Ticker for December 9, 2024

                
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December 9, 2024   December 9, 2024   December 9, 2024   December 9, 2024


Whither?




I've been up Tickerizing since about 5:45am (sleep schmeep), and I'll be darned if
I can find any chance of a White Christmas this far out, so let's just call that a
lost cause (ask my hairbrush) and move onto something even less pleasant. Drought.

Or the possibilities of drought coming back a bit more widespread vs. where it is
now. Ya see, it's been 21 days (counting today) since we've had significant rain
across most of Oklahoma.

21 days. Last time we had a good rain, it was November. You remember November, no?
Warm month. Lots of tornadoes. Record rainfall early on, not much after. Lots of
trips to the bathroom because of Taco Bell.

Well that was MY experience.

It's gotten so dry that even the 30-day maps, after easily the wettest November
(remember November...no wait, we've done that already) on record, have started to
show a deficit again.







And unless you're in southeast OK (and you're not because I can seeeeeee yoooouuuu),
your chances for the next week aren't good. Arn't good at all (so bad you lost an
"e").



And if you believe the fantasy-casts from model output, your chances aren't good
for another 10-14 days, either.



All that means is I'll have to active State Climatologist Drought Monitor mode
again, after all that hard work ERASING drought, to start drawing it BACK in if
we don't get rain soon. One plus is at least it hasn't been exceptionally warm
the last couple of weeks, so that's less pressure on that soil moisture. At least
not warm like it was in November that fueled all that severe weather.



So even with that lack of rainfall, not much change in soil moisture, which is
expected. We just don't have the heat to evaporate that soil moisture, and for
the most part, the vegetation has gone dormant or died, so not thirsty for that
water. Also, the sun is pretty low in the sky, so decreased evaporation on that
end as well.



So another fairly boring week, which was welcomed after about mid-November. Not
so welcome now. We need rain. Until something changes, just a bit of variation
on our temperatures continues.



Maybe we've jinxed it enough that everything will change here in a few days?

Gary McManus
State Climatologist
Oklahoma Mesonet
Oklahoma Climate Survey
gmcmanus@ou.edu