Ticker for October 29, 2009

                
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October 29, 2009   October 29, 2009   October 29, 2009   October 29, 2009


October Rain Totals Continue To Mount

"Holy High Water, Batman!" Or maybe that should be Aquaman. Trouble is, Aquaman
didn't really have a sidekick like Robin. Whales? Come on! "Here I am, whale,
standing on land! Come and get me!" Okay, before I geek out any further,
perhaps I should get the to point.

October 2009 has been exceedingly wet for Oklahoma, and with rain still falling
in the east, the statewide average rainfall total for October 1 through,
well ... 5 minutes ago, stood at 6.83 inches. That total places the month thus
far in 3rd place for wettest October 1-29 periods since 1921.

Take a look at the table below for other areas of the state:



All areas of the state are above normal save for the extreme southwest. Parts
of southeastern and east central Oklahoma are more than 8 inches above normal.



Just a heads up though, with only two more days to go and rain winding down,
there's a greater chance of my hair growing back (unless I can find a wolf to
bite me) than the October 2009 rainfall total challenging for the top spot. On
October 29, 1941, the statewide average rainfall total stood at 8.52 inches -
probably still unreachable this month, but 1941 wasn't finished yet either.
A total of 2.80 inches fell on average across the state over the next couple of
day to bring 1941's total up to 11.32 inches, still the wettest of any Oklahoma
month in the record books.

Here are the October totals (for October 1-31) that are ahead of us:

1941 -- 11.32 inches
1923 --  8.91 inches
1919 --  7.27 inches
1981 --  7.10 inches

So it looks like we're going to finish with the 4th or 5th wettest October on
record in 2009, with a slim shot at #3. Of course, I've probably just doomed us
to another deluge tonight.

I will fill you in on our final rankings after Halloween, including how our
cool month stacked up historically against other Octobers.

Okay, things to do:  compile final October stats, look for a wolf to bite me,
buy a really big comb, ban silver bullets ...

Gary McManus
Associate State Climatologist
Oklahoma Climatological Survey
(405) 325-2253