News - Blogs - Challenge Spot the Oklahoma drought map differences

Challenge: Spot the Oklahoma drought map differences
Published: 12/22/2011 11:15 AM
Last Modified: 12/22/2011 11:15 AM

I promise that these two maps are not identical like last week. So does the U.S. Drought Monitor.

It's time for your favorite game of the week, and this one will be difficult.

But this time I promise it's not impossible.

The maps from Dec. 13 (which once again, was 100 percent identical to the one on Dec. 6) and Dec. 20 may appear to be the same upon initial glance, but thanks to continued lower temperatures and some precipitation, the statewide drought conditions are once again improving.

So without further ado ... your weekly challenge!

I bet you think I'm trying to fool you again, don't you? So, here are some hints:

D4/exceptional drought/dark red: Dec. 13 is about 2 percent, whereas Dec. 20 is about 3 percent. Yes, we actually had more D4 this week than last.

D3/extreme drought/bright red: Dec. 13 is about 32 percent, while Dec. 20 is about 27.5 percent.

D2/severe drought/orange: Dec. 13 and Dec. 20 are about identical percentage-wise, but you will still notice some changes.

D1/moderate drought/beige: Dec. 13 and Dec. 20 are about the same, but Dec. 20 has about 1 percent less... and once again, you will notice some changes in location.

D0/abnormally dry/yellow: Dec. 13 is about 87 percent, whereas Dec. 20 is about 85 percent.

Nothing/white: Dec. 13 is about 12.5 percent, while Dec. 20 is now about 15 percent.

Ready for your answers? This gif that I created (no, I am not a graphics designer) will help better than I could explain:

The biggest differences you will notice is that D4 was completely gone from southwest Oklahoma and was just confined to the Panhandle. Now, it's back in the southwest and slightly larger in the Panhandle. If you are a regular blog reader, you must be wondering why Panhandle blizzard Monday and Tuesday seemingly had no impact. Truth is, the reports are issued Tuesday, so the impact will show up more next week than this week.

The good news continues to the southeast, where they are now free on D2 in the very corner of the state, while the "nothing" status is expanding in the east to southeast region.

You will also notice a big difference in the north-central part of the state, as the D3 red region is turning orange for D2 instead. Insert your own Bedlam football joke here.

Alas, no difference for Tulsa County this week once again.

Stay tuned! We might escape this drought this year still!

--Althea Peterson

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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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