MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... February 7, 2013 February 7, 2013 February 7, 2013 February 7, 2013
Good news ... past, present and future
This is sort of the triumvirate of drought news I've been waiting to talk about for months. And months. And months. We finally have an improved U.S. Drought Monitor map to show, and rain forecast for today, and then more rain forecast for the weekend. It doesn't get much better than that for a drought-weary state. Let's state right off with the newest Drought Monitor. On it you can see a good bit of improvement from the northeast down through southeastern Oklahoma. There was a downgrade of the western Panhandle from Severe (D2) to Extreme (D3) and you'll see why in a minute. The amount of D4 stayed the same at 40%, but the amount of D3 dropped to 90% or so. It's not a massive improvement, but it's progress in the proper direction. The improvements in he east were offset a bit by the addition of D3 to the far western Panhandle.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20130207/ok_dm.png
Those improved areas aren't the only places that received rain, of course, but that's where they've gotten the best totals over the last month or so.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20130207/30day-rain.png
Unfortunately, the far western Panhandle, as well as the northwestern and southwestern corners, have not gotten the good moisture. In fact, it has now been from 28 through 116 days since those areas have seen at least a quarter-inch of rainfall. Go down to at least a tenth of an inch and those numbers stay the same for the most part, except it's *ONLY* been 54 days since Kenton has seen that amount in a single day.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20130207/mesonet.rainfall.quarterinch.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20130207/mesonet.rainfall.tenthinch.png
Now we look ahead, from days to months, to see what the forecasters have in mind for us. The latest 7-day rain forecast from the HPC has Oklahoma painted some delicious shades of green and blue, so about a tenth of an inch in the Panhandle to more than an inch in the east.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20130207/7day-rain.gif
Not too shabby! We really do need to transfer some of those larger amounts to the west, however. If we go out a bit further, we can see from the 8-14 day CPC Outlooks that we have increased odds of normal ("N") precipitation amounts and below normal temperatures over that Feb. 14-20 time frame.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20130207/814prcp.new.gif http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20130207/814temp.new.gif
Now for the not-so-rosy news. The U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook this morning didn't improve over the map released two weeks ago, at least for Oklahoma. The CPC forecasters still have Oklahoma in that "drought persisting or intensifying" area through the end of April.
http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20130207/season_drought.gif
If you look at their reasoning, they acknowledge the moisture in the short-term, but they see drier conditions over the long term. Here it is in their words:
"Widespread precipitation during late December and early January was replaced by much drier conditions since mid-month, halting drought improvement in Texas and actually producing some deterioration in central sections. Precipitation is expected to return during the next week, but be mainly confined to eastern sections. Then, the CPC 6-10 and 8-14 day outlooks tilt the odds in favor of above median precipitation in southern and eastern areas. However, the CPC (Feb-Apr) outlooks and the (forecast) models all indicate enhanced chances of below median precipitation for the southern Plains, with the updated monthly precipitation outlook indicating subnormal precipitation along the Gulf and equal chances elsewhere. Monthly and seasonal temperatures strongly tilt toward above normal values. Although short-term forecasts indicate rainfall to return, the longer-term guidance points to overall drier conditions. Accordingly, although some short-term improvements may occur in Texas during mid to late February, drought should persist or redevelop in Texas and the southern Plains later in the period, except in extreme eastern Texas. Forecast confidence for the southern Plains is moderate."
So in their view, some short-term improvements will occur (with the coming rain), but drought will persist or redevelop as we get later into the spring. Always remember, these outlooks are not perfect. But they're the best the science has to offer. There is always hope we can change things around and knock this drought out of here.
Gary McManus Associate State Climatologist Oklahoma Climatological Survey (405) 325-2253 gmcmanus@mesonet.org
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