Dick Faurot's Weather Blog: Hot, Humid Weekend

According to the calendar, the summer solstice occurs at 11:39 a.m. this Sunday, which marks the calendar start to summer and is the day with the most possible sunshine. For more information regarding the seasons, suggest going here. However, from a weather perspective, the calendar months of Jun-Aug are considered to be summer.

At any rate, now that Bill is history for us we will be having lots of sunshine through the weekend and into the following week.

Before getting too far into the forecast, thought a brief look back would be of interest. It turns out that Bill was the culmination of a week of unsettled weather that began last Friday with showers each day since then and ended when Bill finally moved on eastward late yesterday. The ‘official' precipitation from Bill, as measured at the airport for Thursday, was 1.67” which set a daily record for that date. I know lots of other places had a lot more, but that measurement is what will go down in the record books.

Speaking of which, looking back at the past week, the daily rains added up to 4.77” which ties for the wettest period on record for those dates. Interestingly, the record we are now tied with was set back in 1980. Why do I bring that up? In 1980, the rains came to end shortly after that and the month of July only received 0.09” which is one of the driest Julys on record. Not only that, but the summer of 1980 also turned out to be the hottest summer on record for Tulsa. Just another example of how fickle the weather can be here in OK.

As you can see on the forecast page, this weekend through the week ahead has little or no mention of rain on any given day, and it will be hot and humid. That is also verified by the 7-day QPF map which has the state pretty much high and dry through that time period. Even so, one or two very isolated showers may pop up during the late afternoon hours on any given day, but the chances are in the slim to none category that any one location would receive rain.

So, the week of June opened with an extended period of dry weather and the coming week will also mark an extended period of dry weather which will allow things to start drying out once again. But, the wet soils and verdant vegetation will serve to keep daytime temperatures from getting too far out of hand. Those same factors will also keep humidity levels in the uncomfortable range which will make it seem more like 100 or more outside with the combination of heat and humidity.

Since I brought 1980 up, and since the week ahead looks to be hot and dry, does that suggest we are in for a repeat of 1980? Hardly. Notice the 8-14-day outlook graphics which suggest near to below normal temperatures and above normal chances of precipitation during that time frame. So, no, it is not at all likely that we will repeat what happened in 1980.

By the way, speaking of a look back in time, the period from Apr 1 of this year through yesterday now stands as the third wettest for that time frame here in Tulsa. Quite a contrast to the drought we have endured since late 2010. In case you are wondering, 2008 & 1957 are the only periods that were wetter.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot