This is how I felt when writing this blog earlier today. Then the air conditioner kicked on. This July 11, 2011 photo shows 16-year-old Breanna Stevens of Harper, Kan. trying to relax and stay cool between events at the Tulsa Fairgrounds. Tulsa's high that day was 104 degrees! MICHAEL WYKE/Tulsa World File
I wish I could forecast the weather like the meteorologists that I interview frequently.
My heavy winter jacket is off and it's January.
It's edging closer to 70 degrees every hour and it's January.
We are nearing our daily record highs for this time of the month, yes, this month of January.
Last I checked, Tulsa's official temperature was 68 degrees today (as of 3 p.m.). Our record-high, according to the National Weather Service, for Jan. 6 is 74 degrees, set back in 1956. This is comparable to other daily highs for this month, which range from the 70 (Jan. 4, 1956) to 82 (Jan. 28, 1909).
According to AccuWeather.com, the highest temperature in the United States today is 78 degrees in Alice, Texas, while the lowest is minus-14 in Clayton Lake, Maine. AccuWeather also reports that this first week of January had more than 1,000 record high temperatures set nationwide. You can read more
here.
But getting back to Tulsa ... how odd is it for us to be in the upper 60s this time of year?
Normal high for January: 48 degrees
Normal low for January: 27.5 degrees
And... here are the hottest and coldest days from recent Januarys for Tulsa:
2012: 68 (yesterday) and 21 (Tuesday)
2011: 76 (Jan. 29) and 7 (Jan. 12)
2010: 64 (Jan. 19) and 3 (Jan. 10)
2009: 78 (Jan. 3) and 9 (Jan. 28)
2008: 75 (Jan. 7) and 11 (Jan. 24)
2007: 67 (Jan. 11) and 14 (Jan. 16)
If recent history dictates anything, it dictates this: We have already experienced the highs of the month and in the near future, we will hit the teens and single digits for lows.
But, if you take more stock in forecast than trends, here's what the weather service forecasts: Highs in the 40s to 50s for the next week, with overnight lows in the low 20s to mid 30s.
And a 20 percent chance of rain Sunday.
Welcome to January in Tulsa.
--Althea Peterson
