News - Blogs - Drought improvement last week and lots more to come

Drought improvement last week, and lots more to come
Published: 3/16/2012 5:54 PM
Last Modified: 3/16/2012 5:54 PM

Matthew Chapman (right) and his brother-in-law Ryan Loken carry a mattress through flood waters as they clear out Champman's home in the 800 block of Scraper street in Vinita, OK May 25, 2011, the day after flooding heavy rain filled up the neighborhood around 10pm the previous night. MICHAEL WYKE/Tulsa World

It’s difficult to see drastic differences in our current drought from week to week; not a lot happens. But after the gully washer we had this week, the drought received a significant chip in our drought condition.

Right now, we’re about 0.11 inches below normal for March, the beginning of our damp months. All things considered, only being down by 0.11 inches isn’t bad at all!

Nearly every part of the state saw at least some precipitation in the last week. Even the panhandle saw some rain. But it wasn’t enough to bring them out of the most severe drought category.

For the rest of the state, it’s the lowest level of drought in almost a year.

More than half of Tulsa County is now in the least severe drought category, besides no drought. A vast majority of the state is still in that category, but it’s less severe in general.

All that progress came on one day here. Just over 1 inch fell Mar. 11, bringing the total for the month in Tulsa to 1.41 inches.

And if you are hoping for more drought reduction, you’re in luck. It will more than likely rain early next week. And if it does, it will rain a lot. Like, 3 to 4 inches a lot. Like, enough that the National Weather Service has already started warning people to head for the hills. Some isolated areas could even see 10 inches of rain, the NWS boldly stated today.

So, with that much rain a possibility, flooding is a real threat. You have to be aware of what is happening out there with the streams, because those flash floods can wipe out a wide swath area in a short time, hence the flash part of that.

Remember, it only takes about 12-18 inches of rushing water to wash your vehicle away, even SUVs.

We talked a lot recently about drought, because it has been intense and extreme in the past 12 months. But, the Illinois River hit levels that have not been seen, well…ever on record. And that was also in the last 12 months.

The NWS has the cross hairs for next week’s storm system along the Arkansas/Oklahoma state line, in the Illinois River watershed. So, be prepared everybody and just think: At least it’s not snow?

A little side note for you faithful weather blog readers: Althea Peterson will be absent from the blog for a few weeks while she welcomes in the newest member of her family. Charlotte Norman Peterson was born Wednesday morning at 5 pounds, 13 ounces. Congratulations to Althea and her family!

--Jerry Wofford

Also, you should totally follow me on Twitter here and on Facebook here. You ~~might be~~ won’t be disappointed.

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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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