Ticker for June 10, 2013

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
June 10, 2013      June 10, 2013      June 10, 2013      June 10, 2013


A Gollum summer

Central and eastern Oklahoma Gollum

Summer has finally arrived! It's time to celebrate as the jet stream retreats to
the north and takes all the wet and, at times violent weather, with it.  The soils
are recharged, the lakes are full to over-flowing, and the world is green again.
Our areas have won the race to summer and now sit at the edge of the blast oven
with full tanks once again. Now we turn to complaints about the heat and, as those
tanks are depleted by the sun into the atmosphere, the humidity. And don't forget
mosquitoes! One of the deadliest one-month periods in Oklahoma history can now
hopefully fade into a hot and sultry sunset. Awesome!

Western Oklahoma Gollum

Noooo! Summer is terrible! We've barely had enough rain to wet the soils! Our
lakes are pitifully dry and our farm ponds aren't much better. We're still selling
our cattle because we have no feed and no water, and our crops and pastures look
useless except for wildfires. We've already seen our triple-digit temperatures
begin almost a month ago, and now we face more. Evaporation will now kick into
high gear, depleting our scant reserves, which means we'll be baking in Mother
Nature's oven. This drought is going to intensify if we don't get more rain, and
that will mean our third full year of drought as we enter the fall. Spring failed
us! Bring that jet stream back down! Turn that spigot back on!

Okay, I know that was painful, but imagine if I had tried to write it in Gollum-
speak. But the point remains, the state is divided into the haves and the have-
nots more than ever. Want an example, just look at the difference in the last
30 days between El Reno and Hinton.



That's 27 miles and a difference from 11.5 inches of rain (El Reno) and 3 inches
of rain (Hinton). Drive another 15 miles to the east and the disparity rises to
3 inches (Hinton) to 13.3 inches (OKC West). And as much as 16.3 inches in
Spencer! Those rainfall amounts in western Oklahoma look pretty good, just at
a glance. Hey, it's rainfall, right? 1-3 inches is pretty good for out that way,
no?

No.



This is May and June we're talking about ... primetime rainy period in Oklahoma.
Even for western Oklahoma, 1-3 inches is pitifully dry when added to the longer
term deficits of the last 2.5 years or so. And let's not forget that edges over
to north central and south central Oklahoma a bit as well.

While we now deal with the high humidity and resultant high heat indices from
the rains and the upper-level ridge moving over us, this is what is going on
in the far western Panhandle (courtesy of the Cimarron County NRCS office).
These would be nice color pictures from the Dust Bowl.











Now things aren't quite that horrible across all of western Oklahoma, but
they're not good either. Let's take a look at the best little pond in the
universe and see how it's doing. The story of this little pond 8 miles south
of Buffalo has been told many times on the Ticker ... never been dry in over
40 years, spring fed, life force for a cattle herd. But that changed with the
current (yes, still current out that way) drought. That story is best told by
pictures, however.

Here's a jaunt back over the last four years, starting with May 2009, about a
month after a blizzard buried northwestern Oklahoma with as much as 26 inches of
snow. Never had it looked this green when the picture was snapped.



Following that, you can track the drought's progress by the declining levels
of the pond.









And this is what the pond currently looks like, courtesy of about 5 inches of
rain over the last 90 days or so.



Actual water! That would be a good sign if it was April. Looks kind of August
2010-ish, with summer staring it straight in the mud, however.



That water won't last long with forecast temperatures of 100 degrees in store
for this week to go along with 25-30 mph winds. The pastures are awfully yellow
as well.

All is not lost. It could still rain. It might not look likely for this week,
and maybe not even next week, but the weather has been awfully uncooperative
for the last few months. If it can snow in May, it can rain in July.

Yessssssss, my rainnnnnn. My preciousssssssss. Stupid droughtseses.

Hey, you knew that was coming somewhere.

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