing the anvils from thunderstorms that had fired in
the lee of the Rockies almost every night on the ride back to town. As a lad
already quite interested in the weather, it was a hurtful tease to see what
would almost never make it to our part of the world that summer. The end of the
heat wave is also burned (pun intended) into my mind. One day, it was simply
cloudy and cool, and I remember looking at the Oklahoma State Bank thermometer
that hung on Main Street (in reality, Hoy Street) and not seeing triple digits.
It was both a shock and a treasure.
So far in 2011, we have a nice head start on 1980. Oklahoma City has reached
100 degrees 22 times through July 11. The record, of course, is the 50 times they
achieved that temperature in 1980. By July 11 of that summer, OKC had reached
at least 100 degrees 14 times. Similar numbers are accumulating across the state.
With a couple of weeks of July and early August still ahead of us, I have to
wonder what's next.
At any rate, here's a re-post of a Ticker from last year, which is a re-post
of an article I had written for our Summer 2005 seasonal summary magazine. It's
sadly appropriate reading once again, so enjoy if you can.
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The Heatwave of 1980
The earth, baked for days on end by triple-digit temperatures, became hard and
cracked, while topsoil turned as fine as gossamer. Rain was fleeting, and
Oklahomans became weary. Beaten upon day after day by the oppressive sun, crops
withered and failed, ponds disappeared, and lakes receded. These are not
historical accounts from the Dust Bowl, or of the devastating droughts and heat
of the 1950s. This is a chronicle of the summer heat wave of 1980, remembered
by contemporary Oklahomans as the summer that would not end.
Heat Abounds
The summer of 1980 was not the state?s hottest ? the Dust Bowl years of 1934
and 1936 were warmer. Nor was it the state?s driest ? 1936 and 1954 have that
dubious honor. Just being placed in the same sentence with those summers is
indicative of the insufferable conditions faced by the state that year, however.
The problem did not lay with the heat itself; Oklahomans are fully accustomed
to sweltering in the summer, biding time until those first cool fronts of fall
make their way down from the north. The defining characteristic of the summer
of 1980 was the relentlessness of the heat. Healdton reached the century mark
83 times from June through September, an astounding 68 percent of the possible
days during those months. In comparison, the Dust Bowl year of 1934 saw
Jefferson hit 100 degrees only 70 times, while Hollis did the same 80 times in
1936. For Healdton, the temperature readings first went to triple digits on
June 18th, and stayed that way for a couple of days. After a brief respite,
high temperatures skyrocketed into the 100s again on June 23rd, staying that
way for 42 consecutive days until August 3rd. The heat did not end there,
unfortunately. Across the state, high temperatures soared into the 100s as late
as September 22nd. At that point, temperatures slowly drifted to more seasonable
environs. Finally, a strong cold front late that month put the final nail in
the coffin of the memorable heat wave, the triple-digit temperatures but a
memory as Oklahomans basked in autumn-like 50s and 60s for high temperatures.
The sea of asphalt that pervades Oklahoma City intensified the heat. Record-high
temperatures for Oklahoma?s capital were tied or broken 18 times during 1980,
and the third-highest temperature ever recorded for Oklahoma City was set on
August 2nd with a reading of 110 degrees (113 remains Oklahoma City?s highest
recorded temperature, from July 11, 1936). High temperatures of greater than 90
degrees occurred on 71 consecutive days, from June 23rd until September 1st (it
should be noted that after this one day respite, temperatures elevated above 90
degrees once again for 14 consecutive days).
Number of days with 100-degree temperatures across the state:
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20100726/100days.png
The State Withers
Although nearly impossible to measure accurately, deaths due to extreme
temperatures were the largest impact of the 1980 heat wave. Estimates of up to
80 lives were considered lost due to heat-related causes. That figure might be
conservative, since many brain strokes and heart failures are also due to
extreme heat, yet not labeled so. Nationwide, the 1980 heat wave is blamed for
1,250 deaths.
As an agricultural state, the impacts on Oklahoma were obviously far-reaching.
Poultry producers reported massive losses, as millions of birds died, their
inability to sweat, along with the added insulation of feathers, signing their
death warrants. The impact to the cattle industry was similar. As ponds dried
up and feed fields withered, ranchers were forced to sell their cattle. The
increased volumes of cattle for sale drove prices down, which further
exacerbated the cattle ranchers' cash flow problems.
Crops also felt the double-whammy of heat and drought. The wheat crop, which
relies on the weather from September-May more so than the summer months, was
the second-largest on record at that time. It was the row crops, such as
peanuts and cotton, which bore the brunt of the devastation. Enough
precipitation fell during spring for the peanut crop to be planted, but the
lack of rain through summer doomed much of the crop. Many farmers had relied on
irrigation in the past to survive drought, but even irrigation supplies dwindled
by mid-summer.
Excessive water use quickly became problematic for Oklahoma communities. At the
height of the summer heat, water shortages struck 273 water systems, which
served over 350 communities. Theft of water started to have a severe impact on
reserves. A loss of 324,000 gallons to thieves was reported by one community
alone. As if the shortages were not bad enough, the water supply infrastructure
had begun to deteriorate as the ground dried out and shifted, breaking pipes
and mains. Tulsa was forced to implement water rationing for the first time in
several decades due to diminishing supplies in source lakes.
Not all industries were negatively impacted, however. The sale of air
conditioners hit an all-time high in 1980, as orders for new and refurbished
units often met with delays for days on end as supply struggled to keep up with
demand.
Gary McManus
Associate State Climatologist
Oklahoma Climatological Survey
(405) 325-2253
gmcmanus@mesonet.org
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