A Look Back at June and Jan-Jun.

We are now half way through 2014 so thought a look back at the month of June and the first half of the year would be of interest. Notice the first map on the right, courtesy of the OK Mesonet, which shows the total rainfall over the past 30 days. May is normally the wettest month of the year statewide but this year the month of June has been the wet one across much of the state. The second map shows how those totals compare with normal for June and as is often the case, there were some winners and some losers; but statewide, this was the 23rd wettest June on record.

More specifically for Tulsa, the month of June turned out to be 0.05" drier than normal which is negligible. But, more importantly is how we stand so far this year and our total for the first half of the year is only 13.12" which is more than 8" below normal and makes this the 10th driest Jan-Jun period on record for Tulsa. So, the June rains have certainly helped alleviate the ongoing drought situation for much of the state, but more rain is certainly needed.

As far as temperatures were concerned, the month of June was also slightly warmer than normal for Tulsa. That marks two straight months of above normal temperatures breaking a trend of cooler than normal conditions that started back in September of last year. The outlook for the month of July are the next two maps on the right and there is no clearly defined signal for us. Oklahoma is largely in the dreaded EC category which stands for Equal Chances meaning there is an equal chance that we will be near/above/below normal with respect to temperature and precipitation. In other words, there is no clearly defined climatic driver to suggest the month of July will go one way or the other.

At least we are starting off rather mild as the northerly winds of today have brought some drier air for much of the state which will result in some pretty nice mornings for the next few days. Morning lows in the low 60s and perhaps even in the 50s for the cooler valleys will make for a very pleasant start to Wed/Thu/Fri mornings. Daytime highs will also be relatively mild with our afternoons topping out in the mid-upper 80s right on through Independence Day.

Light northerly winds through Wednesday will return to a more SE direction on Thursday and southerly by Friday and Saturday. That of course means things will be heating back up and we should be near 90 Saturday and back into the lower 90s going into early next week. Our nights will also be getting warmer with morning lows returning to the lower 70s by Sunday morning and into the following week.

Our rain chances will also be hard to come by for the course of this forecast cycle. Cannot completely rule out a few spotty showers/storms during the peak heating period over the course of the weekend and going into next week. But, no widespread, generous rains are currently foreseen.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot