Ticker for August 24, 2010

                
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Oklahoma Wets Its Whistle

Just as flash drought began to take hold over the southern half of the state,
Mother Nature came through in the clutch and provided some nice relief in the
way of rain and cooler temperatures. The three maps from the Oklahoma Mesonet
below tell the story:





As you can see from that last figure, flash drought has become flash flooding in
some parts of Pottawatomie and Carter counties. Unfortunately, the rain has been
fairly localized along the I-35 corridor so areas in the southwest and east
central haven't had much help yet. Beating the proverbial dead horse here, but
our bi-polar summer began its manic heat phase on July 12 when the widespread
rainfall stopped. When you combine a month and a half of triple-digit temperatures
with less than 20% of normal rainfall, you have flash drought.



So enjoy the cool weather for a few days. A word of warning to those wanting
to write an epitaph to summer with this latest cold front: that might be just
a tad premature. We're an upper-level ridge away from the heat again.

Oklahoma City, for instance, has had 74 September days with highs of 100 degrees
or greater since 1896, and averages 11 days over 90.  The latest 100-degree
temperature ever recorded in Oklahoma City occurred on September 30, 1977. The
highest ... 108 degrees on September 2, 2000 (football fans at the UTEP/OU game
will remember that day not so fondly).

And the numbers are worse in other parts of the state, judging by the top-20
highest September temperatures(again, 2000 is not good company to keep):

114	EUFAULA 2 SW	      9/1/2000
114	WAURIKA	              9/4/2000
113	CHATTANOOGA 3 NE      9/5/2000
113	HOLDENVILLE	      9/2/1951
113	WILBURTON	      9/4/1998
112	ALVA	              9/4/2000
112	ATOKA DAM	      9/8/1985
112	BUFFALO	              9/4/2000
112	BUFFALO	              9/5/2000
112	BUFFALO	              9/6/2000
112	CENTRAHOMA 2 ESE      9/4/2000
112	COALGATE 1 WNW	      9/2/1951
112	GUTHRIE	              9/2/1998
112	MANNFORD 6 NW	      9/2/2000
112	MCGEE CREEK DAM	      9/2/2000
112	MCGEE CREEK DAM	      9/4/2000
112	PAULS VALLEY 4 WSW    9/4/2000
112	TUSKAHOMA	      9/4/1998
112	WAURIKA	              9/3/2000
112	WEBBERS FALLS	      9/5/1998


So skip the epitaphs for now and stick with epithets. But above all, enjoy our
cool break.

And hey, we can always hope for short-sleeve weather for Halloween!



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