News - Blogs - Isnt it too early to have freezing temperatures and frost

Isn't it too early to have freezing temperatures and frost?
Published: 10/19/2011 7:00 AM
Last Modified: 10/18/2011 3:33 PM

In this December 2009 file photo, frost-covered goldenrod glows at sunrise in a field south of Tulsa. KELLY BOSTIAN/ Tulsa World File

It seems like just yesterday that I was broken record, reminding you all how many weeks it had been since it last rained, since the temperatures were last in double digits and not triple.

And now, the National Weather Service is forecasting lows in the 30s and potential frost today and Thursday in the Tulsa area.

As of Tuesday afternoon, there were already freeze watches just north of Oklahoma-Kansas border.

The U.S. Drought Monitor continues to show fewer areas statewide in "exceptional" drought thanks to the lower temperatures.

It's the changing season, folks.

Need some music to set the tone? Here's Fantasia's "Waltz of the Flowers," circa 1940:

While you let Tchaikovsky's masterpiece play in the background, here is some info from Tulsa National Weather Service meteorologist Karen Hatfield:

"The middle part of this week will likely feature the first widespread frost and/or freeze for parts of the state, and while we don't have any frost or freeze watches/warnings up yet, it is possible that something like that will be posted -- most likely for Wednesday morning," Hatfield said.

We are actually not too far away from the average first freeze for Tulsa, Nov. 3. However, Hatfield said the earliest freeze for Tulsa occurred on Oct. 8 in 1952 and in 2000.

The latest first freeze? Hatfield said that only two years ago, Tulsa's first freeze Nov. 26 was only two days shy of tying the record latest freeze, Nov. 28, set in 1990.

Alas, this is not another weather record to add to the big list for 2011. Speaking of, would our insanely high temperatures and crazy low precipitation have any impact on a freeze/frost?

"There really isn't any correlation between the temperatures in the summer and what occurs in the winter," Hatfield said. "In theory, a persistent dry spell could hinder the production of frost because there would be less ground moisture."

--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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