MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... April 24, 2023 April 24, 2023 April 24, 2023 April 24, 2023
Bring it home!
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/5day-rain-forecast.png
Aha, I hear you Negative Nancys out there:
"Whatever Gary, you've predicted this before and we barely got anything!" and
"Whatever Gary, I'm not falling for these hopeful rain forecasts again!" and even
"Whatever Gary, you said shaving my head would make me look cool, like you!"
But hey, this time...I mean it. I mean it looks likely. The forecast models have been consistently consistent since last week in dumping copious amounts of rainfall across drought-plagued north and western Oklahoma, so we're going to go with the hopeful flow and lean into it. We're talking the first significant statewide rainfall in well over 6 months, going back to late last summer. I managed to patch together the totals predicted this week from our friends at the Tulsa and Norman NWS offices and came up with this (sorry to Tulsa for obliterating your logo and whatnot), confirming the widespread 2-4 inches being predicted by the national folks in the top graphic above:
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/nws-rain-totals.png
And additional thoughts from the Norman and Amarillo NWS offices.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/nws-amarillo-rain.png
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/nws-norman-flood.png
So it is shaping up to be a drought-quencher, if not a drought-ender, for some parts of the state. And let's remember where we're at before the expected reset of a lot of these maps.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/mesonet.rainfall.tenthinch.png
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/mesonet.rainfall.quarterinch.png
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/120day-rain-totals.png
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/del120day_rain.current.png
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/pct120day_rain.current.png
Yeah, we're REALLY needing a reset there. So as we see several waves of storms over the next few days, keep in mind that flooding will be a concern due to the hard ground, baked into an impenetrable plate by the sun and lack of rainfall over the last 6+ months, which makes it tough for the moisture to soak in. But soak in it will, eventually, since we're talking multiple rounds and not bigtime storms dumping 3 inches in 2 hours type of stuff. There will be hints of severe weather around, but more typical severe threats in such a cold environment like some hail and wind. Wednesday might be a day to watch for in far southern Oklahoma with a bit more "oomph."
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/OK_swody3.png
Speaking of severe weather, NWS Norman has singled out 13 tornadoes so far from last Wednesday's outbreak, so everything on this map in addition to an EF0 twister near Little Axe.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/nws-norman-april19-tornadoes.jpg
So nothing like that coming this way this week, but still pays to be weather aware. Speaking of crappy weather (wasn't I), I can't get onboard with these temperatures. We had another spotty freeze last night, just like the last 3 nights, as we continue in a late-winter/early-spring pattern with our temperatures, which will continue this week thanks to all the clouds and precip.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/yesterdays-lows.png
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/todays-lows.png
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/cumulative.freeze.48hr.gif
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/tmin.le32_streak.png
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/nws-norman-7day-temps.png
Oh by the way, did you see the Northern Lights last night? For me, that would mean the Aurora Oklahoma Cityus, but for those across northern Oklahoma with less light pollution, you might have seen the actual Aurora Borealis. Check out this pic from our Mesonet Technician Steve Thompson from the Medford Mesonet site. Warning, it's a bit large, but click for embiggenation.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20230424/medford-aurora.jpg
Take a good look at that night sky...probably the last viewing for awhile.
Gary McManus State Climatologist Oklahoma Mesonet Oklahoma Climatological Survey gmcmanus@mesonet.org
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