Summer May Be Just Getting Started
By Gary McManus
Climatologist
The Oklahoma Climatological Survey
and
Howard Johnson
Assistant State Climatologist, Retired
7/25/2006

Oklahomans are undoubtedly convinced, global warming news reports in tow, that the recently completed July was one of the hottest the state has ever seen. "Close, but no cigar" might be an apt reply, but in all actuality, it really wasn't even close. The average temperature statewide, according to the Oklahoma Mesonet, did manage to tie 1914 and 1956 for the 14th warmest July on record at 83.9 degrees, but that pales in comparison to the drought-induced heat of previous years. Not even July 1980, the summer Oklahoma spent in an Easy Bake Oven, can top the July of 1954, when the statewide average temperature soared to 88.1 degrees. In fact, the top-10 warmest Julys are dominated by extreme drought years, including the Dust Bowl years of 1934 and 1936, in addition to the more recent drought episodes of 1998 and 2001, and the aforementioned 1980.

Oklahoma City's average temperature was 86.2 degrees, its 8th hottest July since 1891. Tulsa's 84.7 degrees would rank as the 26th warmest July since 1905 for that city.

Six different Julys have severely tested the upper limit of Oklahomans' endurance of the heat. During the July of 1901, temperatures exceeded 100 degrees somewhere in the state every day, reaching 110 degrees on 10 of those days. In 1934, the Weather Bureau office in Oklahoma City calculated a statewide average daily maximum temperature of 102.8 degrees. All summer crops failed during the brutal July of 1936. Every reporting station in the state recorded triple digit temperatures at some time during July 1954 with 99 of the 129 stations reporting temperatures of 110 degrees or higher. Thirty-seven heat-related fatalities were reported during July 1980 as temperatures reached 100 degrees or higher somewhere in the state every day. Seventy-nine of 174 reporting stations recorded no measurable precipitation during that month. In July 1998, a heat wave and developing drought led to 20 fatalities during the month. The economic loss to agriculture and related enterprises, as estimated by the state Department of Agriculture, exceeded 2 billion dollars.

The state's record high temperature (120 degrees) has been attained six times, three of those coming during July. The thermometer indicated 120 degrees at Altus on July 19, 1936, at Alva on July 18, 1936, and at Tishomingo on July 26, 1943.

The current year is still on track to finish as the state's warmest on record, with a January-July statewide average temperature of 62.8 degrees, 3.6 degrees above normal. July 2006 was also the state's 30th driest on record with a statewide average precipitation total of 1.76 inches, about an inch below normal.