Ticker for December 8, 2011

                
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December 8, 2011   December 8, 2011   December 8, 2011   December 8, 2011


Half of OKlahoma now out of severe drought

Mother Nature continues to have drought on the run in Oklahoma with La Nina
exhibiting very unladylike behavior thus far. The latest U.S. Drought Monitor
depiction now has about 51% of the state categorized with severe-exceptional
drought, down from 100% just three months ago. That leaves about 29% of the
state in moderate drought, 7% in abnormally dry conditions and 13% with no
depiction of dryness whatsoever.



The new depiction followed another week with significant rainfall over much of the
state with more than 3 inches reported from the extreme southeast.



And that rainfall comes after one of the wettest Novembers in recent memory, and
the wettest month in Oklahoma since July 2010.



It's easy to see where that drought got started (October 2010), accelerated
(winter 2010-11), waned a bit (April-May 2011) and then increased and peaked
(June-September 2011). Those bars don't tell the whole story, of course, since
they represent statewide averages. Western Oklahoma has seen much less wane
than eastern Oklahoma, which has garnered the majority of the ebb. But you get
the gist.

With the improvements in soil moisture made over the last couple of months, the
worry over drought impacts can abate somewhat for a few months until we start
to warm up again.



At that time, there will be a store of moisture available for plants to use if
a dry weather pattern should set up again. Reservoir levels are mixed across
the state, from quite full in the east to quite dry in the west, generally
speaking. The good news is that there should be little demand for both stores
of moisture (soil or surface-based water) for a few more months.

This is not forgetting that there are still parts of the state seeing
significant dryness, of course. The Oklahoma Mesonet site at Hooker has still
only seen 5.1 inches of precipitation for the year thus far, setting their
sights on the record for driest location ever in Oklahoma for one year
(Regnier, 6.5 inches, 1956). And much of the western quarter of the state has
had less than a foot of rainfall over that same period.



But let's put the drought worries on hold for a couple more months while the
impacts are unable to worsen too much. As Mother Nature has shown us, I'm sure
we'll have something else to worry about a time or two this winter.

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