Ticker for June 21, 1999

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
June 21, 1999      June 21, 1999      June 21, 1999      June 21, 1999


Welcome, Summer

Happy summer solstice, from the Ticker!

It appears that the 1999 version of Mother Nature has chosen to honor
her astronomical calendar, and forego the unwelcome early arrival of
her predecessor.

(That's all flowery talk to soften you up for another 1999 vs. 1998
Ticker.  It's a dirty trick, but the numbers are staggering.)

For the last fifty days of spring (okay, fifty-one, but who's counting),
here's how 1999 stacks up to 1998.

First of all, by June 1st of 1998, every single Mesonet station had
seen high temperatures of 93 F or warmer, and over half the network
had observed temperatures above 100 F.

This year, only about 10% of the network has even hit 93 F *once*,
and Altus's 99 F high temperature way back on May 15th was the state's
warmest observation of the period.  Nearly half the network has yet
to see the 90 F mark.

The temperature comparison is broken down by climate division in the
following table:

Avg Hi  = Mean Maximum Temperature for the period
Avg Hi  = Mean Minimum Temperature for the period
Warmest = Warmest Temperature observed during the period

Climate      May 1 - June 21 , 1998       May 1 - June 21, 1999
Division     Avg Hi  Avg Lo  Warmest      Avg Hi  Avg Lo  Warmest

Panhandle      84.2    53.0    107 F        79.3    53.0     95 F
N. Central     83.8    58.9    110 F        80.1    58.3     95 F
Northeast      82.3    60.3    100 F        79.0    58.7     92 F

W. Central     85.9    59.4    111 F        80.5    59.1     95 F
Central        84.3    61.1    109 F        79.8    60.0     94 F
E. Central     83.1    61.7    101 F        80.1    58.4     94 F

Southwest      88.9    61.4    112 F        82.5    61.1     99 F
S. Central     86.5    63.5    107 F        81.5    62.5     95 F
Southeast      84.9    61.9    100 F        82.0    61.0     93 F

(coming tomorrow ... the precip numbers)