Ticker for January 27, 2006

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
January 27, 2006   January 27, 2006   January 27, 2006   January 27, 2006



If You'll Allow Us to Preach a Little Bit ...

Since November 1st, the number of acres reported consumed by fire
stands at 428,945 acres. This is greater than the number of acres
reported consumed by significant (F2+) tornadoes in the 1950s, 1960s,
1970s, or 1980s.

In other words, the fires of the last 90 days have bested the work
of a decade's worth of tornadoes. The fires are largely driven by
weather, in the short-term and in the long term. Drought not only
stresses live vegetation, but it invites larger fuels into the fuel
complex. This raises the chance of occurrence, and also makes for
more energetic (and more difficult to extinguish) fires.

Drought is Oklahoma's costliest, if not most famous, natural hazard.

And this is why thinking about drought is so important, not just
during the "brown" months of drought, but especially so during the
"green" months in between.

Education and awareness have saved countless Oklahoma lives during
severe weather outbreaks. Generations of familiarity and attention
to the hazards of violent weather makes the state, and her people,
extremely well-equipped to respond to the ever-improving warnings
from the National Weather Service.

And there is an impressive drought-preparedness precedent in our
history as well.

Statistically, for much of Oklahoma, the droughts of the 1950s were
more severe than those of the 1930s. However, the human toll was less,
for a number of reasons. Some of those reasons included preparedness
and mitigation, embodied in crop selection, conservation strategies,
sound business decisions. The lessons of the 1930s helped the next
generation cope with the climatic hardships of the 1950s.

This drought will end. The sooner, the better. Will this drought's
lessons also die when the clouds open up? Another drought will come.