Ticker for December 15, 2023

                
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December 15, 2023  December 15, 2023  December 15, 2023  December 15, 2023


Merry Storm System!




At Christmas my brothers and I would get to open a single gift early, but it had
to be one meant for all of us. So no, not one for each, but collectively. Hey, you
take what you can get! But we always knew to open one of the long rectangular ones,
because that would probably be a board game. You know...Life, Monopoly, Risk,
Global Thermonuclear War, etc. Yeah, that last one was a bit dark. But it was the
joy of getting to open one EARLY that was the real excitement. Sometimes you
picked a dud (a Stock Market game...really??), but most of the time it was
something fun. I feel like we've gotten one of those early presents this Holiday
Season with our over-performing rain storm. The totals have been tremendous
across the western half of the state, and heck, it's raining right now for
crying out loud!



And it should end up giving the entire state a good drink of water. Better for
western OK, but good enough for the rest of us.



Aaaaand, in true Christmas fashion, we should get to open another precipitation
gift on Christmas Eve/Christmas Day. Maybe some snow in the Panhandle? And that's
after another storm system earlier in the weekend as well. So 3 storms for
Christmas should give us a nice drought-reducing gift in time for the New
Year. We can see it on the edge of the 7-day rain forecast...this is for next
Thursday.



You can also see the Southern-track storm in the outlooks for next week, right
up until Christmas Eve. Sadly, too warm for widespread snow, but we still might
see some in NW OK for Christmas if we can get the temps down low enough.



Now remember all of that can change because these next two systems are way
out there over the Pacific, but this is more of what type of pattern you would
expect from El Nino as you get farther into Winter. If we can EVER dip that
polar jet down this way and combine it with one of these storms...watch out!
I'm just glad with all this warmth we didn't see the proper conditions for
severe weather. I guess we've been nice instead of naughty! Hmmmm.

You better watch out, you better not cry,
You better not pout, I'm telling you why,
Mother Nature's coming to town.

She's making a list, she's checking it twice,
Gonna find out who's been naughty or nice,
Mother Nature's coming to town.

She wakes you when you're sleepin',
She doesn't care if you're awake,
She knows if you've been bad or good,
And sometimes she also sends quakes.

So you better not tempt fate, don't be unwise,
Or you might find hail falling from the skies,
The wind's gonna blow, the rain's gonna pour,
Oklahoma, better brace for more.

Mother Nature's coming to town,
Oklahoma weather's swirling around,
If Oklahoma's been naughty, better beware,
Blizzards and floods, it's a weather affair.

So be good for goodness sake,
Oklahoma, don't make a mistake,
Mother Nature is watching, she's keeping score,
Stay on the nice list, and worry no more!

Merry storm system to all, and to all a good rain!

(Hey, you get what you pay for)!

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