monthly climate summary

October brought Oklahoma its first sustained, widespread drought relief since flash drought spread across the state in August. Heavy rains replenished reservoirs and improved soil moisture across western and central Oklahoma, although flooding damaged roads and forced water rescues in some of the hardest-hit areas. The rain brought little interruption to the state’s exceptionally warm year, however. Oklahoma recorded its fifth-warmest October, extending a record-warm start to 2026.

The drought and relentless heat that plagued Oklahoma for months reached a crescendo during September before a rare guest came calling from the Pacific Ocean during the month’s final two days. Moisture from the remnants of Hurricane Polo spread across the High Plains and interacted with a large upper-level trough to help bring long-awaited, widespread rain to Oklahoma. By then, however, the damage was done.

Oklahoma baked beneath a relentless sun during the third-warmest and fifth-driest August on record. Vegetation withered and turned yellow, ponds dried up, lake levels fell and wildfires flared across the state. By month’s end, drought covered all of Oklahoma—more than double its coverage just four weeks earlier—as flash drought ran amok. 

Mother Nature supplied fireworks of her own on July 4 as a destructive windstorm swept across Oklahoma, with Norman hardest hit. The month closed under a punishing heat wave, with widespread triple-digit temperatures during its final third. Between those dramatic bookends, rainfall fell short across most of the state and drought coverage held nearly steady at about 44%, setting the stage for heightened drought concerns in August. 

June’s severe weather story was not led by tornadoes, but by straight-line winds. A powerful derecho and several other intense storm events produced six of the Oklahoma Mesonet’s top 50 all-time wind gusts during the month, including three triple-digit readings.

May brought an abrupt slowdown in tornado activity after a historic start to 2026. The year opened with January tying its monthly tornado record, followed by a record-setting March and an active April that pushed the preliminary annual count to 57 by the end of that month. May is normally Oklahoma’s most active tornado month, averaging 32.7 tornadoes since 2000, but the month produced only two official tornadoes, both on May 27 in southeastern Oklahoma. The record fewest for May is zero, set in 2005. Another possible tornado near Hobart remained under investigation.

Oklahoma’s severe weather engine has been turbocharged since the beginning of the year, with January tying its monthly tornado record and March setting its own. The fuel kept flowing throughout April as Oklahomans dealt with a slew of tornadoes — including the state’s first EF4 since 2024 — along with very large hail, damaging winds and flash flooding. For those who dodged the worst of the storms, however, the quiet came with a cost.

Oklahoma seemingly took a detour from February straight into July during what became the warmest March on record for the state. The unusual heat arrived on the heels of both the warmest winter and February on record. The records didn’t stop there, as the state also experienced its highest March temperature on record and a record number of tornadoes. The heat combined with dry and windy conditions to intensify the state’s ongoing drought and elevate wildfire danger. 

February ended as the warmest on record across Oklahoma, a distinction that also pushed the climatological winter of 2025–26 to its warmest on record. The unusual warmth combined with expanding and intensifying drought to create critical fire weather conditions across much of the state. Those ingredients culminated in a mid-February wildfire outbreak that burned more than 300 square miles and forced evacuations across multiple counties. It was a month defined by record heat, deepening drought and wind-driven flames.

January 2026 delivered a little bit of everything Oklahoma weather is known for — a rare January tornado outbreak, a major winter storm accompanied by arctic cold, and continued drought across much of the state. The month featured both destructive severe weather and prolonged freezing conditions, including one of the most impactful snow and ice events in recent memory. By month’s end, more than two-thirds of Oklahoma was in drought, even as snow cover lingered across the northern half of the state. It was a month defined by sharp contrasts and high-impact weather from start to finish.