MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... January 13, 2014 January 13, 2014 January 13, 2014 January 13, 2014
80 degrees in mid-January?
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/target.jpg
Quite simply put, yesterday was one of the warmest first-12-days-of-January on record (not sure if I needed those dashes, but I often over-dash anyway). Highs from the Oklahoma Mesonet reached as much as 80 degrees across southwestern Oklahoma, with 70s nearly statewide. Then compare that to the historical record highs for January 12.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/jan12-highs.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/jan12-record-highs.png
So we undoubtedly saw plenty of records broken, or at least got close. Oklahoma City broke its previous record high of 73 degrees (1935) with a new record mark of 75 degrees. I also saw that the Frederick airport reported a high of 85 degrees. That's a bit of an outlier by several degrees, so I'm not sure if it is accurate just yet. Even if it turns out to be erroneous, there is still no doubting that we saw many of the highest temperatures ever recorded historically on January 12 in Oklahoma, dating back to the late 1800s. Here are the top highest readings on record for January 12 (including the Frederick reading). You'll notice 1995 and 1953 dominate the top marks. Well, at least until yesterday at least.
-***- Historical Warmest Maximums (Jan. 12) 85 FREDERICK APT 2014 83 ALTUS DAM 1995 83 GUYMON 1953 82 FREDERICK 1995 82 GOODWELL 1953 82 KENTON 1953 80 ALTUS MESONET 2014 80 GRANDFIELD MESONET 2014 80 HAMMON 1995 80 HOOKER 1953 80 MANGUM MESONET 2014 80 TIPTON MESONET 2014 80 WICHITA MTN WR 1995 -****-
I think those temperatures yesterday were a welcome break from the bone-chilling winter season we've had thus far, at least for most sane people. Unfortunately, they also came with a cost. Normally, when you see those types of temperatures this time of the year, you're going to also see strong southerly winds bringing that warmer air up from the south. The problem is when you combine that type of heat with high winds and also low relative humidity, you get extreme fire danger, and that's exactly what we saw yesterday. Southerly winds gusted to over 40 mph across much of the state.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/yesterday.gust.gif
Combine that with relative humidity in the 15-35% range and you had the makings of a wildfire outbreak. Numerous fires did occur across the state, as noted by our friends at the local NWS offices.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/wildfires-satellite.png
Our friends at the Oklahoman indicate crews were fighting fires in Oklahoma, Logan, Canadian, Grady and Lincoln counties.
The good news is our mild weather will continue. RELATIVELY mild, that is ... we're not going to be back in the 70s, but compared to what we saw a week ago, it's downright balmy.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140106/todays-lows.png
Highs should be seasonable to just-above-seasonable norms in the 50s, with an occasional jaunt into the 40s or 60s.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/todays-highs.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/tuesday-highs.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/wednesday-highs.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/thursday-highs.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/friday-highs.png
The bad news? No 70s (or 80s) on those maps. The other bad news? Despite the milder weather, we will still see high fire danger thanks to that low humidity and strong winds. Here's the layout from the local NWS offices.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/nws-norman1.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/nws-norman2.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/nws-norman3.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/nws-norman4.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140113/nws-tulsa.png
We're now just about halfway through climatological winter. Come March 1, it's springtime!
The good news, part II? No February 29th this year, so no extra delays on spring. Did I just doom us to the coldest March on record?
Gary McManus State Climatologist Oklahoma Climatological Survey (405) 325-2253 gmcmanus@mesonet.org
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