Mon, Jan 05, 2015
Winter Finally Finds December Winter was noticeably absent through much of December, a deceptively warm month that ended more than 2 degrees above normal… Read More »
Tue, Dec 02, 2014
Spring 2015 OK-First Courses Open For Enrollment If you are a public safety official in the Mesonet's OK-First program, we've recently opened 10 classes for you for… Read More »
Tue, Dec 02, 2014
November Snow Steals Show Oklahoma’s weather during November was both simplistic and momentous. It began and ended on the warm side, and had a… Read More »
Tue, Nov 04, 2014
Top 20 Extreme Weather Events in Mesonet History Since 1994 the Oklahoma Mesonet has recorded many extreme weather events throughout or state. We have made a website dedicated… Read More »
Tue, Nov 04, 2014
Local Media Thanks Mesonet for 20 Years of Great Work! This video is a compilation of on-air meteorologists talking about the Oklahoma Mesonet, how they use it, and why it's… Read More »
Mon, Nov 03, 2014
October Rains Plentiful For Some, Scarce For Others One weekend of heavy rain brightened the fortunes of some Oklahomans during October while others continued on in the embrace… Read More »
Wed, Oct 01, 2014
Dry September Diminishes Drought Recovery Hopes were high for much-needed rainfall across Oklahoma after August's disappointing totals. June and July were exceedingly wet, lending optimism… Read More »
Tue, Sep 02, 2014
Summer Marks Return During August August made a valiant effort to continue the unusually cool and remarkably wet conditions of June and July and place… Read More »
Tue, Aug 19, 2014
Wx Briefing Ticker Welcome to the Beta Version of the New OK-1 Weather Briefing Page! Feel free to submit bugs/errors here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/ok1beta. To enroll… Read More »
Mon, Aug 11, 2014
A July to Remember Sometime around the third week of May, with wildfires scorching the state and drought continuing to intensify, Oklahomans were in… Read More »
Thu, Aug 07, 2014
It's Not Too Late to Enroll in a Fall 2014 OK-First Class! If you are a public safety official in the Mesonet's OK-First program, it is not too late to enroll in… Read More »
Mon, Jul 21, 2014
National Weather Festival 2014 Saturday, Nov 1, 2014 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. National Weather Center, 120 David L Boren Blvd. (corner of… Read More »
Tue, Jul 01, 2014
Resurgent Spring Rains Continue in June Although the spring rainy season got a late start in 2014, not arriving in earnest until the third week of… Read More »
Thu, Mar 27, 2014
Drought Grows Despite Recent Rains The dust storms, wildfires and reports of struggling crops and pastures that have plagued the state over the last few… Read More »
Mon, Jan 27, 2014
Welcome to the new OK-First website! Today marks a new chapter for OK-First as we unveil a fresh, new website for our public safety partners participating… Read More »
Thu, Jan 02, 2014
Frosty December Closes Out Tumultuous 2013 A frigid and sometimes icy December seemed a fitting way to close out the boisterous weather of 2013. Preliminary… Read More »
Sun, Dec 01, 2013
November Brings Early Taste of Winter to Oklahoma November is considered a fall month climatologically, but it certainly did its best to look like a winter month during… Read More »
Tue, Oct 01, 2013
Summer Returns During September, Brings Taste of Fall Autumn returned to Oklahoma nearly right on cue during the last week of September thanks to a moisture-laden cold front.… Read More »
Fri, Sep 06, 2013
National Weather Festival 2013 Saturday, Nov 2, 2013 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. National Weather Center, 120 David L Boren Blvd. (corner of… Read More »
Thu, Aug 01, 2013
An Uncommon July Brings Drought Relief It was not the wettest July on record in Oklahoma, at least not on a statewide basis. That mark belongs… Read More »
Mon, Jun 03, 2013
In a state so accustomed to highly variable and often tumultuous weather, May 2013 will be long remembered as one of its most notorious. The month began with some of the coldest late-spring weather in the state's history and finished with a flourish of violent weather, including one of Oklahoma's worst tornado disasters on record. Stirring the echoes of May 3, 1999, for many central Oklahoma residents, a massive and violent tornado churned its path of destruction from near Newcastle through south Oklahoma City and Moore before dissipating near Stanley Draper Lake. The tornado reached EF5 level, the strongest category on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. The tornado had winds estimated at over 200 mph and reached a maximum damage width of 1.3 miles. State officials confirmed 24 fatalities due to the twister. The storm injured over 300 others with preliminary damage estimates totaling over $2 billion along its 17 mile, 40 minute path. The twister destroyed two Moore elementary schools, killing seven schoolchildren at Plaza Towers elementary and injuring many others. One day previous to that event, a violent twister traveled from east Norman to near McLoud causing two fatalities. That tornado was rated as an EF4. While numbers are still preliminary, the National Weather Service counted at least 19 tornadoes between the two days. Officials from the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management estimated that the two-day barrage impacted 2937 homes, businesses and non-residential buildings. The severe weather was far from over, unfortunately. May's final three days saw a flurry of dangerous weather, culminating on its final day. A large tornadic supercell spawned several tornadoes from El Reno to Moore to southeast Oklahoma City. A preliminary count of nine fatalities from those tornadoes, including two children, brought the year's tally to at least 35. That ties 2013 with 1960 as Oklahoma's second deadliest tornado year since 1950, bested only by 1999's 42 fatalities. The stationary supercell produced prolific rainfall amounts across Oklahoma City and resulted in widespread flash flooding. At least two deaths were blamed on flash flooding from the event, with more possible as searches continued.
