Ticker for June 2, 2021

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
June 2, 2021       June 2, 2021       June 2, 2021       June 2, 2021


Spring Smash




Okay, NOW we can officially gripe out loud about all the cool weather without
sounding whiny! Yesterday, the official start of climatological summer, when the
normal highs are around 85 (give or take a degree depending on where you're at)
and the normal lows are around 74 (you know the drill), we had highs in the
60s! and 70s. And lows in the 50s across the NW quarter of the state.





Are you kidding me? In fact, looking back at all the June 1sts in Oklahoma
history, yesterday's was the 4th coolest on record with a statewide average
temperature of 63.9 degrees, behind 1983 (59.7), 1982 (61.4), and 1992 (63.9). And
the last day of May was the THIRD coldest May 31 on record behind 1983 and 1964.
If we go out to the week, ending on June 1, that 7-day period was the SECOND
coldest May 26-June 1 on record at 66.7 degrees (might as well have been 66.6!!),
behind only 1992's 58.3. Well thank goodness it ain't 1992 or we'd REALLY be
complaining, but this is indeed our summer of discontent.

Now we will see a warm up this week to some extent, to the point on Friday
where we get back to what would be considered warm, but is actually just close
to normal.





The culprit, as we indicated yesterday, is all the cloudiness and the rain. Well,
there's more of that coming, but possibly not as much as before. We do see a
crack in the impenetrable rain-every-day streak, at least we hope. Still on
the wet side, as is befitting early June, but maybe a break here and there.





Now let's come clean (we will if you will): we go overboard on our "it's too
cold" shtick, but we really do need the warmth and some dry weather during
June for the Oklahoma wheat crop to dry out and cure really nice, and then allow
for those combines and trucks to get out in the field. If we could just get a
good 2-3 weeks of a little more dry and a lot more heat, then we'd be in
bidness.

And we could then Tick (complain) about something else.

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