Ticker for April 7, 2016

                
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April 7, 2016      April 7, 2016      April 7, 2016      April 7, 2016


Oh goody, more fire danger!


Why do I feel like a "Three's Company" episode all of a sudden when I write these
Tickers? You remember the plots of those, right? There would be some great big
misunderstanding between Jack, Chrissy, Janet and Mr. Roper (Mr. Furley later on)
that would lead to hilarious (debatable!) hijinx. Every single week. Well, since
about mid-February, that's what Ticker's have been like: "Hey, there's big fire
danger today!"

Hey, there's big fire danger today!





And while it won't always be critical, it ain't going away anytime soon either.



One of the biggest problems is the continued dryness, and flat out drought, that
we've seen since the beginning of the year. We're now working on the 20th driest
start to the year through yesterday since at least 1921, and some areas are worse
than that statewide tally. Here are lots of nasty graphics showing the ugly
dry weather.







That has resulted in yet another in a strong of worsening U.S. Drought Monitor
maps.



So we now have 31% of the state in Moderate Drought, and an additional 42% of
the state in Abnormally Dry conditions, and those are quickly going to be
transformed into the Moderate Drought category if we don't get rain soon.

Oh, rain? Well, as a matter of fact there is a chance of rain coming up this
weekend. Chance of storms too, but we'll ignore that for now whilst we're
worried about fire.




The best news is that the NW, at least in the latest forecast from WPC, has at
least a half-inch blob out their way, which would do wonders for greening up
some of that dormant wildfire fuel.



After that, I'm afraid I'm gonna have to plead the fifth (of bourbon).

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