Ticker for August 23, 2000

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
August 23, 2000    August 23, 2000    August 23, 2000    August 23, 2000



Several Unpleasant Summer Statistics

Today, the Ticker brings a veritable smorgasbord of summer gloom.
Don't shoot the messenger!


A Month Without Rain

101 of the Mesonet's 114 operational stations have yet to record at
least one-tenth inch of rain on a single day in the month of August.
Some of the longer current streaks of days without at least one-tenth
inch of rain are:

Tipton:     55 days since 0.86" fell on June 28th
Altus:      52 days since 0.68" fell on July  1st
Hollis:     40 days since 0.37" fell on July 13th
Mangum:     40 days since 0.27" fell on July 13th
Broken Bow: 31 days since 0.49" fell on July 22nd
Cloudy:     31 days since 0.97" fell on July 22nd
Hugo:       31 days since 1.20" fell on July 22nd
Lahoma:     31 days since 1.10" fell on July 22nd
Mt. Herman: 31 days since 0.52" fell on July 22nd
Ringling:   31 days since 0.28" fell on July 22nd
Slapout:    31 days since 0.44" fell on July 22nd
Foraker:    28 days since 0.32" fell on July 25th
Guthrie:    28 days since 0.26" fell on July 25th
Newkirk:    28 days since 1.18" fell on July 25th
Oilton:     28 days since 0.29" fell on July 25th
Apache:     28 days since 0.39" fell on July 25th


Fire Danger Continues to Escalate

The Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) is a tool used to estimate the
available moisture in the uppermost eight inches of soil.  It is
particularly valuable to a professional who makes fire danger and fire
safety decisions.  KBDI values can range from zero to 800, with zero
indicating total saturation, and 800 being the most severely dry value.
Values from 400 to 600 indicate conditions in which organic material
in the upper soil layers can actually become additional fuel for a
wild fire, and any value over 600 indicates "severe drought" to the
fire safety professional.

Currently, all but eight Mesonet stations show KBDI values above 400,
and 27 eastern, southeastern and Red River area stations report values
above 600.



It doesn't take 600+ KBDI values to support large fires, either.  On
Sunday, more than 2000 acres burned in Caddo County.  At the time,
area KBDI values were about 530.


More Dead Horse Flogging

Five Mesonet stations continue streaks of more than ten days of 100+
high temperatures.  Here are the streaks, including 100+ temperatures
today:

Ringling:   14 days (streak began August 10th)
Clayton:    21 days (streak began August 3rd)
Grandfield: 22 days (streak began August 2nd)
Walters:    22 days (streak began August 2nd)
Waurika:    22 days (streak began August 2nd)


Heat Index Values Above 105F Commonplace

Finally, heat indices in Oklahoma have been very high for several
weeks now.  As of 2:00 pm today, much of the eastern half of the state
is already experiencing heat index values above 105F.