Ticker for April 29, 2009

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
April 29, 2009     April 29, 2009     April 29, 2009     April 29, 2009


Of Wind and Rain

"A few miles south of Sulphur...". Sorry, wrong book, but it proves an Okie
can still quote Steinbeck.

Quick, before I digress (or is that regress?) further, somebody tell
Burneyville they left their bath water running! Since 11 a.m., the Oklahoma
Mesonet site at Burneyville has recorded more than 7 inches of rain with more
on the way. That's about 20 percent of Burneyville's average annual precip in
about 5 hours. I would suspect Burneyville's downstairs neighbor is banging on
their ceiling with a broom handle right about now.

Top-10 Mesonet totals as of about 4 p.m. (since midnight):

Burneyville    7.47        Grandfield        3.28
Altus          4.02        Medicine Park     2.79
Madill         3.86        Ninnekah          2.58
Tipton         3.78        Apache            2.52
Waurika        3.67        Byars             2.39

How Windy Was It?

One of the most common questions we tend to get is about wind.

(pausing for the "hot air" jokes to subside)

Specifically, "Hey, it sure seems windy this year. Is 2009 the windiest year
ever?" Or something along those lines. Deke covered this very topic several
times in past Tickers. A lot of times these sorts of questions are products
of a bias towards recent history. However, looking at past Mesonet data, it
appears the start of 2009 is indeed the windiest in the Mesonet era. Now keep
in mind that we are talking averages across the entire state, so it includes
lots of windy sites in the west combined with not so windy sites in the east.
Also, we're only talking about a quarter of the year. But the ranking across
the Mesonet for windiest January 1-April 27 periods from 1994-2009 stack up
like this:

2009	     9.66 mph
2008	     9.48 mph
1996	     9.31 mph
2006	     8.88 mph
2002	     8.86 mph
1999	     8.68 mph
1994	     8.49 mph
2007	     8.36 mph
2003	     8.28 mph
1995	     8.23 mph
1998	     8.16 mph
2004	     8.13 mph
1997	     8.04 mph
2000	     8.02 mph
2005      7.91 mph
2001	     7.61 mph

I'm not sure how to diagnose these results, but an anecdotal glance back in my
memory finds lots of dry lines and dry storm systems cross the state in
February and March, which also contributes to why February and March were so
warm.

UPDATE: As I send this, Burneyville is up to 8.20 inches since 11 a.m. That
is either a tribute to how slowly I write or how hard it's raining down there!

Gary McManus
Assistant State Climatologist
Oklahoma Climatological Survey