June

Mother Nature turned off the spigot and cranked up the heat during the first 10 days of June, allowing swollen streams, rivers and reservoirs to slowly recede after the record May rains. The respite was short-lived, however, thanks to a tropical invasion from both the Pacific and Atlantic. First up was the remnant of hurricane Blanco from the Pacific that interacted with a stalled front and dumped 2-4 inches of rain over a wide swath of the state, including more than 10 inches near Hollis in far southwestern Oklahoma.

Although the spring rainy season got a late start in 2014, not arriving in earnest until the third week of May, it continued with sustained vigor through the last day of June. According to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the month finished as the 23rd wettest June on record for the state with an average total of 5.82 inches, a surplus of 1.56 inches. Those records date back to 1895. North central Oklahoma, one of the areas hit hardest by drought since the beginning of the year, saw its fifth wettest June with an average of 8.18 inches, 4.24 inches above normal.

June followed its normal script almost to the letter with a rainy and stormy first half of the month that gave way to the beginnings of a long hot stretch of Oklahoma summer. Mother Nature did manage to throw in a nice improvisation at the end of the month with a cool front dropping temperatures into the 80s over much of the state. The previous heat was enough to end the state's streak of below normal months at four, however.

A blistering final week and a return to drought transformed June from a mildly hot month into a scorcher, rekindling memories of the brutal 2011 summer. Temperatures routinely reached triple-digits across Oklahoma during the month’s final week. According to data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the statewide average temperature finished at 79.2 degrees to rank as the 19th warmest June on record, 2.7 degrees above normal. Statewide average records date back to 1895. June’s warmth follows a pattern that began over two years ago with 22 out of the last 27 months being warmer than normal.

The meager amount of rain that managed to fall on Oklahoma during June was no match for the extreme heat and wind that was so prevalent for much of the month. The statewide average rainfall total for June was 1.17 inches, more than 3 inches below normal and the fourth driest June on record dating back to 1895. Southwestern Oklahoma suffered through its driest June on record with an average of 0.52 inches. Add heat to the equation and you have the ingredients for drought intensification. That is exactly what occurred during what became the second warmest June on record.