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January was warmer and wetter than average, State Climatologist Gary McManus said in a survey released Wednesday. The news comes as storms are forecast to rumble across the state bringing rain late today and into tonight.
There is a 100 percent chance for rain during a 12-hour period starting tonight and lasting into the morning hours Friday, Bruce Thoren, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said.
“There is a possibility for strong and severe storms,” Thoren said.
“For central Oklahoma there’s probably a better possibility after midnight, but there could be other storms that develop ahead of that.”
The storms will develop in west Texas and move east across the state, he said.
There is not any snow expected in the storms coming in Thursday, but the storms could be severe, Thoren added.
“We could certainly have hail and winds ... as you get into the overnight hours Thursday and Friday ... but there’s a better chance ... south and west of [central Oklahoma],” he said.
The storm system will pull a swath of dry air in from the west that will “slam into a building zone of warm, moist, unstable air to the east,” according to AccuWeather.com.
This will create a risk of severe thunderstorms from around Big Bend, Texas, north to the Kansas and Oklahoma state line.
The storms are expected to clear out by Friday afternoon, and the highs for the weekend will be in the upper 40s with lows in the upper 20s, Thoren said.
Last month temperatures were seven degrees above normal, making it the eighth warmest January on record. Rainfall
was a quarter of an inch above normal for the month, McManus said.
Around this time last year the state experienced intense winter weather, but there has been only a few localized areas in central and northeastern parts of the state with snowfall totals of more than an inch in January.
Drought has been eliminated in the southeastern quarter of the state because of adequate rainfall last October. Rainfall amounts totalled 15 to 25 inches since Oct. 1, 2011 in south central and southeastern Oklahoma, McManus said. Much of western and northern Oklahoma remains in severe to extreme drought. Long-term rain deficits of more than 15 inches remain in that area, with many farm ponds extremely low or completely dry.
Although statewide average rainfall during January was the 38th wettest on record, western and northern Oklahoma had less than half of an inch of precipitation.
February is a wildcard for rain. There is an equal chance of above, below or near normal precipitation for the month. Temperatures are expected to stay warmer than average until the end of the season, which raises concern for the state’s vegetation, McManus said.
Early and continuous warmth increases the potential for plants to become active, leaving them vulnerable to a late freeze.
Weather records have been kept in Oklahoma since 1895.
January was warmer and wetter than average, State Climatologist Gary McManus said in a survey released Wednesday. The news comes as storms are forecast to rumble across the state bringing rain late today and into tonight.
There is a 100 percent chance for rain during a 12-hour period starting tonight and lasting into the morning hours Friday, Bruce Thoren, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service, said.
“There is a possibility for strong and severe storms,” Thoren said.
“For central Oklahoma there’s probably a better possibility after midnight, but there could be other storms that develop ahead of that.”
The storms will develop in west Texas and move east across the state, he said.
There is not any snow expected in the storms coming in Thursday, but the storms could be severe, Thoren added.
“We could certainly have hail and winds ... as you get into the overnight hours Thursday and Friday ... but there’s a better chance ... south and west of [central Oklahoma],” he said.
The storm system will pull a swath of dry air in from the west that will “slam into a building zone of warm, moist, unstable air to the east,” according to AccuWeather.com.
This will create a risk of severe thunderstorms from around Big Bend, Texas, north to the Kansas and Oklahoma state line.
The storms are expected to clear out by Friday afternoon, and the highs for the weekend will be in the upper 40s with lows in the upper 20s, Thoren said.
Last month temperatures were seven degrees above normal, making it the eighth warmest January on record. Rainfall
was a quarter of an inch above normal for the month, McManus said.
Around this time last year the state experienced intense winter weather, but there has been only a few localized areas in central and northeastern parts of the state with snowfall totals of more than an inch in January.
Drought has been eliminated in the southeastern quarter of the state because of adequate rainfall last October. Rainfall amounts totalled 15 to 25 inches since Oct. 1, 2011 in south central and southeastern Oklahoma, McManus said. Much of western and northern Oklahoma remains in severe to extreme drought. Long-term rain deficits of more than 15 inches remain in that area, with many farm ponds extremely low or completely dry.
Although statewide average rainfall during January was the 38th wettest on record, western and northern Oklahoma had less than half of an inch of precipitation.
February is a wildcard for rain. There is an equal chance of above, below or near normal precipitation for the month. Temperatures are expected to stay warmer than average until the end of the season, which raises concern for the state’s vegetation, McManus said.
Early and continuous warmth increases the potential for plants to become active, leaving them vulnerable to a late freeze.
Weather records have been kept in Oklahoma since 1895.
