Ticker for February 28, 2003

                
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February 28, 2003  February 28, 2003  February 28, 2003  February 28, 2003


We've Moved from Medium-Rare to Rare

A five-day-plus freeze continued this morning in snow-covered parts
of northern and central Oklahoma.



Yesterday afternoon, we got a very good question from a Ticker reader
who asks questions for a living: "How often do extended freezes happen
this late in the year?"  Well, the answer surprised us a little:
freezes lasting more than a couple of days are very rare in the last
week of February.

In fact, for most of Oklahoma, this freeze will be the latest freeze
of more than three days since early March of 1960.  Northern and
northwestern Oklahoma saw an extended freeze in early March of 1962.
For parts of southeastern Oklahoma (which did not see an extended
freeze during this event, by the way), you've got to go all the way
back to the last week of February 1924 before you see an extended
freeze this late on the calendar.

By the way, that freeze that ended in March 1960 event was a bitter
one.  Much of Oklahoma saw a half-foot of snow in the closing days
of February, and didn't see above-freezing temps for up to 12 days
afterward!  Sound familiar?