Ticker for May 6, 2022

                
MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ... MESONET TICKER ...
May 6, 2022        May 6, 2022        May 6, 2022        May 6, 2022


Sweat City




So what happens when you get 8-12 inches of rainfall one week...



And then highs in the 90s the next week?



Some sort of rash. Correct. In fact, folks across eastern Oklahoma should be
running out to Braum's, ummmm, I mean a pharmacy, and buying up all the Gold Bond
medicated powder they can (I never got free ice cream from Braum's, but that
powder would be sweet, too!) because it's about to get steamy across that part
of the state. Not that the 100s out West won't be hot, but as Hudson said in
"Aliens": "Yeah, but it's a dry heat!" It does make a difference. Annnnd, it's a
bit early. No, not the powder...never too early for that. The heat index up
around 100.

The heat index starts being a "thing" when the combination of temperature and
humidity starts to "feel like" 80 degrees. Let's take a look at one of the
supposed offenders next week, the Mesonet site at Haskell, which received nearly
12 inches of rain this week. Yeah, juicy, right? In looking at the long-term
averages tool from the Past Data section of the Mesonet website, I can't find
a heat index above 93 degrees anytime before May 9, the forecast date for
next week's triple-digit heat index values in eastern Oklahoma. In fact, you
have to go all the way to June 11 before Haskell registered a heat index value
of at least 100 degrees (at least between 2007 and 2021, the long-term
average period for the Mesonet averages).



So we're getting an early start this year to the steamy heat. And with the
heat wave scheduled for most of next week, it might be awhile before we
exhaust some of that fuel across eastern Oklahoma.



So western Oklahoma, enjoy your dry summer heat next week.

Eastern Oklahoma? Well, do whatever you can to enjoy whatever you want to call
your heat next week. I'll let you do that...this is a family Ticker.

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