May has proven to be quite the month for weather across the state of Oklahoma, a month that some of us may wish to forget about. With back-to-back weeks of severe weather outbreaks, it may be hard to think that we were dealing with winter weather at the beginning of the month and wondering when, or if, spring would ever arrive. Well spring unfortunately did arrive, and in a rather abrupt fashion. In this blog post, we will be taking a look back at this past month was and explain what we can expect for the future.
Oklahoma City: Cooler, Wetter Than Average
For the fourth month in a row, Oklahoma City recorded a mean temperature that was below average. This can certainly be attributed to the unseasonably cold temperatures at the beginning of the month, with a daily record low maximum of 48 degrees being set on the 2nd and three consecutive days with lows in the 30s, including a daily record low of 37 degrees being set on the 2nd. But we must also consider the fact that the daily high and low temperatures were more often below normal than at or above normal. Out of the 31 days in the month, we had 19 days in which the high temperature was below normal, making that only 12 days in which the high temperature was at or above normal. We also had 19 days in which the low temperature was below normal, making that only 12 days in which the low temperature was at or above normal. Furthermore, the coldest low temperatures were pretty cold while the warmest high temperatures we reached were not all that “high.” Though the outside temperatures may have felt sweltering at times during the warm, humid days towards the middle and end of the month, the temperature has still not reached 90 degrees in Oklahoma City so far this year. The highest temperature recorded was 89 degrees, and that was back on the 18th of the month. Therefore, seeing that May was 3.2 degrees below average for Oklahoma City may not seem all that shocking after all.
Maybe no one would want to brag about temperatures being cooler than normal, but how about rainfall? Frequent rain showers and thunderstorms throughout the weeks brought quite a bit of rain to the Oklahoma City area. As Friday’s storms were a major contributing factor, May 2013 will go down in the record books as the wettest May in history for Oklahoma City, with a total of 14.52 inches. This is a departure of almost 10 inches from the normal month-to-date total and more impressively, puts the current year-to-date total at just over 27 inches, which is a serious 13.29 inches above normal for this time of year! If this is not impressive enough, Friday’s 5.64 inches of rain set a record for the daily maximum rainfall amount, breaking an old record of 2.14 inches set back in 1892 - a tremendous 121 years ago!
RECORDS/REMARKS
From the National Weather Service
Record cold max temperature of 48 degrees set on the 2nd.
Record low temperature of 37 degrees set on the 2nd.
Record maximum daily precipitation of 2.82 inches set on the 20th.
Record maximum daily precipitation of 5.64 inches set on the 31st.
Record monthly precipitation total set with 14.52 inches.
January-May 2013 precipitation total is 27.04 inches.
Tulsa: Cooler, But Not as Wet
For Tulsa, this was also our fourth consecutive month with a mean temperature below average. Unseasonably cold temperatures plagued the area for the first few days of month, with highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s, but also towards the middle of the month when a daily record low temperature of 40 degrees was tied on the 12th. Out of the 31 days of the month, 16 days had high temperatures which were below normal, meaning 15 days with highs at or above normal. 15 days had low temperatures which were below normal, meaning 16 days with lows at or above normal. Again, the coldest low temperatures were pretty cold and, although we did manage to get to 91 degrees, our overall high was cooler than average, making the mean temperature below normal.
Unfortunately, Tulsa has not recorded even close to the amount of rainfall as Oklahoma City, and we are still coming up short for the month-to-date and year-to-date totals. This may seem shocking following the flooding that occurred last week. A 24-hour precipitation total of 2 inches between May 29 and 30, however, added more to the rain gauge. Overall, we are only 2.62 inches below normal for the year.
From Winter to Summer in a Month!
Being located in the panhandle and exposed to mostly dry air, Guymon is subject to extreme weather. Fronts coming off the Rockies are strong, often leading to dramatic temperature changes over short periods of time. May 2013 has proven to do just this for the area. A sub-freezing winter-like temperature of 28 degrees was recorded on the morning of May 3rd. Turn around 15 days later, and a sweltering summer-like high temperature of 101 degrees is recorded on the afternoon of May 18th. This 73-degree difference in temperatures certainly shows that spring maybe should be considered more of a “transitional” period than a true season, especially for this panhandle-city.
Notable Severe Weather Outbreaks
The following links direct you to the pages on the National Weather Service websites detailing May’s significant severe weather outbreaks.
