Thu, Apr 25, 2024
Summer/Fall 2024 Mesonet OK-First Classes Summer/Fall 2024 Mesonet OK-First classes for public safety officials are now open for enrollment! We will be offering a mix… Read More »
Tue, Oct 10, 2023
Winter/Spring 2024 Mesonet OK-First Classes Winter/Spring 2024 Mesonet OK-First classes for public safety officials are now open for enrollment! We will be offering a mix… Read More »
Thu, Apr 27, 2023
Summer/Fall 2023 Mesonet OK-First Classes Summer/Fall 2023 Mesonet OK-First classes for public safety officials are now open for enrollment! We will be offering a mix… Read More »
Tue, Jan 03, 2023
December Caps 2022 Rain Record December provided a fitting end to Oklahoma’s tumultuous 2022 weather story. This final chapter came complete with a half-dozen tornadoes,… Read More »
Tue, Nov 01, 2022
October Drought Relief Mixed Drought held on through October in Oklahoma for the fifteenth consecutive month, its roots dating back to August 2021 and… Read More »
Tue, Oct 11, 2022
Winter/Spring 2023 Mesonet OK-First Classes Winter/Spring 2023 Mesonet OK-First classes for public safety officials are now open for enrollment! We will be offering a mix… Read More »
Mon, Oct 03, 2022
September Continues Dry Dusty Weather Drought surged across Oklahoma as the driest September since 1956 took its toll on the state’s landscape. The amount of… Read More »
Wed, Aug 17, 2022
Fall 2022 OK-FIRE Classes Free training workshops will be offered this fall for both new and experienced users of OK-FIRE, the statewide weather-based decision support system… Read More »
Mon, Aug 01, 2022
July Heat Punishes Oklahoma The seemingly impenetrable heat wave and dry spell that had punished Oklahoma since early June continued through nearly all of… Read More »
Fri, Jul 01, 2022
June Teases Several Seasons June managed to pack pieces of three seasons into a single month. The first 10 days were quite springlike, with… Read More »
Wed, Jun 01, 2022
May Rains Dent Drought May’s reputation as Oklahoma’s most prolific severe weather month was confirmed within the first week with as many as… Read More »
Mon, May 02, 2022
April Winds Highest in Mesonet Era Opinions on Oklahoma’s weather are often more variable than the weather itself. Some Oklahomans will look back on April… Read More »
Wed, Apr 13, 2022
Summer/Fall 2022 Mesonet OK-First Classes Summer/Fall 2022 Mesonet OK-First classes for public safety officials are now open for enrollment! We will be offering a mix… Read More »
Fri, Apr 01, 2022
Variety Describes March Weather March’s weather ran the gamut of nearly all the hazards Oklahoma has to offer, befitting a seasonal transition month in… Read More »
Tue, Mar 01, 2022
Wintry Weather Rules February Three impactful winter storms struck Oklahoma during February, snarling traffic on state highways, bringing down power lines, and forcing… Read More »
Tue, Feb 01, 2022
Winter Arrives In January Winter arrived with conviction at the dawn of the new year in Oklahoma and delivered a startling counterpunch to the… Read More »
Tue, Jan 04, 2022
December Shatters Temperature Record In what could best be described as a climatological anomaly on steroids, Oklahoma soared to its warmest December on… Read More »
Wed, Dec 01, 2021
November Caps Off Warm, Dry Fall An extended pattern of warm, dry weather exacerbated drought conditions during November. Drought impacts, including fire danger and soil… Read More »
Thu, Nov 18, 2021
Spring 2022 Mesonet OK-First Classes Spring 2022 OK-First classes for public safety officials are now open for enrollment! We will be offering a mix of… Read More »
Mon, Nov 01, 2021
October Sets Tornado Record Oklahomans are growing accustomed to Mother Nature’s October weather shenanigans following a snowstorm of up to 13 inches in… Read More »
Wed, Oct 05, 2016
As a transition period between summer and fall, Mother Nature often provides Oklahoma with a wildly varying tale to tell during September. This year was no exception. At first glance, a description of Oklahoma’s weather during September seems fairly straightforward –a toasty month with an abundance of moisture in the west and too little in the east. The state’s weather story is never quite that simple, of course. Far northwestern Oklahoma was actually the driest region of the state, and parts of eastern Oklahoma enjoyed a surplus. That disparate rainfall pattern put a halt to budding dry conditions across parts of western Oklahoma, but intensified drought across eastern sections of the state. According to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the statewide average rainfall total was 3.14 inches, 0.39 inches below normal. Regionally, the Panhandle suffered its 18th driest September at more than an inch below normal, west central Oklahoma saw bountiful moisture for their 16th wettest, and east central Oklahoma plunged more than 2 inches below normal to rank as their 35th driest. Walters led all Mesonet sites with 7.01 inches of rain for the month while Goodwell barely wet the gauge at 0.06 inches. The rainfall for the first nine months of the year was just as discordant as September with a surplus of more than 5 inches in the southwest and a deficit greater than 5 inches in both the northeast and east central sections. The statewide average for that January-September period was 26.97 inches, about 1.5 inches below normal. September ended as the 55th wettest on record statewide while January-September ranked as the 57th wettest. Those records date back to 1895.
Unlike rainfall, the temperature statistics were demonstratively more uniform. Despite a few glimpses of fall, September was unusually warm across the entire state. According to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the statewide average temperature was 74.7 degrees, 2.4 degrees above normal and the 34th warmest September on record. The Mesonet recorded triple-digit high temperatures seven times during September with Buffalo leading the way at 101 degrees on the 19th. Winter made a brief appearance at the end of the month with five readings in the 30s, bottoming out at 37 degrees at two Panhandle stations – Eva and Kenton – on the 26th. September’s heat added to what has become a decidedly warm year thus far with the January-September statewide average jumping 1.8 degrees above normal, the 14th warmest such period on record.
While the dry conditions across western Oklahoma were eliminated by month’s end, drought remained and even intensified across the eastern one-third of the state. Nearly 34 percent of the state was considered abnormally dry by the U.S. Drought Monitor at the beginning of September, and that category had been reduced to 23 percent on the month’s final map. Actual drought, from moderate to severe, had jumped from 14 percent to 19 percent. The worst hit area remained from Pontotoc County down through Atoka County in the southeast as well as from Wagoner County through Cherokee County in the northeast. Those areas were labeled “severe” by the Drought Monitor. Surrounding those two areas, moderate drought extended from the Red River to near the Kansas border. The Drought Monitor’s intensity scale slides from moderate-severe-extreme-exceptional, with exceptional being the worst classification.
The outlooks for October from the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) see increased odds for above normal temperatures across the entire state and below normal precipitation across the southeastern quarter. CPC’s U.S. Monthly Drought Outlook indicates the drought across eastern Oklahoma will either persist or intensify throughout October, although the seasonal outlook released earlier in September expected drought removed by the end of December.