Ticker for September 22, 2004

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
September 22, 2004 September 22, 2004 September 22, 2004 September 22, 2004



The More Things Change ...

After a summer that just about anybody in Oklahoma would describe as
"cool and wet", the Sooner State reached into her bag of tricks and
pulled out a warm and dry September.  Through the first three weeks
of the month, most of the nine climate divisions are flirting with
a top-ten dry September.  Temperatures have been well above normal
for the last ten days as well.

Climate     Total    Departure  Percent   Driest         Rank since
Division    Rainfall from Norm  of Norm   Since          1921 (84yrs)

Panhandle   0.88"       -1.16"      43%   2000 (0.03")   15th driest
N Central   0.92"       -2.16"      30%   2000 (0.02")   10th driest
Northeast   0.96"       -3.31"      23%   2000 (0.31")    7th driest

W Central   1.72"       -1.19"      59%   2000 (0.00")   28th driest
Central     1.00"       -2.64"      28%   2000 (0.02")   10th driest
E Central   1.40"       -2.90"      33%   2002 (1.39")   11th driest

Southwest   1.25"       -1.91"      40%   2000 (0.16")   17th driest
S Central   1.31"       -2.46"      35%   2000 (0.16")   17th driest
Southeast   1.72"       -2.26"      43%   2000 (0.28")   13th driest

Statewide   1.20"       -2.27"      35%   2000 (0.14")   11th driest

This September joins May as a warm, dry bookend to this playfully mild
summer.  May was the driest on record for the state.  When the five
months are taken in toto, they have been DRASTICALLY ... middle of the
road.

That's right, in fact, for some places the May-Sep rainfall totals
have been exactly in the middle of history's signal ... which is a
sad dustbin for an extremely interesting stretch of climate!