Ticker for May 2, 2011

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
May 2, 2011        May 2, 2011        May 2, 2011        May 2, 2011


Remember December?

In case you don't, Mother Nature is giving us a little taste. Luckily it's more
like early December because I don't have my shopping done!

Lows this morning were dangerously close to records in western Oklahoma. Luckily
most areas stayed just above that level.




Thanks to lingering rain and thick clouds, cities in southeastern Oklahoma are in
a race to break their record lowest maximum temperatures for the day.




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April Showers Bring May Flowers (and Dust Storms)

I35 is the dividing line between many things, including western and eastern
Oklahoma (shocking that I haven't taken my smarts over to the Geography side,
ain't it??). But in April, it divided the areas that received drought relief
through generous rains and those that didn't. You can see that with the Mesonet
April precipitation maps and the climate division statistics. Climate division
rankings go back to 1895. The statewide average of 3.44 is obviously very
misleading.

Total 	Dep.from Normal	   Rank since 1895
Panhandle       0.85	     -1.00	     30th Driest
North Central	1.37	     -1.59	     19th Driest
Northeast	5.52	      1.52	     22nd Wettest
West Central	0.60	     -2.00	     7th Driest
Central	        2.21	     -1.32	     33rd Driest
East Central	9.67	      5.34	     4th Wettest
Southwest	0.81	     -1.86	     12th Driest
South Central	2.85	     -0.91	     44th Driest
Southeast	7.85	      3.36	     12th Wettest
Statewide	3.44	      0.08	     50th Wettest





All of the state had above normal temperatures during April ... some areas very
significantly so. The statewide average was 62.2 degrees, 3.1 degrees above
normal and the 20th warmest April on record.




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Okay, just a quick climate note today (or would that make it a weather note??),
waiting for the long hard season of May 2nd-3rd to be over.

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