Ticker for October 25, 2016

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
October 25, 2016   October 25, 2016   October 25, 2016   October 25, 2016


Happy 4th of Halloween




No, don't try and pop your candy corn this year or you're liable to get that
gooey, greasy mess shown above.

And maybe this won't be the hottest EVER, but if'n you're wearing a werewolf
costume, you best use the Aarid Extra EXTRA Dry. And stay hydrated. From this
7-day planner issued by the Norman NWS office, I see highs in the 80s for the
year's scariest holiday (that doesn't involve family, your inebriated Uncle Frank
and any talk about politics or football).



Now the hottest Halloween ever, at least in Oklahoma, was way back in 1950. The
statewide average temperature that Halloween was 73.3 degrees. This map shows
the highs for that Halloween and as you can see, lots of 80s and even a few 90s.
In fact, the highest Halloween temp ever recorded in the state, 95 degrees at
Alva, occurred that year (there was a 100 degree temp recorded in 1907 but I
don't find it credible).



The warmest Halloween in the modern era, at least 30-40 years, was 2000's 68.7
degrees. The temperature forecast for this year will get a bit more certain
as we draw closer to Monday, but regardless of whether we go up or down a few
degrees, this year's Halloween is going to be quite warm and pleasant. No
frost on your pumpkins this year for sure.

How about October itself? Well, it's also shaping up to be one of the warmest
on record. Through yesterday, the statewide average temperature according to
the Oklahoma Mesonet was 67.6 degrees, 5.5 degrees above the normal through
that period of 62.1 degrees. Here are the particulars.

-***-
Avg Tmax     Avg Tmin     Avg Tavg
Oct. 1-24            80.4F       54.9F        67.6F
Normal               74.8F       49.3F        62.1F
Dep. from Norm        5.6F        5.4F         5.5F
-****-

The current warmest October on record, based on statewide avg., is 1963's 69.6
degrees (the coldest...1925's 54.6 degrees...no thanks!). I have that
highlighted on our October temperature graph (1895-2015), along with where
we are at this year (through yesterday).



I also highlighted (LOWLIGHTED more like it) 1925's record lowest October. So
we obviously have a long way to go to top that 1963 record. I'm not going to
hazard a guess how close we come to it, because that would only confirm what
most of you think of my forecasting method already.

But here's what I do know:

1. We're going to end up with one of the warmest Octobers on record in Oklahoma
2. This Halloween will be one of the warmest
3. Candy corn is the #1 Halloween candy (unless you live in a small town, where
popcorn balls takes the top prize...no, the razor blade deal is a proven myth).

Oh yeah, the coldest Halloween ever? Easy. 1993's avg. temp of 31.9 degrees.
Now that's based on statistics. Now the most miserable Halloween ever? Also
easy. 1991. Does snow, sleet and temps in the 30s ring a bell? Well, check out
this story of that frighteningly cold Halloween in our Seasonal Summary from
the Fall 2005 issue.

http://climate.ok.gov/summaries/seasonal/Oklahoma_Climate_Fall_2005.pdf

The most frightening thing...I KNOW some of you out there would love to see
that again, you ghouls!

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