Ticker for July 26, 2010

                
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July 26, 2010      July 26, 2010      July 26, 2010      July 26, 2010


From the "It Could Be Worse" department

While the heat and humidity have combined to make it a fairly uncomfortable
second half of July thus far, the temperatures themselves have been fairly
reasonable. In fact, on a statewide basis, the temperature for the month is a
few  tenths of a degree below normal. Again, as I've written many times, the
moisture has influenced the heat on the maximum and minimum side. The average
maximum temperature is 2.9 degrees below normal for the month while the average
low temperature is 2.4 degrees above normal.

Only 38 of the 120 Mesonet stations have reached 100 degrees so far this summer.
And the highest temperature measured has been 105 degrees. Buffalo and Freedom
had both reached 115 degrees already this same time last year. So when we
complain, remember, we're complaining about the humidity more than anything.

Now, to my point! Wait, what was it again? Oh yes, It could always be worse.
We're celebrating the 30th anniversary of a lovely little time known as (cue
ominous music) "THE SUMMER OF 1980!" I spent most of that summer as an innocent
(quit laughing, the charges never stuck) young lad in Buffalo fishing on Buffalo
Creek out northwest of town, watching thunderstorms fire up along the mountains
every night. I could see the anvils, but the storms never made it to our neck
of the woods.

So to make ourselves feel better about our paltry 100-105 daily heat index,
let's revisit a time when heat was heat, and the fishing along Buffalo Creek
was a full-time job.

*********************************

The Heatwave of 1980

The earth, baked for days on end by triple-digit temperatures, became hard and
cracked, while topsoil turned as fine as gossamer. Rain was fleeting, and
Oklahomans became weary. Beaten upon day after day by the oppressive sun, crops
withered and failed, ponds disappeared, and lakes receded. These are not
historical accounts from the Dust Bowl, or of the devastating droughts and heat
of the 1950s. This is a chronicle of the summer heat wave of 1980, remembered
by contemporary Oklahomans as the summer that would not end.

Heat Abounds

The summer of 1980 was not the state?s hottest ? the Dust Bowl years of 1934
and 1936 were warmer. Nor was it the state?s driest ? 1936 and 1954 have that
dubious honor. Just being placed in the same sentence with those summers is
indicative of the insufferable conditions faced by the state that year, however.
The problem did not lay with the heat itself; Oklahomans are fully accustomed
to sweltering in the summer, biding time until those first cool fronts of fall
make their way down from the north. The defining characteristic of the summer
of 1980 was the relentlessness of the heat. Healdton reached the century mark
83 times from June through September, an astounding 68 percent of the possible
days during those months. In comparison, the Dust Bowl year of 1934 saw
Jefferson hit 100 degrees only 70 times, while Hollis did the same 80 times in
1936. For Healdton, the temperature readings first went to triple digits on
June 18th, and stayed that way for a couple of days. After a brief respite,
high temperatures skyrocketed into the 100s again on June 23rd, staying that
way for 42 consecutive days until August 3rd.  The heat did not end there,
unfortunately. Across the state, high temperatures soared into the 100s as late
as September 22nd. At that point, temperatures slowly drifted to more seasonable
environs. Finally, a strong cold front late that month put the final nail in
the coffin of the memorable heat wave, the triple-digit temperatures but a
memory as Oklahomans basked in autumn-like 50s and 60s for high temperatures.

The sea of asphalt that pervades Oklahoma City intensified the heat. Record-high
temperatures for Oklahoma?s capital were tied or broken 18 times during 1980,
and the third-highest temperature ever recorded for Oklahoma City was set on
August 2nd with a reading of 110 degrees (113 remains Oklahoma City?s highest
recorded temperature, from July 11, 1936). High temperatures of greater than 90
degrees occurred on 71 consecutive days, from June 23rd until September 1st (it
should be noted that after this one day respite, temperatures elevated above 90
degrees once again for 14 consecutive days).

Number of days with 100-degree temperatures across the state:




The State Withers

Although nearly impossible to measure accurately, deaths due to extreme
temperatures were the largest impact of the 1980 heat wave. Estimates of up to
80 lives were considered lost due to heat-related causes. That figure might be
conservative, since many brain strokes and heart failures are also due to
extreme heat, yet not labeled so. Nationwide, the 1980 heat wave is blamed for
1,250 deaths.

As an agricultural state, the impacts on Oklahoma were obviously far-reaching.
Poultry producers reported massive losses, as millions of birds died, their
inability to sweat, along with the added insulation of feathers, signing their
death warrants. The impact to the cattle industry was similar. As ponds dried
up and feed fields withered, ranchers were forced to sell their cattle. The
increased volumes of cattle for sale drove prices down, which further
exacerbated the cattle ranchers' cash flow problems.

Crops also felt the double-whammy of heat and drought. The wheat crop, which
relies on the weather from September-May more so than the summer months, was
the second-largest on record at that time. It was the row crops, such as
peanuts and cotton, which bore the brunt of the devastation.  Enough
precipitation fell during spring for the peanut crop to be planted, but the
lack of rain through summer doomed much of the crop. Many farmers had relied on
irrigation in the past to survive drought, but even irrigation supplies dwindled
by mid-summer.

Excessive water use quickly became problematic for Oklahoma communities. At the
height of the summer heat, water shortages struck 273 water systems, which
served over 350 communities. Theft of water started to have a severe impact on
reserves. A loss of 324,000 gallons to thieves was reported by one community
alone. As if the shortages were not bad enough, the water supply infrastructure
had begun to deteriorate as the ground dried out and shifted, breaking pipes
and mains. Tulsa was forced to implement water rationing for the first time in
several decades due to diminishing supplies in source lakes.

Not all industries were negatively impacted, however. The sale of air
conditioners hit an all-time high in 1980, as orders for new and refurbished
units often met with delays for days on end as supply struggled to keep up with
demand.

Gary McManus
Associate State Climatologist
Oklahoma Climatological Survey
(405) 325-2253
gmcmanus@mesonet.org