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. . . Ticker for July 18, 2023 . . .
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... July 18, 2023 July 18, 2023 July 18, 2023 July 18, 2023 Hey look at us! https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230718/latest.oklahoma.heat.png I watched a snail crawl along the edge of a straight razor. That's my dream. That's my nightmare. Crawling, slithering, along the edge of a straight razor... and surviving. The horror. The horror! Okay, calm down Col. Kurtz! It's just a bit of heat, right? Well, sure, but what would a Ticker be without a bunch of bellyaching? And this heat will give you a bellyache, right after your sweat stops and you start to get chills. Check out these graphics for some heat distress signs to watch out for, and today's expected heat index values. https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230718/nws-norman-heat.png https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230718/nws-tulsa-heat.png https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230718/nws-amarillo-heat.png We had these same shenanigans yesterday. https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230718/yesterdays-high-heat.index.png And we will again tomorrow. Note that this is an actual air temp forecast, so add in another 5-15 degrees for the heat index. https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230718/wednesday-forecast-highs.png All we can do is wait until Friday, when we get relief from this moist circle of Hades. https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230718/friday-forecast-highs.png But before you get too comfortable, remember it's late July. The heat WILL be back next week. https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230718/july25-31-temp-outlook.png That's rather unfortunate timing, too, because we're approaching (or have entered) the hottest part of the year for most of Oklahoma, and in reality for most of the contiguous U.S. This figure is based off of the 1991-2020 normals as computed by NCEI. https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230718/warmest.day.of.year.png So for most of the U.S., climatologically speaking (I tried Albanian but it just sounded like gibberish), the hottest day of the year occurs from mid-July through mid-August. That's what we see for much of Oklahoma as well. You can get a better look from this image with dots on the stations representing the "normal" hottest day of the year. I done blowed up Oklahoma and put it to the side so you can see the dots better. https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230718/warmest-day-of-year-dots.png Remember, this is based on climatology. At some point, weather overwhelms the climatology and it takes over as far as what to expect. So a month out, we look at climatology. When we get within a couple of weeks, we can start to see what the actual weather is looking like. In this case, it does indeed look hot! Now you might be saying to yourself: "But Gary, why is the hottest day usually a month past the summer solstice? Isn't that when the sun's angle is highest (i.e., solar radiation is maximized for the Northern Hemisphere)?" Well first, congrats on saying "i.e." to yourself, big shot! And secondly, QUIT CALLING YOURSELF "GARY"! Do I need to start the cease and desist letters again? Okay, here's the deal. The heating is still gaining a bit of momentum well past the solstice because the days (and the heat) are still much longer than the nights (and the cooling), so the heat continues to accumulate. And NORMALLY by this time of the year, our soil moisture is flagging due to that heat and the therefore more of those suns rays are going towards heating the Earth's surface and less is being used to evaporate soil moisture (which is a cooling process). Here, check this out...this is a graph of the daily max temperatures averaged over central OK as measured by the OK Mesonet. https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230718/central_OK-avg-highs.png The heat peaks on July 23 at 95.4F and stays elevated at that peak to around Aug. 7, then starts to decrease pretty rapidly. Again, climatologically speaking. Looking at the actual weather this year, we don't have much of a soil moisture problem right now for most of the state. https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230718/4inch-PAW.png So this might actually help keep the actual air temps down, but those heat index values high. But the way we measure how hot a summer is, is through those actual air temperatures. So our ranking at the end of the summer could be fairly misleading. At any rate, it's gonna be hot today and tomorrow. The weather says so. Gary McManus State Climatologist Oklahoma Mesonet Oklahoma Climatological Survey gmcmanus@mesonet.org ================================================== The OCS/Mesonet Ticker https://ticker.mesonet.org/ To subscribe or unsubscribe from the Ticker or for questions about the Ticker or its content Phone or Email the Ticker Manager at OCS Phone: 405-325-2253 Email: ticker@mesonet.org --------------------------------------------------- -C- Copyright 2024 Oklahoma Climatological Survey ===================================================