Cool, wet weather unusual for Oklahoma in August

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The calendar reads mid-August even though it feels more like October. <br/><br/>A cool, wet pattern that has kept the hot weather more typical for this time of year at bay will continue

Monday, August 16th 2004, 6:12 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The calendar reads mid-August even though it feels more like October.

A cool, wet pattern that has kept the hot weather more typical for this time of year at bay will continue across Oklahoma this week, forecasters said.

On Sunday, a 62-year-old record low-high fell at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City when the temperature topped out at 71 degrees.

That was six degrees lower than the previous mark of 77 degrees set in 1942 and more than 20 degrees off the 90-plus degree readings normally seen across Oklahoma in August, said Dan Miller, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Norman.

``A high temperature of only 71 is pretty remarkably cool,'' Miller said.

On Saturday morning, the temperature bottomed out at 60 degrees, tying a record low set in 1967, Miller said.

It's also been unusually wet lately. Rain and thunderstorms fell across western and central Oklahoma early Sunday, dumping 5.04 inches of rain on Clinton, 3.86 inches on Cheyenne and 2.64 inches in Arnett, the weather service reported.

````We're just in a pattern this summer where it seems to be very favorable for this kind of thing to happen, and it doesn't happen with routine regularity for this time of the year in this part of the world,'' Miller said.

Temperatures are expected to stay in the 70s and 80s on Monday, with thunderstorms possible in western and central sections of the state through the morning hours, Miller said.

State temperatures could remain below average the entire week, Miller said. Daytime highs should reach the low 90s by Tuesday but another storm system is expected to track through the region by the end of the week.

Despite the cool summer, forecasters said residents shouldn't think this means the state will have an early winter.

``There really is not much of a correlation of what summer is like and what winter is like,'' Miller said.