Ticker for March 8, 2023

                
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March 8, 2023      March 8, 2023      March 8, 2023      March 8, 2023


Shields holding




Okay, this is really getting ridiculous. No, not the Ticker...ridiculous comes a
few sentences down. I'm Tocking about the bizarre inability of rain to penetrate
this invisible force field around I-44. Sure, some spilled over last night, but
by and large (and large and by), significant precipitation continues to end
in or around that highway, leaving those to the SE in fine shape and those to the
NW mired in prolonged drought. Check out the 60-day rainfall map as further proof.



More proof? Look at the consecutive days with less than a quarter-inch rainfall
Mesonet map. We're now up past 20 days sorta along that I-44 corridor.



Granted, my memory isn't the best, but we need butter, milk, eggs...whoops!
Forgot where I was. Granted, my memory isn't the best, but the only other time I
can think of such a prolonged highway-related weather boundary was in April of
2011 when Oklahoma saw a then-record 50 tornadoes that month (beaten by April
2012's 54 tornadoes the following year). Other than the record, nothing too odd
about that, right? Well as it turns out, every single one of those twisters struck
EAST of I-35! Well, the horrible news/good news is that while Mother Nature
ungraciously opened up the tornado menu west of I-35 in May 2011, at least that
gives us some hope she'll do the same for rains in the coming weeks. Rain
chances increase once again tonight into tomorrow, but it still doesn't look
like that I-44 rain deflector shield is weakening much.



Weird patterns (including male baldness, ya feel me??) can be unpleasant. The
only one I'm looking to start will be a pattern of 90 degrees or above, which
Oklahoma might actually see on Saturday down in SW OK.



If we could move that closer to I-35, I'd appreciate it.

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