Ticker for October 20, 2010

                
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October 20, 2010   October 20, 2010   October 20, 2010   October 20, 2010


October Might Get A Bit Less Spooky

The rains of the previous two days certainly helped those areas lucky enough to
receive it:



We are rapidly winding down our secondary rainy season, which basically lasts
from September through early November. The following graph shows how our months
rank for statewide average rainfall totals:



If you look at the same situation on a daily basis using statewide average
precipitation using Mesonet data from 1994-2009, that abrupt drop-off shows
up pretty clearly after Halloween (the data is pretty chaotic, so I threw in
a quick running-average trendline in there).



Dry conditions are still plaguing parts of western and southeastern Oklahoma,
however. Precipitation percent of normal maps from the Oklahoma Mesonet show the
dry conditions that have continued to plague those areas since summer. Here's a
look at what has occurred thus far for our supposed-to-be 3rd- and 4th-wettest
months of the year:



So we do need rainfall and it looks like we have a pretty decent chance to
prevent the spread or intensification of these drought conditions. IF, and
that's a big if (12 point font...if you're used to 10, it's big), the HPC
forecast comes anywhere close to reality, we could see an easing of the drought
conditions and much of the state could get a nice healthy drink of H20.



Since I've now written about drought, that's almost a guarantee.

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