Oklahoma monthly climate summary, 08/2013

              Copyright © 2013 Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Monthly Climate Summary 1
The unusually mild and wet conditions of July continued into August for a couple of weeks, but summer returned with a vengeance to finish out the month. The rains disappeared after week two, and then a summer-like heat wave arrived during the final week. Despite that late heat, the month still managed to finish a tad on the cool side overall. According to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the statewide average temperature was 80.1 degrees. 0.3 degrees below normal and the 49th coolest August since records began in 1895. The abundant rainfall during the first two weeks of the month, mainly across the northern two-thirds of Oklahoma, pushed the statewide average into the surplus territory at 3.04 inches, about a quarter-inch above normal. That ranks the month as the 51st wettest August on record. The southern third of the state missed out on the bountiful moisture and finished from 20-80 percent of normal for the month. Hugo and Newport finished with less than a quarter-inch of rainfall for the month, and many other locations across southern Oklahoma saw less than an inch. The northern two-thirds of the state recorded more generous totals with numerous amounts between 5-7 inches.
AUGUST 2013
Oklahoma Monthly Climate Summary
August 2013 Statewide Extremes
Description
Extreme
Station
Day
High Temperature
108ºF
Several
6
Low Temperature
54ºF
Several
17
High Precipitation
6.98 in.
Okmulgee
--
Low Precipitation
0.17 in.
Hugo
--
August 2013 Statewide Statistics
Temperature
Average
Depart.
Rank (1895-2013)
Month (August)
80.1ºF
-0.3ºF
49th Coolest
Season-to-Date (Jun-Aug)
79.3ºF
-0.2ºF
50th Coolest
Year-to-Date (Jan-Aug)
61.1ºF
-0.7ºF
37th Coolest
Precipitation
Average
Depart.
Rank (1895-2013)
Month (August)
3.04 in.
.27 in.
51st Wettest
Season-to-Date (Jun-Aug)
12.50 in.
2.73 in.
24th Wettest
Year-to-Date (Jan-Aug)
28.21 in.
3.55 in.
18th Wettest
Depart. = departure from 30-year normalOnly the Mesonet stations in the western Panhandle recorded less from January through August.
The return to a more summer-like rainfall pattern the last two weeks of the month put the brakes on any continued drought relief, and actually reversed it across parts of the state. The U.S. Drought Monitor report released on August 28 indicated that 38 percent of the state was suffering from at least moderate drought, up from 33 percent the previous week. Most of that increase came from southern Oklahoma. It is still a vastly different story than one year ago in late August when 100 percent of the state was entrenched in drought, including 90 percent in the extreme to exceptional categories, the two worst possible on the Monitor’s intensity scale. Still, the summer rains allowed for great strides. As much as 59 percent of the state was experiencing drought at the end of May. The Drought Monitor’s worst two categories, severe and exceptional, dropped from 27 percent at the end of May to 10 percent at the end of August.
AUGUST 2013 DAILY HIGHLIGHTS
AUGUST 1: You couldn’t see much of a shift in temperatures when the end of July transitioned into August. Maximum temperatures were still reaching 100 degrees on the 1st in Mangum and Hollis with most other areas in the 90s. Minimum temperatures ranged between 62 in Boise City and 76 in
The climatological summer (June-August) had two distinct rainy periods that vaulted it up the wet side of the rankings – the first half of June and then mid-July through mid-August. The statewide average for the summer finished at 12.50 inches, 2.73 inches above normal to rank as the 24th wettest on record. Oklahoma City’s official measurement site at Will Rogers recorded 18.15 inches of rain from June through August to finish with its sixth wettest summer season on record. Oklahoma City records date back to 1891. Its January-August total of 45.19 inches ranks as the wettest in the city’s history. In contrast, the Mesonet site at Altus recorded a paltry 4.7 inches of rain during the summer and an equally depressing 11.5 inches for the first nine months of the year.