News - Blogs - The drought of Oklahoma tornadoes 105 days and counting

The drought of Oklahoma tornadoes: 105 days and counting
Published: 9/11/2012 9:42 AM
Last Modified: 9/11/2012 9:45 AM

David Vanderhoofven and his wife Linda Vanderhoofven at the site where David's wife Darian and son Joshua died in the tornado that hit Joplin a year ago May 15. At left is a tree that David planted and a rose that he place there on Mothers Day. MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World

Oklahoma had 52 tornadoes in April, breaking our 2011 record of 50.

In May, Oklahoma had four tornadoes.

And since? None.

Today, Sept. 11, 2012, marks the 105th consecutive day without a tornado in Oklahoma.

The zero tornadoes from June through August is a record, said Gary McManus, associate state climatologist for the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. However, back in 2003, we also had an entire summer (June-August) without tornadoes.

2003 and 2012 are the only times, since accurate statistics began in 1950, that Oklahoma has not had a summer tornado reported. Here's the low tornado totals during that time period, according to McManus:

1950: 1 (June)
1978: 1 (June)
1987: 1 (July)
2001: 1 (June)
2002: 2 (both June)
1980: 3 (one in June, two in August)
1984: 3 (all in June)
1986: 3 (one in June, two in August)
1988: 3 (all in June)
2000: 3 (all in June)

If 2012 is like 2003, we will not have any more tornadoes the rest of the year. 2003's final tornado of the year was May 16.

Our tornado drought this year started May 30.

105 days and counting. After our wild fires recently, Oklahoma probably doesn't need any more natural disasters to worry about.

--Althea Peterson

PS: The longest tornado drought in state recorded history was 291 days, May 16, 2003 through March 4, 2004.

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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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