Ticker for August 31, 2016

                
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August 31, 2016    August 31, 2016    August 31, 2016    August 31, 2016


Has fall arrived in the Panhandle?




Well first off, there are two things wrong with this picture:

1. There are no trees in the Panhandle
2. If you ever see a guy wearing a tweed jacket and sweater in the Panhandle,
just step away.

But I have been noticing that the far northwest has been luxuriating behind
several weak cold fronts up that way that never seem to make it to far south.
Hence the 70s and 80s in the NW and the 90s and even higher heat indexes to the
SE.



Just look at the fates of two Mesonet sites over the past week -- Boise City in
the far W Panhandle and Antlers down in the far SE. As you can see from these
temperature traces, which also show the heat index (red line), Antlers has been
baking with temps in the mid-90s and heat indexes close to 100 while Boise City
only saw 80 degrees twice. In fact they've barely been above 70 the last two
days.




And their rainfall fortunes have been somewhat discordant as well...1.78 inches
in the Panhandle is worth about 9 inches in SE OK, but far better than Antlers'
0.09 inches regardless.



Now to answer the Ticker's title...has fall arrived in the Panhandle? Welllll,
sorta. They will continue to see 70s and maybe low 80s until the weekend as
another cool-ish front moves through, but after that, summer returns. Check out
today's expected highs vs. Sunday's.




Plus, the rest of the state should benefit from this next front as well as it
pushes through the entire state with cooler, rainy weather.





So don't get out those tweed jackets and sweaters just yet. You might send them
to the cleaners, though. Fall is approaching, on the calendar if not in weather
at least.

One last thing...technically, I was incorrect on #1 above, there are trees in
the Panhandle. I once saw two cottonwoods between Goodwell and Texhoma.

I kid, I kiiiiiidddd!!

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