monthly climate summary

As a transition period between summer and fall, Mother Nature often provides Oklahoma with a wildly varying tale to tell during September. This year was no exception. At first glance, a description of Oklahoma’s weather during September seems fairly straightforward –a toasty month with an abundance of moisture in the west and too little in the east. The state’s weather story is never quite that simple, of course. Far northwestern Oklahoma was actually the driest region of the state, and parts of eastern Oklahoma enjoyed a surplus.

Autumn didn’t fully arrive during August, but it sure gave Oklahomans a nice preview for a week during the middle of the month. It was enough of a sneak peek to keep the month’s statewide average temperature at about a half-degree below normal. Unfortunately, the autumnal preview was flanked by some downright miserable summer weather. Those summer bookends came with plenty of triple-digit temperatures and even more triple-digit heat indexes. Grandfield led the state with 106 degrees recorded on the third. Meanwhile, it was jacket weather at Bristow with a low of 48 degrees on the 22nd.

The state’s sizzling summer continued unabated through July, at least for most Oklahomans. The Oklahoma Mesonet recorded at least one triple-digit temperature in the state on 25 of the month’s 31 days. Goodwell and Hooker led all Mesonet sites with highs of 108 degrees on the 11th. Those temperature extremes were reflected in the statewide average for the month. According to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, th3 statewide average temperature was 82.8 degrees, 1.3 degrees above normal to rank as the 43rd warmest July since records began in 1895.

Lack of rain and hot weather took its toll during June, allowing drought to make a comeback from central through northeastern Oklahoma. Moisture deficits dating back to late April rose to 4-8 inches across a large swath of northern and eastern Oklahoma. During that period, heavy rains inundated southern Oklahoma at times and prompted numerous flash flood warnings. To highlight the disparity in moisture, the El Reno Mesonet site in central Oklahoma recorded a scant 2.7 inches of rain since May 1 while Mangum totaled a whopping 13.5 inches in the far southwest.

Known as the state’s most active severe weather month, May tried to live up to that moniker with several extended periods of threatening weather. Although it didn’t quite match some of the more ferocious Mays since the beginning of the decade, it was still quite lively nonetheless. At least one instance of severe weather was reported somewhere in the state on 16 of the 24 days between May 8 and May 31. The National Weather Service published a preliminary count of 19 tornadoes during May, four short of average for the month.

Fears of the strengthening drought and associated wildfire danger, so prevalent through the first three months of the year, lasted about a week into April before Mother Nature unleashed spring on Oklahoma. Flooding, gigantic hail, severe winds and a final week filled with the threat of tornadoes were all in the offing during the month. The drought was quenched in most parts of the state by repeated storm systems. According to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the robust moisture propelled April to rank as the seventh wettest on record, dating back to 1895.

The dry weather that had plagued the state during the first two months of 2016 continued during March. Drought conditions spread across nearly all of northwestern Oklahoma and aided the massive Anderson Creek wildfire that burned 367,620 acres across Woods County in Oklahoma and the adjacent counties in southern Kansas. The total acreage burned in Oklahoma amounted to 88,082, all within Woods County. The fire, whipped by winds of over 60 mph, began on March 22 near Camp Houston in Woods County before quickly spreading to the north and then east.

A warm, windy and dry February, plagued by wildfires, served as a fitting epitaph for a winter that largely failed to materialize. According to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the month ended more than 5 degrees above normal to rank as the ninth warmest February since records began in 1895. That propelled the climatological winter, December through February, to the fourth warmest on record at nearly 4 degrees above normal.

Considering the extreme precipitation that ended 2015, and with the “super” El Niño that boosted the November-December period to the wettest on record for the state still in place, January was a veritable dud. According to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the statewide average precipitation total was 0.71 inches, nearly an inch below normal and the 28th driest January since records began in 1895. Only 29 of the Mesonet’s 120 stations recorded at least an inch of rain, and only three exceeded 2 inches. Cloudy led all Mesonet sites with 2.45 inches.

Mother Nature managed to save some of the worst of 2015’s weather for last, ending the year with a powerful winter storm that, while significant for western Oklahoma, was historic for the eastern half of the state. The Dec. 26-28 event prompted blizzard, ice storm and winter storm warnings for western Oklahoma while the eastern half was awash in flood-related emergencies. High winds accompanied the storm throughout its stay. The Oklahoma Mesonet recorded 984 wind gusts of at least 50 mph from 10 p.m. on Dec. 26 through 4:15 a.m. on Dec. 28.