News - Blogs - A warm and wet March like the warmest and wettest

A warm and wet March (like, the warmest and wettest)
Published: 4/2/2012 7:45 AM
Last Modified: 4/2/2012 7:45 AM

This is no April Fools. It's actually a child playing in a fountain yesterday. It was 90, after all. Ethan Morris, 3, plays in the Genave King Rogers fountain on the campus of The University of Tulsa Sunday. MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World

Drought levels area still at the lowest points for more than a year and a half. Awesome.

I always try to keep the air conditioner in the off position until the absolute last possible moment, when it’s hotter inside my apartment than it is outside.

That moment occurred far too early this year. Like, several weeks ago. When it was still March.

Now, I’m all about warm weather, but I’m also all about seasons. Remember those? Winter? Spring? Fall? Not just summer and the momentary break from summer? Yeah, me either.

The average temperature of 61.5 last month broke a more than 100-year-old record to claim the title of warmest March ever (in recorded history). The warmest day was Saturday, at 85 degrees.

There were three temperature records broken in Tulsa last month. All were for record high minimum temperatures, meaning warmest nights we've ever had on those days.

March 14: 63 degrees, breaking 1944 record of 58

March 17: 68 degrees, breaking 2011 record (that didn't last long...) of 65

March 18: 67 degrees, breaking 1933 record of 63

But, it did get below freezing last month. Twice!

What was probably more beneficial than the heat though was the rainfall we had last month. It was the 9th wettest March in Tulsa with 6.24 inches of rain, nearly 3 inches higher than normal. The fourth record broken in March was for daily rainfall on March 19, when 2.81 inches fell in a day.

All that rain did wonders to alleviate our drought conditions further. Across the state, more than 66 percent is not in any kind of drought. The Panhandle even saw improvement, with just over 1 percent of the state in the most severe category, down from 3 percent last week.

But the drought all but eliminated in the eastern and central part of the state, save a stretch across Osage and Pawnee counties.

The folks out west could see even more improvement today. There is a slight risk of severe storms for western and central Oklahoma today and a slight risk for central Oklahoma tomorrow.

Both days, the area in the slight risk category bumps right up against the Tulsa area. The Storm Prediction Center is also predicting a tornado threat, but that should stay well to our west tonight.

So, tonight there is a 40 percent chance of storms. Tomorrow that jumps to 50 percent then 60 percent Tuesday night.

The good news, besides the rain out in western Oklahoma and here, is that the temperatures should drop back to near normal levels in the lower 70s, and should stay in the 70s for most of the foreseeable future.

So yeah, about that spring. Maybe it will stick around for a little while this time?

--Jerry Wofford

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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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