Ticker for April 21, 2005

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
April 21, 2005     April 21, 2005     April 21, 2005     April 21, 2005



Heavy Rainfall in Southwest OK: It's a Start

Last night's storms provided significant rainfall totals to many
places in southwestern Oklahoma:



In fact, some places received too much and suffered localized
flooding. Nonetheless, any rains are welcome across much of southern
Oklahoma, where weeks of dryness is a serious issue this spring:



Notice that the western panhandle, not known for lush tropical
springs, has received 20 times the rainfall since March 1st as
the Sulphur Mesonet station.

Here's a table to help put some numbers on the rainfall picture
since March 1st.  This year's rainfall patterns are shaping up much
like those from March and April of 1956.  Simply put, this is not
a year we want to emulate climatologically.

The punchline is this: south-central and southwest Oklahoma need April
and May to deliver healthy rainfall, or conditions will continue to
deteriorate.

PRECIPITATION: MARCH 1 THROUGH APRIL 20, 2005

Climate  ---Precipitation--- Driest   Rank   Driest       Strongest
Div.     Total   vs. Normal   Since   of 84  on Record    Match

1-Pan    1.72"  -1.15" (60%)   2002   37th   1936-0.07"   1975 (sig)
2-N-C    1.42"  -3.23" (31%)   1996   10th   1936-0.26"   1956 (str)
3-NE     2.85"  -3.49" (45%)   2001   13th   1936-0.89"   1956 (sig)

4-W-C    1.58"  -2.55" (38%)   1996   16th   1996-0.25"   1964 (mod)
5-Cen    1.21"  -4.39" (22%)   1966    5th   1936-0.45"   1956 (mod)
6-E-C    3.74"  -3.24" (54%)   2001   17th   1936-1.50"   1980 (sig)

7-SW     1.03"  -3.01" (26%)   1971    6th   1971-0.49"   1962 (sig)
8-S-C    1.18"  -4.87" (20%)   1956    2nd   1956-0.86"   1956 (sig)
9-SE     4.38"  -3.09" (59%)   2003   15th   1936-2.02"   1932 (sig)

State    2.05"  -3.30" (38%)   1972    9th   1936-0.87"   1962 (sig)


KEY:
Climate Div:  Climate Division, defined here:


Total Precip: Average Mesonet precipitation in the climate division

vs. Normal:   Difference from, and percentage of, the climate
division's average rainfall from 1971-2000

Driest Since: The last Mar1-Apr20 period that received less rain

Rank of 84:   This year's Mar1-Apr20 rainfall compared to the 84
such periods since 1921 (1st=driest; 84th=wettest)

Driest on     The driest Mar1-Apr20 period of the 84 since 1921
Record:

Strongest     Of those 84 such periods, the year with the strongest
Match:        statistical match (amount of rain, distribution of
rain, timing of rain, and number of events)
The categories are:
str - strong match
sig - significant match
mod - moderate match
wek - weak match