News - Blogs - Tis the season for Oklahoma fire weather danger

'Tis the season for Oklahoma fire weather danger
Published: 2/24/2012 4:06 PM
Last Modified: 2/24/2012 4:06 PM

This map by the U.S. Drought Monitor shows areas under drought classification. Dark red is exceptional drought, bright red is extreme drought, bright orange is severe drought, beige is moderate drought and yellow is abnormally dry. Courtesy

I really don't like to be Debbie Downer about our recent sunny days in the 70s.

As Jerry noted yesterday (read it here), sunlight can actually be healthy (even if my red-blonde hair and light skin say differently).

But, sunny skies, combined with high winds, combined with a relatively dry month that is typical February in Oklahoma means that we are going to see more days of red flag warnings and high fire danger should this weather continue.

Normally, this is about the time of week that I give the weekly drought update. It is less than 1 percent changed from last week, so here's the important thing to know: More than 75 percent of the state is under some form of drought classification right now. So, things are relatively dry in the vast majority of the state.

Now, this isn't middle-of-the-summer low-rain high-heat temperatures that would make the drought situation worse. Rather, it poses a different type of problem involving hotness and dryness related to weather: fire weather danger.

Gary McManus, Oklahoma Climatological Survey associate state climatologist, explains:

"That period in February and March before the vegetation comes alive and starts to green up again is Oklahoma's most important fire danger alert time.

"Climatologically speaking, it's the time of the year when the temperatures are starting to head into the 60s and 70s a bit more
often, the air is still relatively dry quite often with relative humidity at
times less than 20 percent and the wind speeds are on the up-tick."

To check out fire danger via the Oklahoma Mesonet, click here.

Be safe!

--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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