Ticker for February 12, 2014

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
February 12, 2014  February 12, 2014  February 12, 2014  February 12, 2014


GO HINTON GO!

Are you like me (so sorry, there are professionals that can help) and think, if
you're gonna be cold, hot, wet, dry, etc., you might as well break some records?
Well, Hinton is giving it a heckuva run at the all-time longest Mesonet streak of
hours below freezing (NOT BELOW ZERO, as I said yesterday at one point). They are
currently at 257 hours. In fact, much of northwestern Oklahoma is above 200 hours
thanks to snow cover (same thing at Hinton). Remember, Vinita and Miami hold the
top two spots in the all-time consecutive hours below freezing record for the
Mesonet (temperature data goes back to 1997) at 282.3 and 260.6 hours,
respectively.



I don't think Hinton is going to make it to 261 to best Miami, but it might be
close. They're already at 29 degrees as I type this



and headed for 40 or so.



But, we have the 4 or 5 bouts of snow to thank for these extended bouts below
freezing. Northwestern and southern Oklahoma got quite a shot of snow yesterday.
Some parts of the NW reportedly had as much as 8 inches of the national
white stuff. Altogether, from very preliminary reports that are in databases I
can reach, it looks like Alva has won the February snow totals so far with 13.7
inches, which is none too shabby for a place mired in drought. Here are the top
10 totals I can spot, including station type, for the Feb. 1-12 period. Again,
very preliminary and data will continue to pour in even after the month is over.

-***-
Station             Station Type           Total Snowfall (inches)
ALVA 1	                COOP	                13.7
BRAMAN	                COOP	                12.9
HENNEPIN	        COOP	                12.0
LAVERNE                 COOP	                10.5
HELENA                  COOP	                 9.3
LAHOMA RSCH STN	        COOP	                 9.0
CHEROKEE	        COOP	                 8.5
BEAVER	                COOP	                 8.0
EUFAULA               CoCoRaHS	                 8.0
LAWTON	                COOP	                 7.6
-****-

For the season (let's go back to Nov. 1, 2013, through today), we have some
other hefty totals as well.

-***-
Station             Station Type           Total Snowfall (inches)
ROOSEVELT	        COOP	                  28.0
FORGAN                CoCoRaHS	                  19.5
ALVA                    COOP	                  19.2
BEAVER	                COOP	                  19.0
HOBART	                COOP	                  18.2
MANGUM	                COOP	                  18.0
EUFAULA               CoCoRaHS	                  17.0
MANGUM                CoCoRaHS	                  16.5
WESTVILLE             CoCoRaHS	                  16.3
HELENA                  COOP	                  16.2
HENNEPIN                COOP	                  16.2
-****-

Not bad, Roosevelt, for a little town in Kiowa County! Altus Dam had 15 inches
as well.

Now we look forward to some heat. Heck, even the 40s today will seem hot, now
that we're acclimated to Siberia. Saturday and Sunday will see lots of 60s, and
even some 70s. Here's what Sunday looks like now.



How long will it last? Well, looks like through much of the rest of February,
if you go by the CPC 8-14 day outlook.



However, see that area of increased odds of below normal temperatures out across
the west coast? That's not a sign of that big ridge remaining there, which
brought us warm air from time to time in January (and horrible drought and
unhelpful heat across the west coast for much of the fall and winter). So this
might just be a lull with a return to winter later.

Something to think about.

Our consecutive hours below freezing map starting to get a lot more sparse.
BRING ON THE HEAT!



Unfortunately, here comes the fire danger as well.



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