Ticker for January 2, 2002

                
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(Oops! We've corrected some text in the 2nd paragraph!)

2001 Was First "Dry" Year in, Well, Years

Data from the Oklahoma Mesonet indicates that the statewide-averaged
precipitation during the 2001 calendar year was below normal.  This
breaks an unprecedented string of twelve straight years with
above-normal rainfall.

Yep, until 2001, 1988 was the last year with statewide rainfall less
than the current normals.  Even the extremely dry summers of 1998 and
2000 couldn't offset their rainy winters, springs and/or autumns.

In 2001, western and northern Oklahoma were quite dry, while eastern
and southeastern Oklahoma observed normal to slightly-wetter-than-normal
conditions.  The net result was a statewide-averaged rainfall between
two and three inches below normal.  This amount falls at about the 65th
percentile for annual precipitation.  In English, that means 2001 was
drier than almost two-thirds (roughly) of the years since records began
in 1895.

The rainfall statistics and some pretty maps are available at:
https://content.mesonet.org/ticker/archive/20020102/cal2001.html

Tomorrow's Ticker will present, in more detail, 2001's historical
ranking in rainfall and temperature.