It has been awhile since our 10-day rainfall map (shown above) has been that blank statewide.
How long? Here's the 30-day rainfall map:
Ah, August. You decided to turn up this summer after all, and now, we might be heading for the 100s here in the Tulsa area... you can check the local forecast from the National Weather Service at
tulsaworld.com/weather.
Without further lamenting the lack of rainfall, here's this week's drought GIF (and side-by-side, for computers who do not like GIF images):
In the side-by-side, last week (Aug. 20) is on the left, and this week (Aug. 27) is on the right:
The entire southern region of the state was not spared this week, moving from mostly nothing (white) to D0 for abnormally dry (yellow). Parts of northwest Oklahoma east of the Panhandle also moved into D0.
Parts of southern Oklahoma already under some classification all moved down a category, some from D0 to D1 for moderate drought (beige), some from D1 to D2 for severe drought (bright orange)
Ellis County in western Oklahoma just outside the Panhandle, as well as parts of surrounding counties including Woodward, also got hit this week, moving from D1 to D2.
The sad southwest and Panhandle areas of the state under D3 for extreme drought (bright red) and D4 for exceptional drought (dark red) remained the same this week.
Tulsa, with a bit of a surprise rainfall on Friday afternoon (so surprising that while the Oklahoma Mesonet recorded 0.24 of an inch, the National Weather Service recorded nothing), stays at nothing. For now.
I will be back tomorrow with our weekly milestone update with more details on Tulsa's higher temperatures and lesser rainfall.
--Althea Peterson
Follow Althea Peterson and Jerry Wofford on Twitter.
YOUR IN-DEPTH LOCAL NEWS SOURCE: Visit tulsaworld.com throughout the day for local breaking news and investigative reports about Tulsa and northeastern Oklahoma.
