Ticker for May 18, 2006

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
May 18, 2006       May 18, 2006       May 18, 2006       May 18, 2006


Don't Look Now, but Casey's at the Bat ...

It has been more than a week since anywhere in the state has seen
substantial rainfall, as evidenced by the two maps featured on the
Ticker home page:

http://ticker.mesonet.org/

Now, this comes during the most active precipitation period on the
calendar for most of the state. Depending on your location, significant
rain falls - on average - 20 to 30 percent of the days. And that doesn't
count events of less than a tenth-inch!

Most of us east of I-35 rejoiced in the plentitude of late April and
the first week of May. It looked like our fortunes may have turned.
Now, that turning may have turned.

We guess what we're trying to say is this: most of Oklahoma is below
normal rainfall for first 18 days of May. April's excesses weren't
that excessive in the big picture of things ... and they were confined
to the eastern half of the state.

May is the Babe Ruth of months when it comes to delivering rainfall.
If we come into May in drought, or teetering on drought, we need May
to deliver. Historically speaking, June is decent, but the line-up
gets pretty bleak until September and October.