Why is it always the Midwest: NOAA predicts below-normal rainfall for Oklahoma and surrounding states through Sept. 5. Tulsa should expect more 90s and continued lack of rainfall. Map courtesy of the Oklahoma Mesonet
Welcome back to August, but fortunately, not the 2011 or 2012 varieties.
I have updated the Tulsa weather milestone list, which can be viewed along the right rail at
tulsaworld.com/weatherworld.
I have also updated our weather almanac, which includes daily temperature and rainfall compared with monthly normals. It can be viewed along the right rail at
tulsaworld.com/weather.
Without further site promotion, here's your weekly weather milestones of note:
Tulsa returns to the 90s for the first time since Aug. 11.
Needless to say, our non-100s streak continues getting longer (July 23 was the last time Tulsa was in the 100s).
Our unseasonably 80s high temperature streak lasted from Aug. 12-Aug. 19.
Friday will likely be Tulsa's fourth 90s-high day in a row.
No Tulsa rain since Aug. 16
Fortunately, Tulsa remains ahead of rainfall schedule for August (2.88 inches so far this month, compared to the total month's normal of 2.9 inches).
Still, more than a week with no rainfall recorded? No wonder our temperatures are starting to get higher.
Tulsa area's third Ozone Alert for 2013
We didn't exceed the EPA standard, so I suspect that this alert was in anticipation of our return to seasonal highs mid-week.
Both 2011 and 2012 had more than 20 ozone alert days each for the Tulsa area, so the fact that this was only our third is significant.
You can read more about INCOG's Ozone Alert program at
tulsaworld.com/ozonealert.
Tulsa's first daily low in the 70s since Aug. 13.
Another sign that Tulsa's temperatures are on the rise.
Let's turn statewide to end this entry --- forecast rainfall through Sept. 5 for the region:
Have you ever known gray to be a good map color on a rainfall map?
Sadly, the gray does not depict a giant thunderstorm cloud:
Most of Oklahoma's expected rainfall for the next few weeks is less than 0.1 of an inch.Despite that, I hope that all of you still have a good end of August!
--Althea Peterson
PS: Did you see Jerry Wofford's updated profile on the right rail? He recently took over for Jennifer Chancellor as Tulsa's World new music writer! Check out his other blog, Offbeat,
here.
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.
