Ticker for December 11, 2012

                
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December 11, 2012  December 11, 2012  December 11, 2012  December 11, 2012


Nothing Hill

On Sunday, as the wind was howling under bright blue skies and the temperatures
were dropping following our latest cold front, I had a strange thought. I was
thinking to myself "Hey Bill (long story), remember that one movie where Hugh
Grant played the bloke with the bumbling, shy-but-somehow-confident manner that
always wins over the girl?" Now that's part of the joke, because that's the ONLY
role Hugh Grant seems to play. And this latest cold front seems to be the ONLY
type of frontal passages we get lately ... dry and cold with no moisture. Okay,
we saw a dusting of snow down south, but that's not what we're talking about
here.

The Oklahoma Mesonet maps of the number of days with less than a tenth and a
quarter of an inch of rainfall tell the story. Counting today, it has now been
75 days since the Mesonet site at Freedom has seen a tenth of an inch of rain, and
76 days since (greatest-place-in-the-Universe) Buffalo has seen a quarter-inch.




I was looking up some information for a newspaper report yesterday and came across
this incredible statistic for just one of the Mesonet stations. From October-
December 2011, the Mesonet site at Ketchum Ranch had seen 12.33 inches of rain.
For the same period (through December 11) this year, that site has recorded 0.67
inches. Remember, last year at this time we were in full relief mode with
slow-moving storm systems approaching from the west seemingly by the week. The
difference between the two periods is about as dramatic as they come.

Oct-Dec 2011




Oct-Dec. 11, 2012




Here some of the largest departures from Mesonet sites between the two years.

-****-
Site	     Oct-Dec 2011	Oct-Dec 11, 2012	Difference
Broken Bow	17.77	               1.74	         -16.03
Talihina	18.48	               2.80	         -15.68
Mt Herman	18.38	               2.74	         -15.64
Ringling	16.17	               1.40	         -14.77
Antlers	        16.36	               1.71	         -14.65
Idabel	        15.14	               1.50	         -13.64
Clayton	        16.34	               2.80	         -13.54
Cloudy	        14.79	               2.43	         -12.36
Hugo	        14.00	               1.66	         -12.34
Sulphur	        13.92	               1.72	         -12.20
Ketchum Ranch	12.33	               0.69	         -11.64
Wister	        14.02	               2.40	         -11.62
Vanoss	        13.10	               1.81	         -11.29
Sallisaw	14.28	               3.07	         -11.21
Haskell	        12.75	               1.88	         -10.87
Wilburton	12.42	               1.78	         -10.64
Lane	        13.15	               2.53	         -10.62
Webbers Falls	13.71	               3.11	         -10.60
Okmulgee	12.09	               1.49	         -10.60
Porter	        12.58	               1.98	         -10.60
-***-

Most of those are from eastern Oklahoma, which shouldn't be too shocking. When
it comes to precipitation, those folks usually deal with much larger numbers
than the rest of the state. It also shouldn't come as a shock that the bottom
six are mostly from the Panhandle. Congrats to Copan for improving their
geography! When you get lumped in with the Panhandle, you're moving up in the
world.

-****-
Site	     Oct-Dec 2011	Oct-Dec 11, 2012	Difference
Woodward	 4.89	               1.95	          -2.94
Hooker	         3.16	               0.27	          -2.89
Copan	         7.32	               4.51	          -2.81
Goodwell	 2.57	               0.27	          -2.30
Kenton	         2.57	               0.93	          -1.64
Boise City	 3.28	               2.64	          -0.64
-***-

Now the kicker here is we still have three weeks left to improve our standing
this year. The HPC is starting to back off their prediction for this next front
(SHOCKER!!). I know I said I was glad to see them go out on a limb, but
unfortunately, that limb is brown and dried out, ready to snap at any moment.



The CPC sees drier weather as we get nearer to Christmas, as well as warmer
than normal weather.




If'n we're not careful, we will finish drier than 2011 (25.23 inches, statewide
average). We're at about 25 inches right now. What we need is a nice slow-moving
storm system to approach from the west and just spin for a few days, drawing
up a ton of Gulf Moisture. Enough with these flashy dry cold front passages.

After all, aren't we just a state, standing in front of Mother Nature, asking
her to rain on us?

It can't all be "Die Hard" quotes ... we have a sensitive side too, you know!

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