Ticker for November 15, 2016

                
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November 15, 2016  November 15, 2016  November 15, 2016  November 15, 2016


Come on baby DON'T light that fire




When you combine the Doors with Beavis, you know things are getting serious. A
powerful-but-dry trough approaching from the west will drag a cold front across
Oklahoma Thursday but before then Mother Nature is going to kick up the wind
machine. And with the lack of moisture in the air (and the soils), lots of dormant/
dead vegetation available for fuel thanks to a rainy spring and early summer,
and strong winds, fire danger will be on the increase for tomorrow and Thursday.

Here's the overall picture courtesy of NWS-Tulsa showing the culprit.



And here are some graphics outlining the fire danger itself from our NWS partners.





And fire concerns will be elevated even after the front's passage. The winds
will still be gusting to over 30mph, just from the opposite direction. And while
cooler, the humidity will still be a tad low in parts of the state. We are
expecting very little rain with this front, and for the next week at least.




So obviously one of the big problems is the lack of green vegetation. That's
shown very clearly by the relative greenness map from the Mesonet's OK-FIRE
program. And this is a week old, and I guarantee you it hasn't gotten better
since then.



And we also have an intensifying drought (trust me, wait until Thursday) across
the NW and the E. Now we're getting to the time of the year when drought doesn't
matter as much as during the warm season since the plants are going to be
fuel-licious naturally due to the natural life cycle of the plants. To keep it
simple...plants die and go dormant during late fall and winter. However, this
year we've been so mild and the plants have been hanging in there, so I do think
drought is still playing a role.



But there's a simple fix for this particular weather hazard. You can tell when
it's really windy and dry, so during those periods, don't do any outdoor burning,
don't throw your lit cigarette butts out of the window into the right of way,
don't weld or do anything outdoors that will cause sparks (romantic sparks are
okay).

So keep in tune with your local fire departments AND favorite weather source(s).
Don't be a Beavis, and especially don't be a cigarette (Butt)head.

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