NORMAN: The Tornado Outbreak of May 19, 2013
NORMAN: The Tornado Outbreak of May 20, 2013
TULSA: Information on the May 30, 2013 Tornado Event
NORMAN: Central Oklahoma Tornadoes and Flash Flooding – May 31, 2013
The following lists the notable tornadoes in May and their official ratings.
Ada, May 15, EF0
Lake Thunderbird-Shawnee, May 19, EF4
Carney, May 19, EF3
Prague Area #1, May 19, EF2
Prague Area #2, May 19, EF1
Edmond, May 19, EF1
Arcadia, May 19, EF0
Newcastle-Moore, May 20, EF5
Paden, May 20, EF1
Broken Arrow, May 30, EF2
Murphy, May 31, EF1
El Reno, May 31, EF5
Lightning Creek Park, May 31, EF1
Southwest OKC/Will Rogers World Airport, May 31, EF1
Northeast Moore, May 31, EF0
Southeast Oklahoma City, May 31, EF0
Again, though this list may seem long, please note that we have listed only some of the tornadoes that occurred during the month of May across the state. Additional brief tornadoes have also been reported. To see all the storm reports for May in the Norman, OK forecasting office zone, please see this link. To see all the storm reports for May in the Tulsa, OK forecasting office zone, please see this link.
Latest on the Drought
As you can see from the graphics to the right, central Oklahoma, especially the Oklahoma City metro area, and parts of eastern Oklahoma have received quite a bit of rain over the past month, thereby eliminating the drought for these areas. This drought monitor we have provided does not even include Friday’s flooding rains for the Oklahoma City metro area, as data for the drought monitor is collected every Tuesday and released every Thursday. However, even last week’s drought monitor shows that parts of central Oklahoma are now in no drought or in the lower categories. Again, this is due to all the rainfall received during the month, from the weekly cold fronts and weather systems that produced severe weather. Unfortunately, while some of central and eastern Oklahoma may be in the clear for drought, western Oklahoma is not. For the panhandle and parts of southwest Oklahoma, we are still in an exceptional drought, as little rainfall fell over the course of the month. The rest of western Oklahoma is still in the dangerous severe to extreme drought category. Unfortunately, as the dry line pushes eastward and storms fire up ahead of it, thunderstorms producing heavy rainfall develop in central Oklahoma and move eastward, eliminating the western part of the state from the picture. Our multi-day severe outbreaks brought quite a bit of rain to the central and eastern portions of the state while the west saw no thunderstorm development as the region was behind that dry line and cold front. The west is expected to get some severe thunderstorms this week, so with the dry line in place farther back to the west, we will have to see if thunderstorms develop to give the west the rain it desperately needs.
What Can We Expect for the Future?
Remember it was only a month ago when we were talking about a cool start to spring and the relative lack of severe weather and below-average tornado count. Though our current tornado count for 2013 is still below average, the persistent cool weather and lack of severe weather is obviously no more. This is due to the fact that a warm air mass over Greenland and the North Atlantic that was stationary for most of the season and caused a pattern of winds from the northwest to blast the eastern two-thirds of the country with cold air has now moved, allowing the jet stream to be in its normal position for this time of year and finally allow the Northern Hemisphere to heat up (Main). With this change, the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center’s outlooks for June and summer are looking more and more like what we would expect in a typical summer, which may be grim for some of you. Currently, they are forecasting above-average temperatures and below-normal precipitation for western Oklahoma for the month of June, certainly not something we would like to see. For the rest of the state, we have equal chances of seeing either above-average or below-average temperatures and of receiving rainfall amounts above-average or below-average, which is better news but does not explain much. Allow us to look at the three-month outlook, which will tell us how our summer will shape up. According to the Climate Prediction Center’s current outlooks, we are looking at a strong likelihood that temperatures will be above normal this summer, with below-average precipitation amounts for western and parts of central Oklahoma. So, at this point, another hot and dry summer looks to be on the horizon. For those of you in the west praying for rain, we hate to be the bearer of the bad news. For those of you in central and eastern Oklahoma, at least some of you have a rainfall “safety net,” especially the Oklahoma City area.Sources: NWS, U.S. Drought Monitor, Live Science, Climate Prediction Center, sendmoneyhometoday.com (photo)
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