Ticker for March 10, 2025

                
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March 10, 2025     March 10, 2025     March 10, 2025     March 10, 2025


Fireday




March storm systems are sort of like eating at Taco Bell...what happens on the
back end is often as bad or worse as the front. As things go (and they'll REALLY
go, Taco Bell assisted or not), maybe we do want to miss that front end where we're
seeing bigtime severe weather out ahead of the storm system on Friday.



Now I know what you're thinking...why pic on Taco Bell when Taco Mayo is just
standing there all innocent? BECAUSE TACO MAYO NEVER LEFT ME RUSHING FOR THE...
never mind. That's a story for another time. But this time of year, if we're not
getting rain, we're probably getting fire danger.

Welcome to this week.



Looks like we'll see elevated fire danger to some degree throughout the week,
and with that gigantic storm system approaching for the end of the week, it will
culminate if extreme wildfire danger on Friday. Here's the setup, from our fine
friends at the Norman NWS office.



You see them talking about uncertainty, and the same thing goes if we're talking
about possible snow OR tornadoes, or in this case...fire weather. The storm
system is still far out over the Pacific and not being sampled as well
meteorologically speaking, and so the forecast models still have lots of time
and room for changes. Things that we do know, though, is that it will be a big
storm system, and eventually we will be on the back side of it, and on that
back side there will be lots of wind (write your own jokes) and lots of fire
danger.

Think back to last week when we had those 55-75 mph non-thunderstorm winds?

Play it again, Sam.

Hopefully this time with no tornadoes.

Tornadoes you say? Well, yes, we are now up to 13 tornadoes from March 4...wait,
does that say 13?!?!?! Holy twisters, that's a lot more than I thought
originally! All weak, thank goodness, but not a good omen for the rest of the
spring I'm thinking.



That already puts this March into a tie for the 5th-most twisters for March
dating back to when accurate records began in 1950, tied with 2008. And we still
have 3 weeks to go to shoot for 1991's record 17. And as far as I can tell,
March 4 is now the record-holder for most twisters in a singe day during March,
again dating back to 1950, edging out March 21, 1991's 12.

Not records you want to be breaking, so once again, as we enjoy our lovely
spring temperatures this week into the 70s, we get to choose between poisons:

Twisters or wildfire.

At least you can fight the fires? I'll not do the choosing.

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