Ticker for April 28, 2005

                
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April 28, 2005     April 28, 2005     April 28, 2005     April 28, 2005



The More You Ignore It, The Closer It Gets

Drought has long been a central part of our climate landscape,
whether we like it, or do not. And while it might be a little early
to use the "D-word" with conviction, much of central Oklahoma has
been seriously dry since mid-February.

The trouble with drought is that it does its business with shadowy
stealth, a nearly imperceptable crawl that often creeps into our
thoughts after it has taken a seat in our living room. Such is the
case now. Just a few months ago, we were slogging through one of the
wettest autumns in recent memory. Now, our spring-to-date rainfall
is among the five driest such periods in our modern climate history.

In fact, here's how our March 1st through April 26th rainfall ranks
among the 85 such periods since 1921:

South-Central Oklahoma: 2nd Driest
Central Oklahoma:       3rd Driest
Southwest Oklahoma:     4th Driest
North-Central Oklahoma: 8th Driest

Those wet months that preceded this spring are helping us put off any
calamitous effects, for now. But, like always, the best time to act
on drought situations is before they happen.

The desiccated details are available at OCS's Rainfall Update:
http://climate.mesonet.org/rainfall_update.html

The Oklahoma Rainfall Update is updated daily.