Ticker for November 4, 2013

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
November 4, 2013   November 4, 2013   November 4, 2013   November 4, 2013


Nobody puts Hollis in a corner

Well, except for those that drew the state lines a century ago, but that's not
important right now.



*Let me start off by saying I have never seen the movie this picture comes from.
*I don't know what Patric Swayze, or "Johnny," actually said at this point in the
movie.
*I did NOT buy the soundtrack to "Dirty Dancing," nor did I see it in the theatre
two or three times.

(* - these statements might be incorrect, misleading, or both)

Here's the deal though ... I've been concentrating on Altus so much concerning
drought down in southwestern Oklahoma, I've been ignoring their neighbor to the
west who has had even less rainfall -- Hollis, Oklahoma. Check out the rainfall
stats from the Mesonet for the year-to-date period and also the last 365 days of
the year.







Now this is what we would crassly describe back home as the "top turd on the
dungpile" award, but for both of these periods, Hollis has had less rainfall
than Altus. So for the last 365 days, for instance, the 15.8 inches at Altus
is only slightly better than the 14.1 inches at Hollis (normal at Hollis for
a year is 26.14 inches). And both are better than the 12.4 inches Goodwell has
received, but they're a bit drier up that way naturally.

It's not wrong to concentrate on Altus. They are a somewhat large city for
western Oklahoma, and they are currently in a drought emergency as defined by
their town's Mayor. And Jackson County (along with Tillman, Greer, Harmon and
Texas counties) is currently in a Governor declared drought emergency. So
regardless of the town picked down in that area, hard times are going to be
implicit with the choice. One of the biggest problems Altus faces is the
threat to their water supply. Here are the lake levels as of this morning.
Notice that both Lake Altus-Lugert and Tom Steed Lake are at dreadfully low
levels.



From what I understand of the two lakes, Altus-Lugert is vital for irrigation
of the local cotton crop, and Tom Steed is the main water supply for Altus (and
a couple of other small towns in the area that get water from Altus). But you
can also see the horrible conditions at Canton, Foss and Waurika. Texoma has
not recovered too well from its summer drop, which is a bit surprising. The
main outlier in the eastern half of the state continues to be Skiatook at 76%.

Well, it appears there is more help on the way. It might not be a lake-filler
over in western Oklahoma, but like a broken record, we'll say "every little bit
helps." In this case, western Oklahoma appears to be set to receive around a half
to a upwards of an inch with the storm system arriving tonight through Wednesday
morning.



So hopefully the rains will arrive and rescue a few water-starved areas in the
western half of the state. Just as Johnny did at the last dance at Kellerman's,
rescuing Baby from her spot in the corner. The nerve of her dad, losing trust
in Baby after she was only trying to ... uhhhhhh, hey, how about those Bears
yesterday!!

Gary McManus
Associate State Climatologist
*Not a "Dirty Dancing" fan
Oklahoma Climatological Survey
(405) 325-2253
gmcmanus@mesonet.org