It looks like you might have accessed this page from an outdated address. Please update bookmarks and links to:

drought

March Weather More Lamb Than Lion

The first month of spring greeted Oklahoma with warmer and more tranquil weather than the historic cold and snowy February that preceded it. While March offered up momentary glances of nearly every weather hazard in Oklahoma’s arsenal, the month was most often quiet. By coincidence—although state lore will say it’s the norm—the most active weather occurred during Oklahoma’s collectively shared spring break. On March 16-17, local National Weather Service offices issued a blizzard warning in the Panhandle, and severe thunderstorm and tornado watches in the main body of the state.

Historically Frigid February Punctuates Winter

Oklahoma experienced a historic cold air event during February, boosting the month into the company of other legendary frozen periods from calendar pages long torn away and discarded. February 1895, February 1899, and January 1930 all suffered through exceedingly long cold spells. More recently, December 1983 still lives in the minds of many Oklahomans as the bellwether of cold months, which followed those winters of the late 1970s when bone-chilling cold was simply a way of life; but those cold times were more than 37 years ago.

November Sees More Drought, Tornadoes

November’s weather struggled to live up to the level of excitement provided by October’s historic cold snap and ice storm, although it had its moments. Following that burst of moisture just before Halloween, some areas of the state went more than a month without seeing at least a quarter inch of rain in a single day. Other areas saw Oklahoma’s weather at its worst, however. Storms on the 24th brought severe weather back to the state with damaging winds and hail up to the size of golf balls. At least two tornadoes touched down that day in southeastern Oklahoma.

“Exceptional” Drought Continues to Expand in Western Oklahoma

Fresh off the heels of yet another dry month in western Oklahoma, the latest map from the U.S. Drought Monitor indicates an intensification of the ongoing drought in that part of the state. Exceptional drought, the Drought Monitor’s most severe classification, now covers the extreme southwestern corner of the state and the western Oklahoma Panhandle. The Drought Monitor’s intensity scale ranges from “abnormally dry” to “exceptional”. Most of the remainder of western Oklahoma is covered by extreme to severe drought.

Tags