Ticker for May 28, 2004

                
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May 28, 2004       May 28, 2004       May 28, 2004       May 28, 2004



Very Dry Mid-Spring Marches On ...

Despite some isolated thunderstorms in recent days, this May is shaping
up to finish as on of the driest Mays in the state's recorded climate
history.  Rainfall totals from the 30 days ending yesterday drive home
what many in western Oklahoma already know: it's really dry.  In fact,
of the 84 such periods since 1921, this 30-day period ranks as the
driest in the panhandle and in west central Oklahoma:

https://content.mesonet.org/ticker/archive/20040528/may30day.html

The rest of the state has not fared much better, with most regions
receiving less than a third of their normal rainfall for the period.
The statewide-averaged precipitation of 1.54" ranks as the driest
such period since 1988, when 1.26" inches fell, on average, across
the state.

The Standardized Precipitation Index is one tool that measures the
unusualness of a period's rainfall.  The statewide SPI of -1.97
indicates that the rainfall amounts of the last 30 days would be
expected an average of once every forty years.  SPI's -2.90 and
-2.34 indicate that the period was even rarer in the panhandle and
western Oklahoma, respectively.