Ticker for May 18, 2020

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
May 18, 2020       May 18, 2020       May 18, 2020       May 18, 2020


The wet get wetter




So May, so good. We have yet to see an explosive severe weather event like we've
seen so often during Mays past. We just got through another danger period that
ended up more bark than bite. More large hail late last week, a tornado or two,
but not the type of outbreak that makes us double or even triple our twister
count for the year. Now if you're somebody who has been directly impacted from
a tornado, hail or severe winds (of flooding), it's a pretty darned bad May!

We had lots of flooding during this last event, both of the flash and areal type.
Easy to see from that non-Monopoly 4-day rain map. A pretty familiar pattern for
Oklahoma, with eastern Oklahoma getting more than they wanted, and the northwest
NOT passing Go, NOT collecting $200 (or 200cm).



One oddity there in Major County, with a small storm popping up near Fairview
laying down an inch of rain or so. Ketchum Ranch to Pauls Valley got caught up
in another training storm type of situation that dropped a lot of rain in a hurry.
Ketchum Ranch received 4.04 inches of rain between 6-7pm on Friday.



That's about a 100-year storm for that location, and I'm sure they'd like to
wait another hundred years before they see it again. We still have lots of
dry conditions continuing across western Oklahoma, especially up and down the
far western tier of counties in the main body of the state, and then a tongue
heading east from Ellis County over to Payne County. The far western Panhandle
is getting rain, but not enough, either in frequency or depth, to turn their
drought fortunes around.







We are headed into a somewhat dull next few days with temperatures steadily
climbing into the 80s and 90s by the end of the week. We MIGHT see some more
rain chances at the end of the week as well, but as usual, that isn't certain
just yet. Western Oklahoma might see a bit if so, but that's a big if. Well,
still 12-pt, but I can't change the font so we're stuck with it.





Dull is okay in May, unless you need rain. Tough to call up some nice
stratiform precipitation this time of year. It usually comes with lots of
booms and flashes. But if we can keep that twister count down, that would be
lovely.

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