Drying Up

Did you get rain in your backyard earlier this week? If so, count your blessings since Mother Nature's waterworks will be shutting off for quite some time now. Most locations didn't pick up much in the rain bucket Tuesday, but localized rainfall totals nearing an inch were estimated on radar.

This good news of rain is now overshadowed by our state's greater rainfall deficit. The region from near Ponca City, down the Arkansas River through Tulsa and down to Muskogee, has received only about 20% of the normal rainfall over the past 30 days. Most of Green Country, for the exception of the McAlester area, is running behind as well, as shown in the map above from the Oklahoma Climatological Survey. That doesn't bode well for us as go into our climatologically driest time of the year.

The focus for showers and storms has shifted southeast of Oklahoma and nothing much more than an isolated shower or thunderstorm is expected for the next week. The one exception may be Friday when a weak wave of energy may spark widely scattered showers. We can hold out some hope for late week!

The climb in temperatures is inevitable. The upper-level ridging that keeps the heat dome locked in place will continue to build back into the southern Plains through the weekend into early next week. This will suppress nearly all showers and storms and bring our temperatures into the triple-digit range. It looks like a hot go-of-it as we head further into July (surprise, surprise!)

In the meantime, remember Tulsa is and will likely be under an Ozone Alert for several days. If you can consolidate trips in the car, wait to mow your yard, or even refuel later in the evening, you will be helping out the air quality in Tulsa. A stagnant, hot air mass is no fun for anybody! Also remember, many counties are now under a Burn Ban. For a complete list of those, click here. They may be up for awhile as we remain hot and dry.

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