Ticker for August 16, 2021

                
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August 16, 2021    August 16, 2021    August 16, 2021    August 16, 2021


God of Slow-Moving Storms




Not bad indeed! We could still use the rain over select parts of the state, of
course, but the only problem is if Mother Nature "selects" you, it might rain
cats and lizards (let's give the dogs a break, okay?) for 3 hours straight and
your neighbor might not get anything. I have mentioned my dislike of these
summer storms, often locked in place by the lack of any steering winds above,
and anchored to whatever random forcing allowed their birth. Again, that's the
reason our rainfall map over the weekend appears like the ground next to a roller
coaster exit. BLECH!



And it's raining now, to go along with our various rain chances for the rest of
this week.



By the way, want to see the fickleness of Mother Nature's vomi...errr, rain
fortunes? It was pointed out to us that over the last 30 days, our Mesonet site
at Bixby leads the state with 9.49 inches, while our Hectorville site 11.4
miles away has the LEAST for that period with 0.2 inches! Yeah, that's crazy.



That could all change over the next few days, obviously, but that's a serious
rainfall gradient. As for temperatures, we won't see much change from where
we are now with highs in the 80s and low 90s for the next week or so. Not quite
as warm as we normally are this time of year, but we are also a bit more humid,
so there's the tradeoff.



Another thing to remember is that there will be a flood risk thanks to the
slow-moving nature of these storms, so our friends at the Amarillo NWS office
remind us to be careful when driving through these storms.



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