Agricultural News
Western Third of Oklahoma Now in Exceptional Drought
Thu, 23 Jun 2011 11:02:58 CDT
Oklahoma's Billion dollar drought continues. All the heat and wind we have seen in June has taken its toll in the western half of the state, and the drought we've been mired in since last fall continues to intensify and persist. Exceptional drought, the worst such designation in the U.S. Drought Monitor's intensity scale, increased from 10 percent of the state last week to 33 percent this week. The new map released this morning shows the ugly details.
In addition to the widespread D4 drought covering virtually the entire western third of Oklahoma, D3 (extreme) and D2 (severe) drought also shifted back to the east.
The state missed out on a substantial amount of its normal rainfall during the last 30 days. According to data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the May 24-June 22 statewide average rainfall total of 1.24 inches ranks as the driest such period dating back to 1921. Southwestern and south central Oklahoma suffered through similar rankings for the last 30 days, receiving a scant 12 percent of normal rainfall over that period.
The tremendous early summer heat exacerbated the drought impacts and allowed for its eastward progress. The statewide average temperature for the month thus far stands at 82.7 degrees, which would be high enough to rank as the third warmest June on record for Oklahoma. Number one on June's warmest list goes to 1953 at 84.6 degrees, with 1911 coming in second at 83.3 degrees. During that period, high temperatures across the state averaged 95.7 degrees, 8.6 degrees above normal. The average high temperature in southwestern Oklahoma came in at 100.9 degrees.
The view from space is as grisly as one would expect. The relative greenness map from the OK-FIRE program for the week ending June 20 gives a pretty good picture of where it has rained and where it hasn't. That lack of greenness in the western half of the state is the primary reason the wildfire season never found an endpoint during spring.
According to Gary McManus, Associate State Climatologist for the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, "The billion-dollar disaster continues unabated, with no end in sight- yet." Click here for the Climatological Survey website for more on current Oklahoma weather conditions and trends.
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