Ticker for November 21, 2007

                
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Random Facts of Clime-ness

Not much continuity in today's Ticker, just a collection of random
climate markers. Call it a potpourri, call it eclectic, just don't
call it a smorgasbord, cuz we're already hungry for turkey.

First of all, for rainfall, no news is quickly becoming bad news.
As hard as it is to fathom, we're in a dry spell and starting to
feel some impacts:


Some areas of Oklahoma have yet to experience their first freeze,
and it's beginning to be statistically aberrant:


Some things to notice in that freeze map:
First, notice the random nature of freeze durations. Like we've said
before, low temperatures are a very localized thing that depends
very much on your location relative to the topography around you.
Second, notice the strangely low freeze durations around the Tulsa
and OKC metropolitan areas. In fact, the west side of OKC is yet to
freeze, according to the Mesonet (the two little pluses indicate
no freezing temps so far). More interestingly, the Hectorville and
Skiatook sites around Tulsa haven't seen much freezing yet, but
their neighbors have.

Back to rainfall:
http://climate.mesonet.org/drought/year_to_date.php

Despite the recent dryness, the state is still experiencing its
8th-wettest year-to-date of the modern record. Bizarrely, the
panhandle is experiencing its 15th-driest such period. This is
an extreme example of a basic Oklahoma climate fact: the panhandle
(especially the western panhandle) marches to a different climate
drummer than much of the rest of the state. However, differences
of this magnitude are very unusual.

Have a great Thanksgiving, and don't forget about our Photo Contest!
Entries are due Nov 30.