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The weather according to the gospel
Published: 7/24/2011 7:00 AM
Last Modified: 7/21/2011 2:02 PM

The University of Oklahoma's Seed Sower statue back in 2004 before the Orange Bowl on the OU-Tulsa campus... not to be confused with the bible's seed sower parable. Tulsa World File

In honor of Gov. Mary Fallin asking Oklahoma to pray for rain...

... wait, let me allow those of you who missed the story last week to catch up. More than half the state is now under a governor's burn ban. A lot of the rest of the state is under county burn bans.

To quote Louisiana State Football's media guide cover, "Chance of rain is... NEVER."

To quote Gov. Fallin:

“I encourage Oklahomans of all faiths to join me this Sunday in offering their prayers for rain,” Fallin said in a news release. “For the safety of our firefighters and our communities and the well-being of our crops and livestock, this state needs the current drought to come to an end. The power of prayer is a wonderful thing, and I would ask every Oklahoman to look to a greater power this weekend and ask for rain.”

You can read the entire press release here.

The release reminded me of the church service I attended, with a sermon on the seed sower, lamenting the fact that whether I plant my tomatoes in good soil, weedy soil or the paths my dogs run in constantly, the highs in the 100s and lack of precipitation is turning all my good soil bad.

It also made me wonder what else the Holy Bible says about the weather and if it could apply to what Oklahoma is currently experiencing.

Using bible.cc as the Holy Bible resource (New International Version), and the Tulsa National Weather Service as the weather resource online, let's see how the two relate:

Leviticus 26:4: "I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit."

NWS: "In its season" could be interpreted to the Spring, when we had above normal rainfalls in April (5.41 inches for the month). With the exception of February and April, Tulsa has had below-normal precipitation every month so far this year.

Deuteronomy 11:14: "Then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil."

NWS: "Both autumn and spring" couldn't be referring to Tulsa's 2010, when Tulsa has below-normal rainfall in March, April, May, September, October and November. However, we had a wetter summer than usual that year, and with above-normal precipitation already in April this year, perhaps our autumn will bring some relief this year?

Deuteronomy 11:17: "He will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce."

NWS: The last time Tulsa had a least 0.25 of an inch of rain record for a day was almost a month ago, June 20.

Job 37:6: "He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.'"

NWS: Once again, February set many Tulsa snowfall records, but at the same time, recorded some much-needed rainfall too. Tulsa had 2.57 inches of rain that month (0.62 of an inch above normal) in addition to the record breaking 22.5 inches of snow recorded.

Ecclesiastes 1:6: "The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course."

NWS: If the hot temperatures haven't felt hot some days, it's probably thanks to the wind. Tulsa recorded winds in the 30s six times in June (highest was 39 mph on June 20). Winds have been slightly calmer in July, but we did have one day in the 30s again (33 mph on July 3)

Job 28:25: "When he established the force of the wind and measured out the waters."

NWS: Do wind and rain sometimes go together? As you might have noticed, our last significant rainfall was also the day of the highest wind recorded recently, June 20. On other days with at least 0.25 of an inch of rain, we also had higher winds recorded for the day. Examples include June 12 (0.41 of an inch of rain, 30 mph winds), May 24 (0.83 of an inch of rain, 46 mph winds), May 11 (0.37 of an inch of rain, 36 mph winds) or April 14 (1.31 inches of rain, 35 mph winds). However, there are exceptions, such as July 3 (33 mph winds, no rain).

As always, you can check out your latest weather forecast information here.

--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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Temperature
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Low Temp:	(Example: 45)
Temperature Date:	(Example: 1/1/2011)

Precipitation
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Month to date:	(Example: '.01)
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