Station 20 Capt. Kofi Wallace and rookie firefighter Jared Crowder demonstrate June 26, 2012, an "on scene" rehab station used to monitor and cool off firemen at fires in hot weather. Firefighters come off the fire line after depleting one air bottle, strip off their bunker gear, drink at least 8 oz. of water while their vital signs are monitored and they submerge their arms into buckets of water to cool their body temperature. Surprisingly, the hot weather hasn't resulted in many new weather records yet for Tulsa. MICHAEL WYKE/Tulsa World
Last year, I wrote both
a blog entry and
a newspaper article (actually, I wrote many blogs and many articles) on the 2011 weather records.
So, how about it, 2012? Are you going to be an extreme year filled with milestones and records? Here's how Tulsa and Oklahoma are faring so far:
March:
Warmest on record statewide, 59.6 degreesGary McManus, Oklahoma Climatological Survey associate state climatologist, said that this state average was 10.5
degrees above normal, with records dating back to 1895.
In case you're wondering about Tulsa, we were third-warmest on record. I had an article on it
here.
April:
52 tornadoes statewide in AprilMcManus said this beat the record, set in 2011 (50 tornadoes). Records on this statistic date back to 1950.
Spring:
Warmest on record statewide, 65.2 degreesMcManus said that this average was 6.5 degrees above normal. Once again, meteorologically, here are your seasons:
Winter: December-February
Spring: March-MaySummer: June-August
Fall: September-November
First five months of the year, cumulative:
Warmest such period statewide, 56.24 degreesMcManus said this was 5.5 degrees above normal. In addition, he said that first 6 months will likely also be a record once June ends. It is apparently not even close. We are just having really, really hot temperatures for this time of the year.
June:
Tulsa's hottest June 25According to the National Weather Service, our 105-degree high tied an existing record set in 1933.
I will be back later this summer to update on these weather records!
--Althea Peterson
PS: What is more unpredicatable than Oklahoma's weather? Being a mom. Check out my first entry in Tulsa World's newest blog "Because I Said So: Perspectives in parenting"
here. Some other parents at the Tulsa World are also contributing. You can also follow the new blog on twitter
here.
