Ticker for December 9, 2021

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
December 9, 2021   December 9, 2021   December 9, 2021   December 9, 2021


Only you...




Lack of rain, record high temperatures, dry cold fronts with lots of winds...these
are the prime ingredients for one of Oklahoma's most damaging hazards: men with
really white legs wearing shorts in the winter. Hideous! Unfortunately, it is also
a favorable time for wildfire danger. Oh, we're gonna have the high temps, with
records being threatened down south today and then across the state tomorrow.







The all-time record high for any Dec. 9 in state history is 82 degrees, so we'll
see if we can come close to that, then we'll do it all over again tomorrow. An
approaching cold front will kick up those strong SW winds gusting to over 45 mph.
That will also help to bring in much drier air. With those high temps and lots of
dead/dormant vegetation, watch out for wildfires today but especially tomorrow
when the front comes through. Thus the fire weather watch for tomorrow, 10am
through 6pm. And this is gonna be one of those fire days in Oklahoma where any
fire that gets started will get quickly out of hand.







The lack of rainfall certainly contributes to this problem, although during the
winter months drought is not nearly as important as simply the day-to-day
weather. Doesn't matter if it rains if you're vegetation isn't going to green
up. The last 30 days for some parts of the state have been as dry as it can
be with a big ZERO.POINT.ZERO for the last 30 days (and beyond).









Those types of conditions have led us to 82% of the state in some level of
drought, with nearly 29% of that being severe-to-extreme drought.



With that front tomorrow, there will be just the slightest risk of severe
weather in extreme SE OK, with the slimmest hopes for rain in that area. That's
about it for the next 7 days.





But wait!

Okay, long enough. There is reason for hope next week as we see better chances
for some precip in these parts.



Don't start hoping for blizzards just yet, however, unless you're on your way
to DQ.



There will be some bitterly cold air make it down out way eventually. Nowhere
in sight just yet.

Gary McManus
State Climatologist
Oklahoma Mesonet
Oklahoma Climatological Survey
gmcmanus@mesonet.org