Ticker for January 23, 2025

                
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January 23, 2025   January 23, 2025   January 23, 2025   January 23, 2025


Drier Dryer Dry




Don't look now (I SAID DON'T LOOK NOW!!)...okay, look. The rains of November,
much like my hair, are but a memory now. Ahhh, the good times we had together,
what with the rain and the hair and the hair drier and the hair brush and comb
and the water running off into ponds and soaking into the soil.

Well okay, one happened sorta recently, just a couple of months ago, and the other
happened a couple of decades ago. But in geological AND follicular time...just
a blink. Here are the sad stats and maps. No, not about my hair.









Yes yes, I know it's a dry season anyway, with our normal precipitation
curtailed quite a bit from our warm season bounty (November's record rainfall
notwithstanding!), but when you get down into the 20-30% of normal range, it
will have ramifications eventually. And while our new Drought Monitor map held
steady in the face of a frozen Oklahoma, we can't hold off adding more colors
to that map for much longer. Especially if it starts to warm up again.



Forecasts for the next 7 days aren't too promising outside of southeast
Oklahoma, which is the one wetter than normal spot in the state over the last
couple of months.



Is there hope after that, into the future? I think there is...the advancements
in medicine happen exponentially at times, and with so many people having hair
loss, it would seem...OH, with the dry weather? Well sure, there's always hope!



Let me say this, though.

This, though.

And also let me say that February ain't the time to expect generous rainfalls,
especially with an even weak La Nina in place. However, it also won't take much
moisture to alleviate our current dry streak. Our soils are still in pretty
good shape, and our lake levels are in what I'd call "acceptable" territory,
given what they've been through the last 3+ years.





Nothing like what my scalp's gone through, but that's beside the point.

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