OCS monthly climate summaries.
Oklahoma’s big weather stories this spring overwhelmingly involved tornadoes and heavy rains — and June was no exception. The month finished as the sixth-wettest June on record, at 7.22 inches, nearly 3 inches above normal. The preliminary tornado count swelled to 25, the second-highest for the month on record. But there was at least one silver lining to all that active weather: June saw drought completely eliminated from Oklahoma for the first time in nearly six years.
After April’s stormy chaos, the first half of May brought a rare lull in Oklahoma’s spring severe weather season. Aside from an active kickoff on May 1 — featuring large hail, damaging winds, tornadoes, and flash flooding — the state experienced a quiet 16-day stretch, interrupted only by a single report of half-dollar-size hail in far southeastern Oklahoma on May 16. But the break didn’t last: severe storms returned on May 17 and dominated the remainder of the month.
Just four months after Oklahoma shattered its all-time November rainfall record, the state did it again—this time in April. The statewide average rainfall totaled 8.74 inches, surpassing the previous April record of 8.32 inches set in 1942, with data dating back to 1895. Numerous locations posted similar records, including Oklahoma City, where 12.55 inches of rain fell, topping April 1947’s 11.91 inches and ranking as the city’s sixth-wettest calendar month since records began in November 1890.
Other April 2025 rainfall records (asterisk denotes wettest calendar month on record):
Most months, nearly breaking an all-time tornado record would dominate Oklahoma’s weather headlines. However, March 2025 will be remembered for a different kind of disaster—one of the worst wildfire outbreaks in state history, overshadowing all else.
Like the villain in a ‘90s action movie, winter struck back with a vengeance in January following the unusual warmth that closed out 2024. Several strong cold fronts delivered blustery winds, snow, ice, and some of the coldest air the state had seen since the generational freeze of February 2021.
It seems every year is a momentous one for weather in Oklahoma, and 2024 was no exception, with two all-time records either tied or broken during the year. The National Weather Service (NWS) confirmed at least 152 tornadoes touched down in Oklahoma, surpassing the previous record of 149 set in 2019. This year’s total was bolstered by record-breaking monthly totals of 56 in April and 33 in November. Most of the tornadoes were of the weaker EF0 and EF1 variety, accounting for 34 and 71 events, respectively.
November 2024 will enter Oklahoma’s vast and storied weather lore as one of the most extreme months in state history, shattering records for both the highest statewide average rainfall and the most tornadoes ever recorded in November. This unprecedented combination of rain and storms has left an indelible mark on the state’s already dynamic weather narrative. The month also saw another extreme, drought—which had been rapidly intensifying since mid-summer—nearly eradicated by the historic rainfall.
As October drew to a close, much of Oklahoma had gone over a month without significant moisture—and for some areas, over two months. A new record for the all-time driest October seemed inevitable. However, a remarkable storm on October 30 changed that trajectory, bringing much-needed rain and a severe weather threat. A confirmed EF1 tornado touched down near Fairland in Ottawa County, damaging homes and destroying outbuildings along an 8-mile path, according to a preliminary report from the National Weather Service.
September's weather story was dominated by two of Oklahoma’s most damaging hazards—severe drought and a devastating hailstorm. Drought had been spreading and intensifying in the state since early summer according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, and increased even further during September from 48% at the end of August to 57% by the end of the month. The area considered to be in more intense drought nearly doubled, from 18% to 33% over the same period. The worst-hit areas stretched from southwest Oklahoma to the northeast, reaching into far northeastern parts of the state.
In a display of Oklahoma’s famously chaotic weather patterns, August brought historic rains to portions of central and eastern Oklahoma while drought continued to intensify and spread over other sections of the state. A remarkable 6 to 12 inches of rain fell from northwest to central Oklahoma within 12 hours on Aug. 11, with a volunteer observer near Noble in Cleveland County recording 11.01 inches—a 500-year rainfall event according to NOAA statistics.