monthly climate summary

Oklahoma seemingly took a detour from February straight into July during what became the warmest March on record for the state. The unusual heat arrived on the heels of both the warmest winter and February on record. The records didn’t stop there, as the state also experienced its highest March temperature on record and a record number of tornadoes. The heat combined with dry and windy conditions to intensify the state’s ongoing drought and elevate wildfire danger. 

February ended as the warmest on record across Oklahoma, a distinction that also pushed the climatological winter of 2025–26 to its warmest on record. The unusual warmth combined with expanding and intensifying drought to create critical fire weather conditions across much of the state. Those ingredients culminated in a mid-February wildfire outbreak that burned more than 300 square miles and forced evacuations across multiple counties. It was a month defined by record heat, deepening drought and wind-driven flames.

January 2026 delivered a little bit of everything Oklahoma weather is known for — a rare January tornado outbreak, a major winter storm accompanied by arctic cold, and continued drought across much of the state. The month featured both destructive severe weather and prolonged freezing conditions, including one of the most impactful snow and ice events in recent memory. By month’s end, more than two-thirds of Oklahoma was in drought, even as snow cover lingered across the northern half of the state. It was a month defined by sharp contrasts and high-impact weather from start to finish.

If moisture and cold weather topped your December weather Christmas list, you likely didn’t enjoy the lump of coal Mother Nature delivered instead. December 2025 finished as Oklahoma’s second-driest and fifth-warmest on record, dating back to 1895, allowing drought to flourish once again across much of the state. The unusual warmth was especially pronounced during the week surrounding Christmas, highlighted by the warmest Christmas Day in Oklahoma history.

November 2025 was a warm and mostly dry month across Oklahoma, much like the climatological fall season as a whole (September 1–November 30). Those conditions allowed drought to flourish across the southern half of the state, only a few months after Oklahoma had enjoyed a mostly drought-free summer. The dryness is expected to persist through the end of the year and may even expand. Some rain and bouts of severe weather did occur, including a weak tornado near Broken Arrow on November 20.

The summer warmth that lingered through much of September carried into the first three weeks of October before Mother Nature finally switched the channel to a more autumnal pattern during the month’s final 10 days. Highs that had routinely climbed into the 80s and 90s during those first three weeks fell into the 60s and 70s — with 50s appearing by month’s end. The season’s first freeze occurred on Oct. 19 in the Panhandle, followed by a more widespread freeze during the final four days of the month.

The early taste of fall that delighted many Oklahomans at the end of August lingered through the first week of September before summer grabbed the remote control again. Gone were the autumn-like highs in the 60s and 70s, replaced by the more customary 80s and 90s. Despite that return to normalcy, Mother Nature couldn’t resist one more twist: for the first time since 2008, the Oklahoma Mesonet failed to record a single 100-degree temperature during September. The last triple-digit highs—likely the year’s final—came back on Aug. 28 at several sites in southwest Oklahoma.

August 2025 pulled a fast one on Oklahoma. Instead of the typical late-summer swelter, the month ended with a taste of fall as two powerful cold fronts shoved aside the heat. The final week brought gray skies, steady rain and highs stuck in the 60s and 70s — more like October than August. The chill was strong enough to break multiple records, including several record-low maximums and even a few outright record lows.

After months dominated by rain and severe weather, summer finally reclaimed the spotlight in Oklahoma during July. The state’s wet streak ended, replaced by rising heat and drying conditions. A lone tornado touchdown near Vance AFB extended the tornado streak to five consecutive months, bringing the 2025 total through July to 88. Sweltering July heat held off for much of the month but surged during the final two weeks—only to be abruptly cut short by an unusually strong cold front on July 31.

Oklahoma’s big weather stories this spring overwhelmingly involved tornadoes and heavy rains — and June was no exception. The month finished as the sixth-wettest June on record, at 7.22 inches, nearly 3 inches above normal. The preliminary tornado count swelled to 25, the second-highest for the month on record. But there was at least one silver lining to all that active weather: June saw drought completely eliminated from Oklahoma for the first time in nearly six years.