News - Blogs - 60s this week in Tulsa Is that normal

60s this week in Tulsa? Is that normal?!
Published: 12/27/2011 2:28 PM
Last Modified: 12/27/2011 2:58 PM

I am not sure how to visually show what a 60-degree late December forecast looks like, so here is an NOAA satellite image of what the nationwide storm systems looked like at 11:45 a.m. today. AP PHOTO/WEATHER UNDERGROUND

Every so often, Oklahoma weather fulfills its stereotypes and this week's forecast shows that.

Being a southern state, we are supposed to have wonderful, sunny weather year round, except when tornado season descends on us.

The 60s might not seem warm to some of you, but it should: The normals for Tulsa's December are:

Low 50s: Dec. 1-Dec. 12.
Upper 40s: Dec. 13-31

For all of December, our normal daily high is 49.3 degrees (normal low is 29.6 degrees).

Perhaps 60s doesn't seem warm for December, because, well, it's what we had last year. In fact, on Dec. 30, 2010, we had a daily high of 71. We also had four other days in the 60s. This was also around the time when people started to notice that we might be headed for drought issues in the coming year, having only 0.55 of an inch of rain the entire month.

Usually when I bring up abnormal weather I am also asked about how many records we're breaking... and we're not. The warmest December ever had an average temperature of 47.3 degrees (1931) and right now, December 2011 is averaging 41.2 degrees. This tops December 2010's 38.7 degree average.

But hey, it's sometimes nice to be caught in the middle, not quite scorching hot, not quite bitter cold. If we look at the nationwide map off of Tulsa World's page D-6 today:

You would really count your blessings: We're not Alaska (below 10 degrees forecasted today)

--Althea Peterson

PS: You can check out daily temperatures and rainfall for this month (and every month since January) on the right side of the screen on our weather almanac!

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Almanac

Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec

	Temperature		Precipitation
Date	High Temp	Low Temp	Total	Month to date	Historical average
1	44°	16°	0	0.00	0.05
2	59°	24°	0	0.00	0.11
3	57°	33°	0	0.00	0.16
4	68°	37°	Trace	0.00	0.21
5	69°	29°	0	0.00	0.26
6	66°	33°	0	0.00	0.32
7	59°	38°	0.05	0.05	0.38
8	51°	34°	0	0.05	0.44
9	44°	36°	0.01	0.06	0.51
10	62°	37°	0.07	0.13	0.57
11	54°	28°	0	0.13	0.64
12	44°	30°	0.25	0.38	0.70
13	55°	40°	0.01	0.39	0.76
14	°	°			0.83
15	°	°			0.89
16	°	°			0.95
17	°	°			1.02
18	°	°			1.09
19	°	°			1.16
20	°	°			1.23
21	°	°			1.31
22	°	°			1.38
23	°	°			1.46
24	°	°			1.53
25	°	°			1.61
26	°	°			1.69
27	°	°			1.77
28	°	°			1.85

TEMPERATURE

RAINFALL

SNOWFALL

Weather World

Follow Jerry Wofford on Twitter for updates during severe weather conditions.

Tulsa weather milestones of 2013 (as of Feb. 12)

Highest temperature: 70 on Jan. 11 (Record: 115 on Aug. 15, 1936)
Lowest temperature: 15 on Jan. 16 (Record: Minus-16 on Jan. 22, 1930)
Hottest month (average): 40.5 degrees in January (Record: 91.7 degrees on July 1980)
Coldest month (average): 40. 5 degrees in January (Record: 21.7 in January 1918)
Most snowfall (day): 0.1 of an inch on Feb. 12(Record: 13.2 inches on Feb. 1, 2011)
Most snowfall (month): 0.1 of an inch in February(Record: 22.5 inches in February 2011)
Most rainfall (day): 0.91 of an inch on Jan. 29 (Record: 9.27 inches on May 26-27, 1984)
Most rainfall (month): 1.54 of an inch in January (Record: 18.18 inches on September 1971)
Highest wind speed: 30 mph on Jan. 30
Previous day with any rain: Feb. 12
Previous day with 1 inch or more of rain: Oct. 17, 2012
Previous day with any snow: Feb. 12
Previous day with freezing temperatures: Feb. 12
Read regular updates on Oklahoma's unpredictable weather and learn more about meteorology from the Tulsa office of the National Weather Service.

>> Visit the main weather page
>> Send us your weather photos
>> Meet the forecasters

Contributors
Staff Writer Althea Peterson started writing for the Tulsa World in March 2007 after previous stops at the Norman Transcript in 2006 and the Oklahoma Gazette in 2005. She followed her older brother from rural Wisconsin (with a public school that never seemed to call snow days) to the University of Oklahoma, but did not follow his pursuit to study meteorology. However, she tries to find as many opportunities to report on the weather as possible.

Staff Writer Jerry Wofford came to the Tulsa World in 2010 from The Manhattan Mercury in Manhattan, Kan. Originally from western Arkansas and a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Jerry has lived in Tornado Alley his entire life and is one of those people who goes outside when the sirens go off.

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Month to date:	(Example: '.01)
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