News - Blogs - First day meteorologically of spring and drought fire storms update

First day, meteorologically, of spring (and drought/fire/storms update)
Published: 3/1/2012 3:21 PM
Last Modified: 3/1/2012 3:23 PM

After the deadly tornadoes that hit the Midwest this week, it is clear that tornado season has started and warnings should not be taken lightly. Map courtesy of AccuWeather

This map provided by the U.S. Drought Monitor shows no changes from last week to this week. More than 75 percent of Oklahoma remains under some type of drought classification. Courtesy

If everything could be this simple and structured, we'd be measuring road distance in kilometers instead of miles.

Now, I know that Jerry said a few days ago that spring was still a few weeks away (read it here). However, climatological records use a simpler method: Every three months, a new season!

Gary McManus, Oklahoma Climatological Survery associate state climatologist, said that as such, today, March 1, is the first day of spring.

"It's easier to keep the records within that time frame instead of needing to discern the beginning and end of all the seasons since those dates vary by a few days," McManus said.

"Also, for clarity, it would be difficult to convince most folks that
November is a true winter month, since December, January and February are the coldest months of the year in most places.

"Nor would March make a good winter month. It's pretty clearly a spring month due to its weather. And so on and so forth as you go throughout the year."

So, for future reference, climatologically speaking, these are the seasons:

Spring: March, April, May
Summer: June, July, August
Fall: September, October, November
Winter: December, January, February

Isn't that easier to remember than... um... March 20? Or is it March 21? It varies from year to year. This year, it's March 20.

Drought update:

Let's get this over with: There is absolutely no change between last week's map and this week's map. Just over 75 percent of the state is still under some drought classification. Tulsa County is mostly classified as D1 for moderate drought, but the southeastern side is D0 for abnormally dry. Here is the statewide map:

Dark red: D4 for exceptional drought
Bright red: D3 for extreme drought
Bright orange: D2 for severe drought
Beige: D1 for moderate drought
Yellow: D0 for abnormally dry
White: Nothing

Fire danger:

I didn't think I would be looking up the burn bans this early in the year and in fact was hoping to put it off at least a few months. However, the National Weather Service forecasted (read it here) the red flag warning for the area since we have sunny skies, high winds and didn't have a lot of rain recently.

As noted, there are only two counties statewide that are under burn bans (yes, I am also surprised that there are any) and they are both in the Panhandle. You can check out the Oklahoma Forestry Services report on county and state burn bans at any time here: tulsaworld.com/burnban.

Severe storms:

I don't think the potential for deadly storms is ever anything to take lightly and this map from AccuWeather certainly doesn't:

I guess this explains why a once rain-free forecast for Tulsa suddenly was bumped up to having chances of showers and thunderstorms tonight. More severe weather is possible tonight into Friday. Fortunately looks like the most severe stuff is east of us.

According to AccuWeather:

"Tornadoes are forecast to swarm Friday through a very large and populated area of the nation, stretching from Illinois, Indiana and Ohio to Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and other states.

“After a brief reprieve from severe weather today, a storm system emerging from the Rockies late this afternoon will act as the trigger for another round of dangerous storms in portions of recently hard-hit states and others late tonight through Friday.

“Although residents in the Ohio and Tennessee valleys will have dry but breezy weather for cleanup efforts today, the tranquil weather will not last long.

“Late tonight, storms are expected to erupt across eastern Arkansas, western Tennessee and northern Mississippi. Hail will be the greatest threat from this initial round of thunderstorms."
You can read the entire forecast report here.

Be safe this spring (or winter, depending on your calendar preference).

--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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