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MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... July 17, 2014 July 17, 2014 July 17, 2014 July 17, 2014 Crying 'Fall' Oh, we're going to get to this ridiculously cool weather in a minute. It shan't escape my wrath, summer lover that I am. But let's get through the formalities first and look at the new U.S. Drought Monitor map released this morning, which is already obsolete. Remember, it only considers rainfall that fell through Tuesday a.m., so what has fallen the last couple of days will have to wait until next week's map. Here is the rainfall we considered, really going back a couple of weeks before that. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/july1-15-rainfall.png Resulting in this drought picture. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/20140715_OK_trd.png Where those 2-4 inch rains fell (central OK, far SE OK), we saw some improvement. It wasn't a ton...most of the drought categories dropped by a percent or three. But this is mostly immaterial due to what has happened SINCE Tuesday morning (and what will continue throughout the day). A look at the current radar map and the 48-hour rainfall map from the Mesonet shows us why. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/current-radar.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/rainrfc.48hr.png Some really nice totals across much of the SW two-thirds of the state, but 4.69 inches in Altus? Are you kidding me? Word from down that way that our friend Lloyd Colston, Altus Emergency Manager, was seen running through the streets asking for lumber to build an ark. Altus, which had been mired in D4 drought for probably the longest period in the state, is in D2 this week, and probably see a drop all the way down to D1 next week. And Central OK saw a band of possible 4-8 inches from Spencer to just north of Byars! Same for Cotton County down in the SW. According to Mesonet rainfall numbers, our July 1-17 (through 8:35am, is already the 24th wettest since at least 1921 with a statewide average of 2.12 inches, 0.62 inches above normal (about 141% of normal). The Panhandle is still really dry, however, with an average of 1.07 inches, 0.37 inches BELOW normal to rank as the 35th driest. This is their rainy season out that way, being tied in somewhat with the Desert Southwest monsoon season. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/jul1-17-totals.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/jul1-17-depart-normal.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/jul1-17-pct-normal.png And I'll never let you forget this all really started back on May 21 after one of the driest starts to the year on record. Spring did indeed return on May 21, and it has yet to go away it seems like. At least the moisture part of spring. Since May 21, we've seen a statewide average of 9.61 inches, 2.14 inches above normal to rank as the 17th wettest May 21-July 17 since at least 1921. And remember, it's still raining. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/may21-july17-totals.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/may21-july17-depart-normal.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/may21-july17-percent-normal.png Rain chances will start to diminish from west to east as the day goes by, then across the state tomorrow. Still lots of heavy rain possible across southern and eastern Oklahoma. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/nws-norman1.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/nws-norman2.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/nws-norman3.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/nws-shreveport.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/nws-tulsa.png ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEMPERATURES! Okay, now on to temperatures. As expected, many places neared or broke records yesterday for lowest maximum temperatures, and also this morning for lowest minimum temperatures. Here are the historical record low maximum temps for yesterday, and the Mesonet high temps for yesterday as well. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140716/record-low.tmax-july16.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/july16-high-temps.png (Obviously, somebody didn't get the news that it was October yesterday ... ) Lot's of those records obviously fell yesterday. For instance, Buffalo's lowest high for July 16 prior to yesterday was 80 degrees, set back in 1953. Yesterday, they reached 64 degrees. So they beat a 61 year old record by 16 degrees? Fairly significant. Just check out this blurb from our friends across the hall at the Norman NWS office: "Did it seem cool today? The high temperature of 72 degrees at Oklahoma City was the coolest July high temperature since 1996 and only the 6th time the high temperature has been this cool in OKC in July since Oklahoma became a state. The high temperature of 69 degrees at Ponca City is the coolest July high there since 1967. Records for coolest high temperature on July 16 were set at Oklahoma City, Gage (69 degrees), and Lawton (81 degrees). With a high of 84 today, Wichita Falls missed tying the record for the date by one degree." Then we have the low temperatures this morning, also "probably" breaking lots of records. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/july17-low-temperatures.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/july17-record.low-minimums.png We know from our friends up the Turner Turnpike at the Tulsa NWS office that McAlester broke their old record low of 61 (1990) this morning with a low of 58 degrees. McAlester and Muskogee also broke their record lows yesterday as well. Now we look towards today's high temps to see how many records we can demolish. Here are the forecast highs, and also the record low maximum temperatures, historically, for July 17 (going all the way back to the 1880s, depending on station). http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/july17-record.low-maximums.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/july17-forecast-highs.png Now for a little data mining. Yesterday's high temperatures of 64 degrees at Buffalo and Freedom are SIGNIFICANTLY low. How significantly (-ly?)? Well, the lowest maximum temperature ever recorded during July in the state was 59 degrees at Boise City back on July 25, 2004. Somewhere in Oklahoma has reached a low maximum temperature of 60 degrees five times (again, dating back to the 1880s), four have only reached 61 degrees, a slew of stations have only reached 62, six stopped at 63 degrees for their daytime high, and another bunch have only reached 64 degrees. So in essence, Buffalo and Freedom tied with 11 other stations for the 32nd lowest maximum temperatures ever recorded in the state during July. 32nd? Big deal, right? Well, consider there are over 373,500 values behind them. Anybody that can beat (or lower) 64 degrees gets to move on up the rankings. Here are some more tidbits. Of those low maximum temperatures at or below 64 degrees, there were a few days that had most of them. The most notorious cool July days, with the number of stations at or below 64 degrees, would be as follows: 7/10/1895: 4 readings 7/12/1953: 5 readings 7/17/1967: 5 readings 7/10/1996: 7 readings 7/11/1996: 8 readings So all the way back to 1895. The two days in 1996 must have been rainy and chilly. Here is the Mesonet rainfall map from that two-day period. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/july10-11-1996-totals.png That was actually just a two-day microcosm of a very rainy period during a very rainy July. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20140717/july8-14-1996.png In fact, that was the fifth wettest July since statewide average records began in 1895 at 5.93 inches. July 1950 had an astounding 9.07 inches on average across the state. Okay, I've bored you enough. Just one more little bite. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Oklahoma during July? 41 degrees at Goodwell on July 5, 1915. The highest is 120 degrees, of course, still the highest temp ever recorded in the state, and it happened at three different stations: Alva, July 18, 1936 Altus, July 19, 1936 Tishomingo, July 26, 1943 It was also matched at Poteau on August 10, 1936, and Altus again on August 12, 1936. Done (drops Excel spreadsheet, walks off stage) Gary McManus State Climatologist Oklahoma Mesonet Oklahoma Climatological Survey (405) 325-2253 gmcmanus@mesonet.org ================================================== The OCS/Mesonet Ticker https://ticker.mesonet.org/ To subscribe or unsubscribe from the Ticker or for questions about the Ticker or its content Phone or Email the Ticker Manager at OCS Phone: 405-325-2253 Email: ticker@mesonet.org --------------------------------------------------- -C- Copyright 2024 Oklahoma Climatological Survey ===================================================