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Drought relief? Barely
Published: 8/18/2011 10:15 AM
Last Modified: 8/18/2011 10:15 AM

This map shows the drought levels in Oklahoma. The darkest color is the most extreme level of drought, with lighter colors less severe. However, the whole state is at least at the moderate drought level.

A buoy sits high and dry at Benbrook Lake in Benbrook, Texas, Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2011. As the summer months and heat wears on, extreme drought conditions continue throughout the state will little chance of rain in the coming days to offer relief for this reservoir south of Fort Worth and other lakes in the state. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

It was with cautious anticipation that I checked the weekly update of the U.S. Drought Monitor, which estimates the level of drought across the country. Well, it’s not all bad news…

With 5.68 inches in Tulsa so far this August—including a whopping 3.44 in one day—I was expecting to see at least a little change in the map. And the change was just about as small as it could be.

But! It was a change in the positive direction!

Last week, the entire state was in the D-2 “severe” category of drought, the third highest out of the five categories.

And the percentage of the state in D-2 this week? Drumroll, please…… 96.35 percent! Huzzah!

OK, that difference is too minimal to really matter. But, it’s still somewhat exciting to see any relief at all.

Now that the good news is out of the way, on with the bad.

The percentage of the state in the most severe category—D-4, or “exceptional”—actually rose last week by 2 percent to 66.84.

Most of the state has seen at least some rain this month, and some have definitely seen more that others. But, with a severe drought so widespread, the minimal amount of rain seen in some of the hardest hit places was not nearly enough to make a difference in breaking this cycle.

The rain was a drop in the very dry, very empty, very sad bucket.

For some perspective: At the start of the calendar year, no part of the state was D-3. A year ago, more than 86 percent of the state had no drought conditions at all. What a difference a year makes.

With this neat map, you can see how the drought has spread over the past 12 weeks. SPOILER ALERT: quickly.

The Drought Monitor's forecast isn't too positive, either. Patterns are shaping up to bring more rain to the east, while the west will be dry. For us in the middle, the best chance will be localized systems that being some rain, but "no drought-busters are in sight at this time."

And now, in an attempt to end on a cheery note, at least it’s not this yet.

--Jerry Wofford

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Tulsa World Staff Writer Kelly Bostian (last year)

Lovin' the weather blog, guys. Lovin' it!

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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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