Drought conditions as of Jan. 8
The latest drought monitor released today looks an awful lot like last week’s map. We are just marking time now.
The good news is the latest report does not include the rain we received across the state yesterday and today. It hasn’t been the massive event that folks down in Texas saw, but nearly every Oklahoma Mesonet station received rain over the past two days.
But first, the drought. The percentages are exactly the same from last week.
Exactly the same. Last week, 37.06 percent of the state was in the most severe drought category, D4. Same today. Nearly all – 94.89 percent – of the state was in the next most severe, D3, last week. This week, the same.
The ongoing drought led federal officials to declare the entire state a
disaster area, which makes low-interest loans available to farmers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Do note that the drought update comes out on Thursdays, but the period for the current map is through 8 a.m. Tuesday. So, this map does not reflect the rain seen across the state. It’s been a great rain event for many, as you’ll see when we do the numbers.
The two day rain total winner from the
Oklahoma Mesonet was Broken Bow with 1.69 inches as of 10:30 a.m. Thursday. Second place was a tie: Durant and Madill had 1.52 inches. If your Oklahoma geography is a little rusty, both those spots are in south and east Oklahoma, right along the border with Texas.
Yesterday, both Freedom and Alva had gone 104 consecutive days without 0.25 inches of rain. Well, good news! In the last 12 hours, Freedom had 0.87 inches and Alva had 0.76. Soak it up, friends.
Our rain total in Tulsa is not nearly as impressive or exciting. In the last 24 hours, we’ve had 0.15 inches of rain. Our total this week that includes the rain we got Tuesday afternoon and evening is 0.24 inches.
My uninformed yet obvious prediction is that next week’s drought map will be different than the past few weeks in the direction toward improvement. At least I hope so.
--Jerry Wofford
