2021

In what could best be described as a climatological anomaly on steroids, Oklahoma soared to its warmest December on record, besting the previous mark by more than 5 degrees. It was a remarkable display of muscle by Mother Nature that saw the statewide average temperature finish more than 10 degrees above normal as measured by the Oklahoma Mesonet. For some perspective, the next nine warmest Decembers all reside within 2 degrees of each other. No other calendar month in Oklahoma has such a large spread between the top two marks. May has the next largest difference at 1.2 degrees.

An extended pattern of warm, dry weather exacerbated drought conditions during November. Drought impacts, including fire danger and soil moisture depletion, increased throughout the month under the pressure from unusually high temperatures and strong winds. At the end of November, much of the area west of Interstate 35 had gone from 20 to 60 days without at least a quarter-inch of rain in a single day. For Boise City, that streak had extended to 95 days. Nearly 42% of the state was in drought by the end of the month according to the U.S.

Oklahomans are growing accustomed to Mother Nature’s October weather shenanigans following a snowstorm of up to 13 inches in 2019 and a crippling ice storm in 2020. A spring severe weather motif was chosen for October 2021 with at least 31 tornadoes touching down during the month, besting the previous October record total of 27 set back in 1998. That preliminary total also surpasses the 25 twisters tallied during the first nine months of the year. While most of the tornadoes were considered weak—rated EF0 or EF1 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale—they were damaging, nonetheless. Oct.

A slow start to summer gave way to sweltering heat through the middle of June before once again succumbing to mild, wet weather to end the month. There were occasional bouts with severe weather—mostly high winds and large hail—although flooding was a common concern as well. Winds of up to 75 mph hit Snyder overnight on June 7, producing widespread damage to the town. The Oklahoma Mesonet site at Boise City measured winds in excess of 65 mph for 25 consecutive minutes the evening of June 12.

May’s weather was rather tame by Oklahoma standards, with severe weather greatly diminished by an abundance of cool, cloudy weather. Plenty of moisture was to be had, with heavy rains falling right through May’s final day. That is not to say severe weather was completely absent, but at times flood warnings were seemingly more prevalent than severe thunderstorm warnings. Only a handful of tornadoes were reported in the state during May.

Cool weather helped keep severe weather at bay in Oklahoma throughout much of April. A late spring freeze—damaging in its own right—punctuated the scarcity of severe weather during the month’s first three weeks. The cold eventually gave way to an emphatic exclamation point, however, when tornadoes, flooding, high winds, and a hail-borne catastrophe struck during April’s final week. At least four confirmed tornadoes touched on April 28, including an EF-1 twister that struck near Pauls Valley at the stroke of midnight.

The winter storm that began the year captured January’s biggest weather headline. The event straddled the changeover from 2020 to 2021, with as much as 10 inches of snow falling in Vici on New Year’s Day. Reports of 4-8 inches were widespread across the northwestern half of the state. Seasonal totals through January climbed to nearly 3 feet across northwestern Oklahoma. The National Weather Service cooperative observer at Arnett reported 34.3 inches since late October, 24.1 inches more than their entire normal seasonal total of 10.2 inches.