Ticker for September 29, 2014

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
September 29, 2014 September 29, 2014 September 29, 2014 September 29, 2014


Brother, can you spare a raindrop?

Our pitiful August morphed into a pathetic September and now threatens to stretch
into early October, at least as far as moisture goes. Lots of folks are loving
the stretch of temperate, sunny weather, but it ain't helping the drought outlook
any. Especially for those ag producers trying to plant wheat.

Our September is turning out much too red...here are the maps and stats for
proof.





Take a good look at N OK, from Beaver County in the Panhandle east to Kay County.
That's Wheat Country 101 up that way, and they're hurting terribly for moisture.
Add August into the mix and the view doesn't get much better.





The 16th driest Aug-Sept. on record (at least through the 29th)...are you kidding
me?? That's pitiful and pathetic (see, told ya).

The good news is that we will see a chance for rain coming up this week. The
bad news is that it doesn't look like a lot. The good news is that it appears
to be centered on northern Oklahoma. The bad news is that it looks like mostly
NE OK. That's good news for them, bad news for NC OK (and SW OK and C OK and so
on and so forth).



The NEWS (why judge?) after that is for more dry weather, at least according to
the 6-10 day precipitation outlook from CPC. Here we see increased odds of
below normal precipitation for the Oct. 4-8 period.



That could change dramatically this afternoon once a human lays eyes on the data
and forecasts. Those outlooks are generally just computer generated on the
weekends.

As I said, that wheat being planted ("dusted in" or planted in the dry dirt
and hoping an opportune rain comes along) is not finding much moisture to
work with and allow it to germinate. Just check out the amount of water available
to plants down to 4 inches of the soil column and then down to 32 inches.




GASP! There will be a heckuva lot of seeds out there gasping for water for a bit.
If you're keeping track at home, we have about a month or so of our "normal"
(HAHAHAHA!) fall rainy season to go before things start to die down during the
dry winter months.



October can be a really rainy month in Oklahoma from time to time. We need that
to come through. We ain't desperate, but we're getting there.

Maybe the Canadians can help us out? What do their forecast models see for our
chances of at least an inch of moisture through mid-October?



RATS, eh!

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