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Drought Returns During Arid August

A run of hot, dry weather finished off climatological summer in true Oklahoma fashion following a delightfully mild first two months of the season. There was very little in the way of severe weather during the month, just a smattering of hail and high wind reports scattered about the state. A hazard of another kind managed to flourish in the arid conditions, however, with drought once again gaining a toehold across parts of northwestern Oklahoma. The USDA indicated 43% of the state’s topsoil was considered short to very short of moisture by the end of the month.

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Summer Heat Scarce During July

Oklahoma’s July was mild for the most part, and a bit wet for much of the state. Extreme temperatures—at least as read on the thermometer—were in short supply, but the pressure cooker heat due to high humidity seemed to be well stocked. Severe weather did strike sporadically through the month, mostly in the form of severe winds as is common to summer months in the Southern Plains. One tornado touched down near Yale in Payne County on July 7, an EF-1 twister that damaged homes and outbuildings.

June Sees Summer Swoon

A slow start to summer gave way to sweltering heat through the middle of June before once again succumbing to mild, wet weather to end the month. There were occasional bouts with severe weather—mostly high winds and large hail—although flooding was a common concern as well. Winds of up to 75 mph hit Snyder overnight on June 7, producing widespread damage to the town. The Oklahoma Mesonet site at Boise City measured winds in excess of 65 mph for 25 consecutive minutes the evening of June 12. Several homes reported significant roof damage, and the high school gym’s roof was partially blown off.

Heat Hiatus Continues During May

May’s weather was rather tame by Oklahoma standards, with severe weather greatly diminished by an abundance of cool, cloudy weather. Plenty of moisture was to be had, with heavy rains falling right through May’s final day. That is not to say severe weather was completely absent, but at times flood warnings were seemingly more prevalent than severe thunderstorm warnings. Only a handful of tornadoes were reported in the state during May.

Fall 2021 Mesonet OK-First Classes

Fall 2021 OK-First classes for public safety officials are now open for enrollment! We will be offering a mix of in-person and online classes with the online classes being self-paced. Here are the classes we will be offering during August-September 2021:

 

  • 6 In-person Re-certification classes (1 day each)
  • 2 Online Re-certification classes (2 weeks in length)
  • 1 Online Certification class (6 weeks in length)

 

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Cold April Feels Severe Weather Impacts

Cool weather helped keep severe weather at bay in Oklahoma throughout much of April. A late spring freeze—damaging in its own right—punctuated the scarcity of severe weather during the month’s first three weeks. The cold eventually gave way to an emphatic exclamation point, however, when tornadoes, flooding, high winds, and a hail-borne catastrophe struck during April’s final week. At least four confirmed tornadoes touched on April 28, including an EF-1 twister that struck near Pauls Valley at the stroke of midnight.

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.

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Warm and Wet January Greets New Year

The winter storm that began the year captured January’s biggest weather headline. The event straddled the changeover from 2020 to 2021, with as much as 10 inches of snow falling in Vici on New Year’s Day. Reports of 4-8 inches were widespread across the northwestern half of the state. Seasonal totals through January climbed to nearly 3 feet across northwestern Oklahoma. The National Weather Service cooperative observer at Arnett reported 34.3 inches since late October, 24.1 inches more than their entire normal seasonal total of 10.2 inches.

Winter Flexes Muscles During December

A powerful winter storm pounded the state on 2020’s final day, a fitting epitaph to a tumultuous year—and a wintry December. The storm lasted into the first morning of 2021 and brought widespread totals of 2-6 inches of snow from southwestern into northeastern Oklahoma. Localized areas in central Oklahoma reported up to 10 inches of snow. The storm was the last in a series of four impactful winter systems that struck the state during December, and the fifth of the season. The month’s first storm dumped 10-15 inches of snow in far northwestern Oklahoma between Dec. 2-3.
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