MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... June 24, 2024 June 24, 2024 June 24, 2024 June 24, 2024
A bit much, no?
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20240624/temperature-outlooks.png
The next 4 weeks? Heck (no, it's not raining right now for crying out loud), I could have just gone with the current week where we'll see heat index values up into the 110s off and on through the next 5 days.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20240624/latest.oklahoma.heat.gif
But lasting through the next 4 weeks? Well, the odds are certainly tilted towards that in the outlooks, but here's some hope...those outlooks can and will change as the heat dome from hades meanders about, and our dim rainfall hopes could also improve as that occurs. As it is now, we see chances for some storms to fire up to the north and head down our way pretty much each night for the next week, but this is pretty iffy right now. We'll hold out hope on this as well.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20240624/7day-rain-forecast.png
But like we said last week...welcome to the summer doldrums.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20240624/nws-norman-7day-temps.png
Everybody concentrates on the highs, of course, but we tend to neglect the lows. Without the ability to refresh overnight and lose the heat stress of the day, that just exacerbates the following day's heat stress. So it's a cumulative impact on living things, from plants and livestock to us humans. So when you see lows like this this morning, and what's expected overnight tonight, be sure to check on your vulnerable friends and family, as well as pets and livestock.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20240624/todays-lows.png
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20240624/tonights-lows.png
A very dangerous time indeed. Here are some heat safety tips.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20240624/heat.safety1.png
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20240624/heat.safety2.png
I can hear it already (wait...am I the only one hearing that??), "it's ALWAYS hot in the summer in Oklahoma!" Well, that's true, at least relative to the rest of the year. But when we see patterns like this set up, it can be a harbinger of things to come. There's a difference between being hot and being ABOVE NORMAL hot. Above normal temperatures, so sought after in the winter, are a curse during the summer. And we've seen all types of summers just over the last 3 years.
There's the MILD summer of 2021 (yes, still "hot," but not really by Oklahoma's standards).
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20240624/2021-summer-temps.png
Then there was the summer of 2022...the hottest in the state since our hottest summer on record (hottest for any state!) back in 2011. There was really very little relief from the heat, and it led to an intense flash drought in early June. Summer pretty much lasted through mid-fall that year.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20240624/2022-summer-temps.png
Then we had last year's no summer-yes summer where it was mild through the 3rd week of July, then another scorcher straight through October.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20240624/2023-summer-temps.png
I'd say this year we're looking more like 2022 than 2021 or 2023. But just as summer did a huge switcharoo in 2023, maybe it can switch the other way in 2024.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20240624/2024-summer-thus-far.png
Nothing like this, though. At least not yet.
https://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20240624/2011-summer-temps.png
Gary McManus State Climatologist Oklahoma Mesonet Oklahoma Climatological Survey gmcmanus@ou.edu
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