News - Blogs - Ding dong winter is dead

Ding dong, winter is dead
Published: 3/14/2012 3:59 PM
Last Modified: 3/14/2012 4:06 PM

It was a heck of a day for Rossery Garcia(left) and Carla Gonzalez, both freshman, to release Rainbow Trout on the Lower Illinois River in Gore today. The trout were raised at the school as part of a program called Trout in the Classroom. MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World

I have hesitated to do this, but I think it’s time: Winter is dead and gone. It really is springtime now.

We’ve had more than an inch of snow as late as April in Tulsa, including a March 20 (the first day of spring…) in 1924 where 11 inches of snow fell. So, it is possible, especially with the difficulty long-track weather predictions.

However, at this point, I’m willing to be wrong about calling winter dead.

Yesterday, it was 84 degrees. That’s on the cusp of being hot. Like, I am a tad embarrassed to admit this, but I turned the air conditioner on for just a split second yesterday afternoon. But, that was mostly because my puppydog was panting after a short run around the block, I swear.

Althea pointed this out yesterday, but it was the warmest weather we’ve had since October. The averaged temperature this month is at 55.6 degrees, more than 7 degrees above normal.

Besides, the National Weather Service uses March 1 as the first day of spring season, for all intents and purposes.

So, while I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much about the possibility of springtime, only to be dashed by a foot of snow, it looks like spring has been here and we won’t have to worry about snow for many, many moons.

Another sign of spring? Look at this forecast! Yes, temperatures look phenomenal. But even more than that, the precipitation chances each day is quite spring-like.

The NWS’s seven-day has a chance of rain every day except today and tomorrow night. Friday is the best chance, but the other days are just little chances, small disturbances that could cause a few isolated showers or storms to pop up.

Now that is spring.

Even further out, even past the actual first day of spring on the equinox, temperatures will be above normal.

Here is the NOAA Climate Prediction Center’s two-week outlook for temperatures.

As far as precipitation goes, the next 10 days or so are forecast to be above normal and looking out two weeks, there are equal chances of normal levels. It’s been a while since we’ve had that, much less an area of above-normal precipitation.

With all the rain we've had over the past week, it will be interesting to see how the drought situation in the state has changed in tomorrow's U.S. Drought Monitor update.

So, plant those gardens, folks. And don’t blame me if I’m wrong.

--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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