Spring 2021 OK-First classes for public safety officials are now open for enrollment! For just the second time in program history all of our classes will be held online. The classes will be self-paced and open for a specific set of weeks and include:
A historic cold snap set the tone for a cool September, which saw one of the earliest intrusions of winter weather in state history. An unusually strong cold front blasted through the state September 8-9, sending temperatures plummeting up to 50 degrees lower than the previous day’s highs. Lowest maximum and minimum temperature records were shattered across the western half of the state. High temperatures on the ninth struggled to a chilly 40 degrees at Boise City and Kenton following lows of 33 degrees.
Three strong cold fronts brought the summer heat to its knees during August, but drought took advantage of a mostly dry month to proliferate across western Oklahoma. The far southeast was anything but parched, however, after several rounds of heavy precipitation and a brush with the outskirts of Hurricane Laura left it with nearly a foot of rain for the month. There were sporadic outbursts of severe weather during August.
July brought a near miraculous recovery to much of Oklahoma, which was faced with an intensifying drought headed into summer’s scorching middle stanza. Uncharacteristically wet conditions succeeded in beating the drought back to a more manageable level, however, especially across the hardest hit areas in northern and central Oklahoma. Drought covered as much as 51 percent of the state on July 7 according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. That coverage was reduced nearly in half by the end of July, however, eventually encompassing a little less than 26 percent of the state.
Largely deprived of its primary rainy season, Oklahoma saw drought surge across the state during June. A mid-month bout with showers and storms managed to stem the flash drought’s intensification and spread with beneficial rains across northwestern Oklahoma. The respite was brief, however. Dry weather and intense heat returned by the end of the month and drought was again on the move to the south and east. Contained wholly within the western half of the state at the end of May, drought had progressed to the state’s eastern border by the end of June.
Cool weather dominated a good part of May, and possibly robbed Mother Nature of the heat needed for her most exotic springtime menu item; tornadoes. There was still the normal offering of large hail, damaging winds, and flash flooding, but the twister count was below average. The National Weather Service indicated a preliminary total of 13 tornadoes for the month, well below the 1950-2019 average of 24.4, and a relatively minuscule tally compared to last May’s all-time Oklahoma monthly record of 105. The 2020 preliminary total of 33 also falls below the January-May average of 41.
Summer/Fall 2020 OK-First classes for public safety officials are now open for enrollment! For the first time in program history all of our classes will be held online. The classes will be self-paced and open for a specific set of weeks and include:
It’s difficult to say which weather hazard should claim top billing for April. Two late season freeze events made their pitch by battering the state’s winter wheat crop and fruit orchards, primarily on the 15th and again on the 18th. Temperatures dropped into the 20s as far south as the Red River, with a bit of light snow falling across the western half of the state during the extended cold snap. Drought also made a bid for the top spot by threatening to spread from its confines in the far western Panhandle to a much broader area of western Oklahoma.
Winter seemed to take a final bow after February in Oklahoma, leaving March with a warm and wet transition to spring. Areas of southern Oklahoma failed to see temperatures dip below freezing, and Hollis managed to hit 100 degrees on one of the earliest dates in state history. The lack of wintry weather was replaced by active spring weather. Severe storms were not prevalent, but there were three distinct storm systems that brought damaging weather to the state. Severe storms on the 19th spawned at least two tornadoes according to preliminary data from the National Weather Service.
In February, Oklahoma finally received a month worthy of winter. It wasn’t tremendously cold, nor was it excessively wet, but it did provide much of Oklahoma with its first decent snow of the season. A strong storm system passed through the state on February 5 and dropped sleet, freezing rain, and 4-6 inches of snow along and around the Interstate 44 corridor. Higher totals of 6-8 inches were reported in the southwest, with a few localized areas receiving as much as 10 inches.