Ticker for April 20, 2015

                
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April 20, 2015     April 20, 2015     April 20, 2015     April 20, 2015


Who voted for this??



Did you see this?




Lows in the 30s and 40s? Windchills in the 20s and 30s? Who's idea was that? I
mean, the rain has been lovely and all, and with this northwesterly upper-air flow
we've been in, we continue to see lots of action. But windchills in the 20s and
30s? Sorry, do not want. Thankfully that's the last of the REALLY cold weather
(I think I'm climatologically accurate given that it's now late April). Tomorrow
we have 40s on tap, but it looks like that's as low as we go for at least the
next 7 days or so.

It could be worse. Check out the freeze duration maps from the Mesonet for April
1-20 last year vs. the same period this year. Just a bit of difference between
last April's chilly wheat-ruining conditions compared to this year's warmer
regime.




I know I said "Winter's NOT Dead" at the beginning, implying that, well, uh,
winter's not dead. Keep in mind as long as that cold pool of air sits to our
northeast, it doesn't take too much imagination to see a day or two with a blob
of that nasty stuff coming down this way, much like we saw at the end of last
April (as shown in this map for April 21-30, 2014).



I don't see that happening. CPC doesn't really show that happening.



So now I consider my bases covered. Don't forget this map of the latest spring
freeze (based on 1981-2010 data). Stranger things have (and probably will)
happen.



Speaking of rain (go way back to the first paragraph), we've had a ton of it,
EXCEPT for the folks in the Panhandle. I'll be working on recommendations for the
Drought Monitor map. Suffice it to say we'll be seeing improvements across the
main body of the state, and probably some intensification of drought in the
Panhandle. We'll talk more about the rain tomorrow...some interesting things
there. Here's a sneak peak.



8.7 inches at Cheyenne? WOW!

0.12 inches at Goodwell? WOW!

Prepare to be wowed tomorrow.

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