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. . . Ticker for December 15, 2016 . . .
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... December 15, 2016 December 15, 2016 December 15, 2016 December 15, 2016 Freeze dried Oklahoma http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/freeze-dried.jpg Lost in all this talk about winter and cold and freezing and frigid and frostbite and when-will-it-end is another hazard that gets far less notoriety, but is much more damaging...drought. And this week, we did what's called a "reassessment" of the drought situation across Oklahoma. We do these from time to time when we feel like the proper drought depiction has sort of "gotten away" from us. That can mean the data we're seeing isn't matching what's actually happening on the ground, and that was the case over the past month or so. After some very detailed descriptions from county level down to the individual ag producer level communications, it was time for that reassessment. Hence, we have seen a huge jump in the drought conditions this week since last week based on a new understanding of the actual impacts (i.e., ground truthing). http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/dec13-drought.monitor.png As you can see from the data table, we had a jump in the percent of OK in at least moderate drought from 58% to 72%, and an increase in moderate/severe drought from 17% to 36%. We were lucky to have extreme drought stay at 3%. What led to this? Well, the statistics tell some of the story. Let's just look at the 30-120 day pct of normal maps from the Mesonet. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/last30dayspct.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/last60dayspct.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/last90dayspct.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/last120dayspct.png Now you may be wondering why the big jump after it's gotten so cold, a time when drought usually doesn't increase. No plants yearning for water, evaporation is low, no swimming pools being filled or lawns being watered (well, most lawns not being watered...still see folks out watering dormant bermuda grass for some reason). Remember, before this 2-week cold snap we had just come off our 2nd warmest fall on record, in the midst of our 3rd warmest year. Many, many reports of dry or drying-up farm ponds, failed wheat, dead pasture grass and flagging OK reservoirs prompted the reassessment. Even some of our major reservoirs are showing the impacts, and this is mostly water loss during the fall. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/dec13-reservoir-storage.png Lots of negative numbers on that image from OWRB from all over the state. Now about that cold weather...if you hate it now, you'll loathe it this weekend. Sometime late Friday into early Saturday, the coldest air the state has seen since January 2015 will come barrelling through with temps struggling out of the teens and 20s with windchills dropping below zero at times. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/saturday-highs.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/sunday-lows.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/sunday-highs.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/monday-lows.png This is a DANGEROUS cold weather outbreak. This is the time to check on those folks like the elderly, the sick and the young to make sure they have adequate shelter, food and heat. And if you have to be outdoors, take your cold weather safety precautions seriously because as noted, those windchills are going to be downright nasty. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/nws-tulsa-sat-windchills.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/nws-tulsa-sun-windchills.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/nws-norman-sunday-windchills.png As I said, the maps from this weekend are going to look at lot like those from Jan. 7-8, 2015, if not worse. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/jan8-15-lows.png http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/jan8-15-windchills.png So some of the coldest air we've seen in almost 2 years, much like after what we saw this fall with the previous arctic air outbreaks, will be a shock to the system. And we're even going to see snow, which some of you yearn for. Well, consider yourself yearned!! Did I say that right? Well, here are the snowfall forecasts anyway! http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/nws-tulsa-snow-totals.jpg http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/nws-norman-snow-totals.png I'll continue to yearn for Friday. This Friday, then Friday, June 9. Surely it will be warm that day. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/friday-highs.png Begun, this cold war has. http://ticker.mesonet.org/archive/20161215/cold-war.jpg 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 ===================================================