Ticker for April 5, 2004

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
April 5, 2004      April 5, 2004      April 5, 2004      April 5, 2004



An Anniversary Some Would Like to Forget

This April marks the 50th anniversary of April 1954 (years of advanced
mathematics helped the Ticker Staff come to this profound statement).

Why is it important?  Well, April 1954 was quite warm.  Its statewide-
averaged temperature of 65.3F was exceeded only by April 1981's 65.4F.
For five of Oklahoma's nine climate divisions, April 1954 stands as
the warmest April on record.

Every record hottest/coldest/wettest/driest month has anniversaries,
so what's the big deal?  Well, 1954 was a big deal.  Prepare
yourselves for a flurry of "50th anniversary of the hottest or driest
such-and-such on record", because 1954 is a majority owner in a lot
of those records.  And it wasn't the climatologically wimpy way of
many of the years of the 1980s and 1990s, which largely used mild
winters to drive up their climatological batting averages.

No, 1954 set marks the old fashoned way: it sweltered, burned and
scorched its way to the title.