A tree lays across the roof of Tulsa World Photo Editor Christopher Smith's home on Detroit in Tulsa. The tree fell when a storm hit the area. CHRISTOPHER SMITH/ Tulsa World
Storm clouds over hover the Brady district in downtown Tulsa on July 22, 2013. TOM GILBERT/Tulsa World
The calendar said July, but I’m still not sure.
I watched fireworks on the fourth day of the month like most Julys, but I wasn’t sweating like a hog the whole time. I had a birthday like usual, but it rained that day. There were flip flips and tank tops, popsicles and summer beer, but also power outages and tree debris.
Here’s how not like July it was this July.
It
rained several times this month in Tulsa. More rain fell in July than in any month so far this year or in any month going back to March 2012. The 4.93 inches of rain recorded at Tulsa International Airport is 1.67 inches above normal, the 26th wettest July since 1888.
And there was much less sweating this July. Not recently (thanks to the downside of the rain and heat: humidity), but it’s generally been nice. We got all the way down to 57 on July 3. Only four days at 100 or above, but more days were in the lower 90s or 80s.
July 2013 had both below normal temperatures and above normal rain. That combo hasn’t happened in July since 2007. I know; I looked it up.
July 2013: 1.9 degrees below normal, 1.67in above
July 2012: 6 above, 1.98in below
July 2011: 7.4 above, 2.6in below
July 2010: 0.9 above, 1.71in above
July 2009: 2.6 below, 0.12in below
July 2008: 0.2 above, 1.68in above
July 2007: 1.3 below, 2.74 above
(normal: 3.36in, 82.9 degrees)
So there was a lot to enjoy this month, especially compared to previous Julys. There was also a really big pain: July 23 derecho. Yes, a derecho is a thing. Click
here for a refresher.
Folks were without power for days. Photo Editor Christopher Smith even had a tree commit a very unwanted
home invasion.
Derechos aren’t “uncommon” in Oklahoma. They happen once every other year or so on average. The last major derecho event in our area was in 2009, when a storm blew across 1,000 miles in 24 hours, from near the Rockies to the Appalachia.
This derecho brought more rain to other locations than Tulsa, but other rain events through the month were what drove up our totals.
So, does this season of abnormal abnormality continue? July has the weird weather torch, but will August pick it up?
LOL doubt it. But I’m a pessimistic person. The most recent outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center are a little
more optimistic than I am. And I’d trust them over me.
Both the 6-10 and 8-14 day outlooks have at least parts of eastern Oklahoma with the probability of lower than normal temperatures and above normal rain.
The NWS Tulsa has some of that in the forecast, with a frontal boundary forecast to come through early next week, with rain chances and cooler temps. Between now and then, however, hot and dry. Heat indices could get past 100 Friday.
Before you know it, friends, we'll be writing about how cold it is. "Can you believe I already had to turn my heater on?!" "I know, that never happens this early!"
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