News - Blogs - Isaac strenthens aims for New Orleans and could bring rain to Oklahoma

Isaac strenthens, aims for New Orleans and could bring rain to Oklahoma
Published: 8/27/2012 6:40 PM
Last Modified: 8/27/2012 6:40 PM

Tropical Storm Isaac strengthens Monday over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Image from the NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory.

I've said earlier that what would really make a big difference in the depressing rainfall totals for this year would be a nice soaking from the remnants of a tropical storm or hurricane that maintains some structure as it comes inland toward Oklahoma.

Well… Isaac may be our guy.

Extreme eastern Oklahoma is still in the forecast cone as the storm comes inland. All of Arkansas is in the cone, and parts of Oklahoma could very well see some of that.

But first, let's see where Tropical Storm Isaac is right now, or as of the 4 p.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center: 320 miles south-southeast of Mobile, Ala., with sustained winds of 70 mph, moving northwest at 12 mph with a central pressure of 981 mb.

Isaac is forecast now to make landfall as a Category 2 hurricane early Wednesday along the Louisiana coast.

What makes Isaac so surreal is that it is taking a path very near that of Hurricane Katrina and it's due to make landfall seven years to the day after that monster storm. But, Isaac is no Katrina. That storm was Category 5 by now. Isaac is still a tropical storm.

The track then takes Isaac though Arkansas Friday. That's when Oklahoma could see some of that rain. But a drought-stricken Arkansas will also greatly benefit from the rain, if it goes through the state.

And we'll take it! As we are all well aware, it's been a dreadful summer for rainfall, with nearly half the state in the most severe drought category. Tulsa is nearly 5 inches below normal for 2012.

But for August, Tulsa is actually above normal. Most of that came Saturday and Sunday, when about 2.5 inches fell. TIA has recorded 3.23 inches of rain this month.

So while Isaac could bring even more drought relief to Oklahoma and Arkansas, that shouldn't be the focus right now. While it's not as strong as Katrina and the levee system is far and away better than in 2005, it still has the potential to be a dangerous storm. In fact, it's already a deadly storm: Six people died because of it in Haiti.

For the very latest on Isaac and all Atlantic activity, follow the National Hurricane Center's Twitter feed for Atlantic storms here.

--Jerry Wofford

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Skeptiker (6 months ago)

Would definitely be nice to get some of that rain! My lawn and garden were a disaster this year.

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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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