News - Blogs - Tulsas January weather records and normals

Tulsa's January weather records and normals
Published: 1/18/2012 5:33 PM
Last Modified: 1/18/2012 5:43 PM

This is what 0.5 of an inch of snow looks like. Snow covers a group of taxicabs near Sixth Street and Peoria Avenue in Tulsa on Jan. 12. MATT BARNARD/Tulsa World File

When considering precipitation for records, there is snow, and then there's precipitation.

As explained in this blog entry, precipitation is technically snow, but can also include rain, or hail or other things.

However, for record purposes, rainfall = precipitation, and snow = snow, separate from precipitation.

This is important when considering the rainfall/snowfall/precipitation for this month thus far, because you see, Tulsa has not recorded any rainfall so far this month... and yet they have record-wise, said Tulsa National Weather Service meteorologist Joe Sellers. On Jan. 11, Tulsa received 0.5 of an inch of snow... and that apparently melted down into 0.02 of an inch of precipitation.

Thus, when considering this month for future records, January, if nothing else falls from the sky for the next 13 days, will go down as:

Rainfall: 0.02 of an inch
Snowfall: 0.5 of an inch

But, if it ever comes up again, Tulsa has not gotten any rain! Only snow!

And now, a look at how neither of these low totals will set any January records for Tulsa, but also how they line up with January's normals:

Temperature:

Normal mean temperature: 37.7
Through Jan. 17: 43.8
Warmest January: 48.4 (2006)
Coldest January: 21.7 (1918)

Normal maximum temperature: 48
Hottest temperature through Jan. 17: 72 (Jan. 16)
Hottest ever: 82 (Jan. 28, 1909)

Normal minimum temperature: 27.5
Coldest temperature through Jan. 17: 20 (Jan. 13)
Coldest ever: Minus-16 (Jan. 22, 1930)

Rainfall:

Normal rainfall: 1.66 inches
Through Jan. 17: 0.02 of an inch
Most rainfall: 6.74 inches (1916)
Least rainfall: None (1986)

Snowfall:

Normal snowfall: 2.7 inches
Through Jan. 17: 0.5 of an inch
Most snowfall: 12.7 inches (1979)
Least snowfall: 0.0 inches (11 years, most recently in 1986)

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

Precipitation
Total:	(Example: '.01)
Month to date:	(Example: '.01)
Normal month to date:	(Example: '.01)

2/2013	1/2013	12/2012	11/2012	10/2012	9/2012
8/2012	7/2012	6/2012	5/2012	4/2012	3/2012
2/2012	1/2012	12/2011	11/2011	10/2011	9/2011
8/2011	7/2011	6/2011

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