May saw a continuation of the cool weather and drought relief the state has experienced since mid-February, although western Oklahoma and the Panhandle remained parched. According to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the statewide average temperature finished at 66.8 degrees, more than a degree below normal. May was the fourth consecutive month to finish with below normal temperatures, a feat not seen in Oklahoma since the four month period between December 2009 and February 2010. The below normal finish was mainly due to a cool first half of the month, particularly during the first week. A freeze occurred across western and northern Oklahoma as late as May 3, with temperatures dropping into the 20s as far south as the Red River. Up to 2 inches of snow fell across northeastern Oklahoma on that day, the latest snowfall on record for many locations. Tulsa recorded its first ever May snowfall with a trace on May 2. Numerous records were broken for lowest minimum and lowest maximum temperatures during those first few days of the month. The climatological spring season of March-May finished with a statewide average temperature of 56.2 degrees, nearly 3 degrees below normal, to rank as the 11th coolest on record.
The precipitation totals across the state only added to the month's tarnished legacy. The Mesonet site at Hooker in Texas County recorded a measly 0.08 inches of rain for the month, the second lowest May total for that Panhandle town since records began in 1906, just 0.04 inches behind 1916's 0.04 inches. On the other end of the scale, Oklahoma City experienced its wettest May on record with a whopping 14.52 inches of rain at Will Rogers Airport. That total becomes Oklahoma City's second wettest month on record, eclipsed only by June 1989's 14.66 inches. Combined with March and April, Oklahoma City's spring total balloons to 23.18 inches, besting the previous wettest spring mark of 20.31 inches from 1947.
According to data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the statewide average rainfall total for May was 4.9 inches, about 0.3 inches below normal. That ranks the month as the 54th wettest since 1895. A band from south central through central and northeastern Oklahoma recorded from 9 to 11 inches of rainfall. Most of the western third of the state recorded less than 2 inches, however, with much of the Panhandle seeing less than a quarter of an inch. Although the spring season had a rather unremarkable statewide average at 10.65 inches, about an inch below normal, the stark contrast between western Oklahoma and the rest of the state was evident in the details. The Panhandle experienced its fourth driest spring on record while central Oklahoma had its 15th wettest.
The exaggerated moisture difference produced obvious changes to the U.S. Drought Monitor by month's end. Extreme and exceptional drought increased through the western third of the state while drought was eliminated across much of central and eastern Oklahoma. May's final Drought Monitor map showed about 41 percent of the state being drought free, but 27 percent under the extreme-exceptional categories.
The June outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) indicate increased odds of below normal precipitation and above normal temperature across western Oklahoma, particularly in the Panhandle. The outlooks are inconclusive across the rest of the state. The outlooks for the summer season call for increased odds of below normal rainfall across the western half of the state and above normal temperatures over all of Oklahoma. CPC's latest U.S. Seasonal Drought outlook predicts improving drought conditions across most of Oklahoma through August with the exception of the extreme western third of the state and the Panhandle. Drought is expected to persist or intensify in those areas.
May 2013 Rainfall Totals from the Oklahoma Mesonet
June temperature and precipitation outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center
Summer (June-August) temperature and precipitation outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center
