Ticker for July 17, 2002

                
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July 17, 2002      July 17, 2002      July 17, 2002      July 17, 2002


Still No 100's At OKC or Tulsa

It's the middle of July, and neither the OKC nor Tulsa National Weather
Service stations have yet to observe temperatures exceeding 100 F this
year.  How rare is that?  Well, it's behind the long-term average, but
not breathtakingly rare.  At both stations, the century mark has fallen
by July 17 in about 60 percent of the years since World War Two.  This
year falls in that other, more pleasant, 40 percent.

But the 100-degree mark is far from safe.  Of those years that make it
to today's date without ringing the 100-degree bell, about two-thirds
will still eventually top 100.

At both stations, the fourth week of July (i.e., next week) is the
"break-even" time.  To put it another way: historically, if the century
mark survives until July 24th (Tulsa) or July 26th (OKC), there's
a 50-50 chance it will make it through the summer unscathed.