Dick Faurot's Weather Blog: Brief Break In The Heat Continues

These last days of July have been just a bit below normal with respect to our daytime highs, but not by much. Our normal diurnal temperature range at this time of year is 94/73 for the max/min, respectively, and for today we were officially 91/75. However, for the month of July, temperatures averaged a little more than a degree above normal and so far we have had no ‘official’ triple digit days. Granted, lots of days in which the heat index was well into triple digits, but not the air temperature. The long-term average for triple digit days during July is a little over 3 days.

One of the contributing factors to the lack of triple digit days was how wet the month has been; indeed the last several months. Officially, Tulsa ended up with twice the normal rainfall at 6.72” although nearby locations received much more than that.

Notice the 30-day rainfall accumulation map, for example, courtesy of the OK Mesonet. By the way, that makes this July the 13th wettest July on record for Tulsa. It also places the year to date as the 4th wettest on record.

Speaking of the lack of triple digit days, the last time we went through a year with none at all was 2004, and July of that year was even wetter than what we have just experienced. Of course, we still have all of August and into September, so we may yet have some triple digit days.

Notice the number of triple digit days across the state so far and the only ones that show up on this side of the state are in SE OK. Comparing that with the 30-day rainfall map and you can see that is also an area that received much less rainfall. In fact, the triple digit days across the state also closely relate to the drier locations, which is not at all surprising.

So, where do we go from here? As you can see on our forecast page, temperatures will be running slightly below normal for another day or two before we return to at or above normal temperatures next week. A weak frontal boundary has brought slightly drier air into NE OK, which should allow our nights to cool off a few more degrees for tonight and Saturday night. Also, dew point temperatures are expected to remain generally in the 60s which should hold the heat index values in check for at least the next several days as well.

There have been a few showers/storms around the area the last few days and that remains a slim possibility, but pretty much in the slim to none category. What showers/storms do occur will be primarily over the more western counties. However, some subtle changes aloft could produce a little better chance of rain in the week ahead, but presently it does not appear that we have any widespread rain events coming our way anytime soon.

Keep in mind though, as has been the case the last few days, those spotty summer time storms that do pop up can drop some locally very heavy rains in a short time along with strong and gusty winds.

But, looking further down the road, the 8-14-day outlooks suggest drier than normal conditions along with near-normal temperatures as you can see on the last two maps.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot