Summer Heat Returns, For a Few Days Anyway.

As you can see from the 24 hour rainfall totals on the right, courtesy of the OK Mesonet, some locations in E OK received a good soaking, in some cases too much with some flooding issues. In other cases, some are still looking for a good rain but at least it has cooled things off rather nicely after several days in the upper 90s. Notice the second map on the right which shows the max/min temperatures so far today. By the way, the 1.07” of rain officially recorded at the airport is the most rain reported there since back on July 30.

I mention that because now that we are into the month of September and the ‘climatological' summer is over, thought a look back would be appropriate. First, a look back at August and what a diverse month it was. There were two faces to the month as the first half only had one day in which temperatures were warmer than normal and the second half only had one day in which temperatures were cooler than normal. The first half was running about 4 degrees below normal but the second half more than made up for that and the month as a whole ended up at .6 degrees above normal. As mentioned earlier, rainfall was hard to come by with less than one inch for the entire month.

Since ‘climatologically' speaking, summer is considered to be the calendar months of Jun-Aug, how did this summer stack up? Well, June was a little warmer than normal, July was cooler than normal, and Aug was a little warmer than normal so from an average temperature perspective it was in the middle of the pack despite the wide range in temperature extremes that occurred. Fore example, we had more days in which the daytime high did not get above 80 (9) than we had triple digit days (7), and we had one day in which the daytime high was only 68. The number of triple digits was the same as last year but well below the long term average of 15. By the way, notice the third map on the right which shows the number of triple digit days statewide and it is immediately apparent that much of E OK did not have any triple digits this summer. Another example of the urban heat island here in Tulsa. Total precipitation for the summer was about an inch below normal.

What about for the year to date? Due to the cold winter and late, very cool spring; this year so far is running as the 13th coolest but of even greater significance is the precipitation; or lack thereof as it is at the 8th driest. Yes, some folks have received a lot of rain, some of it just recently as the first map shows, but it has been rather spotty and lots of other locations are quite dry on an annual basis.

That was then, how about what can we expect? Well, just because the ‘climatological' summer is over, does not mean that we are through with summer. Quite the contrary. The clouds and rains of today have kept things relatively mild, but it will be more like summer again over the course of the next several days. Look for daytime highs to be well into the 90s again for Wed-Fri, but that will be followed by a significancool downwn for the coming weekend. That transition will also mark our next best chance for additional rainfall although a few lingering showers/storms may reform later tonight or first thing in the morning over the more northern counties. After that, just hot, dry and humid until that next front arrives in time for the weekend.

Unfortunately, all the longer range guidance suggests that temperatures will average at or above normal over the course the 8-14 day time period, so we may not be quite finished with summer weather just yet.

In the meantime, stay tuned, stay cool, and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot