Ticker for February 18, 2021

                
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February 18, 2021  February 18, 2021  February 18, 2021  February 18, 2021


Find a happy place




Hey, who better to announce our first foray back into the 50s and 60s in the state
than Nicolas Cage? His forehead alone will generate enough sunshine to melt at
least a third of the snow in the state. Nic's manifestation as the sun aside,
tomorrow is the real show as we *HOPEFULLY* start to inch above freezing, marking
an end to our stay in the February 2021 Deep Freeze. And each subsequent day gets
warmer.







That's when most of the state rises above freezing. Don't be shocked if some
folks on the periphery start to inch above 32 degrees today.



And what a long road it's been, eh? This morning at 7am, the Mesonet site at
May Ranch up in Woods County near the Kansas border broke the record for our
longest consecutive streak at or below freezing. The previous record was 282
hours at Vinita from Dec. 23, 2000, to Jan. 4, 2001. Mesonet temperature records
date back to 1997. Here's the latest chill map. Looks like May Ranch might have
a day or two left in its system to add to those numbers.

(Note: Cherokee just to the east in Alfalfa County at times catches up in whole
numbers to May Rance, but May Ranch leads by about 45 minutes).



285 hours computes to about 12 days, which will be what our days below freezing
map will show tomorrow when it updates. We are getting close to that 13-day
streak below freezing that so many stations claim as a record from December 1983.



Our friends in the NWS look beyond Monday to an even warmer mid-week next week!





Happy place? How about July 17? I don't know HOW hot it will be, but I know it
will be HOT!

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