Weekend Rain OK
By Mark Shafer
Director of Climate Information
The Oklahoma Climatological Survey
6/19/2006

Despite some very welcomed rainfall across parts of Oklahoma over the weekend, the year-long drought continues in most of the state. Places that received more than an inch or two of rain may go a couple of extra weeks before onset of the summer fire season. Pastures and lawns may grow better for a while and farm ponds may have a bit more water in them. But unless widespread heavy rains continue week after week, drought will inevitably rear its ugly head again. With summer only just now officially beginning, the prospects of such organized, widespread rains become even more remote.

Most areas across central Oklahoma from the Texas to the Arkansas state borders picked up more than an inch of rain over the weekend. Wilburton recorded 3.53 inches and neighboring Talihina picked up 3.21 inches. In the west, Weatherford recorded 2.95 inches and Kingfisher added 2.74 inches. Heaviest rains fell from around Elk City toward Stillwater with another batch of heavy storms in Latimer and Leflore counties. In most of these places, folks hadn't seen an inch of rain since early May, if not longer. In places where the rains fell quickly, runoff helped to fill stock ponds, although the larger lakes in the area are still well below seasonal levels.

Yet even as many Oklahomans rejoice for the welcome rain, folks in northwest and southwest Oklahoma still wonder when it will rain again. Most places in counties bordering the Red River saw well under an inch of rain, and in most cases closer to zero than the inch. Most of the Panhandle and far northwest counties had a half-inch at most. Both of these areas remain mired in what the Drought Monitor classifies as Extreme Drought. The rains may help ease conditions in west-central Oklahoma back from Extreme to "only" Severe Drought.

Normally, a rainfall event like this past weekend would put us in good shape going into summer. However, these rains were for many the first heavy rains in more than a month - a time which is normally the wettest of the year. If the rains can help fill ponds and temporarily recharge some soils and wells, it will at least delay the onset of more severe drought conditions, giving us time to hope for some more summer rains.