News - Blogs - The State of the Climate Wacky

The State of the Climate: Wacky
Published: 11/15/2011 7:30 AM
Last Modified: 11/14/2011 10:09 PM

Weather-wise, October was a pretty average fall month here.

The average monthly temperature was pretty steady. The only record set was for low temperature when we hit 30 on Oct. 20, but really that isn't that craze compared to the absurd temperatures we had this summer.

Our rain total was below normal, which any more, below normal is the new normal.

But elsewhere, October was pretty nutty.

For example, more than half a million acres burned in wildfires across the United States, which is a monthly record. Drought conditions persisted here (raise your hand if you're tired of that phrase), but they did improve, ever so slightly. However, drought spread further north into Iowa and Minnesota. A monster Nor'easter blasted away October snow records in the northeast.

And that is just the continuous United States.

It would really be stating the incredibly painfully obvious to state that our planet is crazy, especially when it comes to weather and natural phenomena. The monthly State of the Climate report from NOAA's National Climatic Data Center does a very nice job of neatly summarizing just how nutty a planet we live on.

Let's revisit that Nor'easter. I talked about it here before, but it was so monumental, I'll mention it again.

The storm could not have hit at a worse time. The heavy, wet snow on the autumnal foliage led to more than 3 million people without power. In western Massachusetts and New Hampshire, more than 30 inches fell. The storm received a Category 1 rank on the Northeast Snowfall Impact Scale, the only ranking in October.

However, that snowfall is a good example of how weather is different than climate. The August to October temperature average in the U.S. was 66 degrees, making it the 10th warmest period on record.

Also, drought. Oh, drought. It did improve last month: On Oct. 1, about 12 percent of the country was in D4, the most extreme category. On Nov. 1, that had dropped to 9 percent. Before you start busting out the fire hoses and taking a celebratory 20-minute shower, consider this: the Southern Plains would need at least 18 inches of rain in a month to end the drought. Hahahahahahaha. When you can't cry, all you can do is laugh.

Again, check out that report. There is too much information in there to do adequate justice.

--Jerry Wofford

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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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