Ticker for November 29, 2011

                
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November 29, 2011  November 29, 2011  November 29, 2011  November 29, 2011


A final note on Summer 2011

Word from NCDC's Climate Monitoring Grand Poobah and Original Entire Ticker Staff
Deke Arndt comes in today concerning our record-breaking summer. We have battled
Texas for the last three months for control of the title of "The Hottest Summer
in the U.S." as more and more of the temperature data from across the country
trickled in. Some of that arrives via carrier turtle, so there is somewhat of a
lag to get to the finalized data.

To sum up one of the worst-kept secrets in the world ... Oklahoma is the official
proud owner of the hottest summer (June-August) period for any state since
records began in 1895. I pass the baton to Deke:

"Based on "final" summer data Oklahoma edges out Texas by 2 tenths
of a degree after rounding (note: OK got rounded down; TX got
rounded up ... it's 0.267 when being over-precise with the averages):

OK Summer averages
Jun - 83.6
Jul - 89.3
Aug - 87.9
Avg - 86.9

TX Summer averages
Jun - 85.0
Jul - 86.9
Aug - 88.1
Avg - 86.7"

The previous hottest summer was Oklahoma's 1934 reading of 85.2 degrees. So we
walloped the old record by 1.7 degrees.

Remember, Oklahoma also won the prize for hottest MONTH ever in the U.S. since
1895 with July's 89.3 degrees. Previous hottest month was also Oklahoma's with
1954's reading of 88.1 degrees.

To quote Bugs Bunny ... incredible, ain't it?

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