OCS monthly climate summaries.
June took up the slack for May’s relatively tame severe weather output—at least by Oklahoma’s standards—with 10 tornadoes and two possible derechos that left over half of a million Oklahomans without power. While storms threatened the state throughout the month, the most intense severe weather was concentrated within just a few days from June 15–18 thanks to two powerful storms systems, both aided by an unusually strong jet stream overhead.
Central Oklahoma has often been characterized as a haven for tornadoes, with some of that perception based in reality—and myth. There has been nothing mythical about that reputation in 2023, however. At least 11 tornadoes touched down in central Oklahoma on May 11, adding to persistent tornadic activity in that region during the previous 4 months of the year. Through just 5 months, the central Oklahoma counties of Cleveland and McClain broke their records for number of tornadoes in a calendar year with preliminary totals of 13 and 11, respectively.
Drought relief and severe weather topped April’s weather headlines with a parched northwest Oklahoma seeing its first significant moisture in months and central Oklahoma enduring a tornado outbreak. Eighteen tornadoes touched down on April 19, a day when severe weather was thought to be limited by a warm atmospheric lid above the surface. High temperatures over 90 degrees combined with a potent dryline to break that lid and initiate the storms that would eventually spawn the twisters.
Oklahoma’s oddly persistent caste-like rainfall pattern—with those to the north and west of Interstate 44 seeing near-record dryness and those to the south and east experiencing abundance—continued during March. Rainfall totals to the northwest of I-44 were generally a half-inch or less, while amounts of 5-8 inches were quite common to the southeast. Ten Oklahoma Mesonet sites in far northwest Oklahoma failed to record more than a tenth of an inch of rain for the month, with another 17 stuck below the quarter-inch line on the rain gauge.
A potent storm system—labeled by forecasters as “historic” and “unprecedented” for February—struck Oklahoma on Feb. 26 with the full fury and power of a classic springtime severe weather outbreak. At least 10 tornadoes were confirmed during the event, with that total almost guaranteed to creep higher with further investigation by National Weather Service personnel. The preliminary total of 10 shatters the previous February record of 6 set in both 1975 and 2009. Accurate tornado records for Oklahoma date back to 1950, and the long-term average for February is 0.3.
Oklahoma’s January 2023 may have begun with a springlike bang, but it ended with a more appropriate wintry punch. Warm weather dominated the first three weeks of the month, and was on pace to become one of the warmest Januarys on record before winter crashed the party. The early springlike weather also brought Oklahoma its earliest tornadoes within the calendar year since accurate records began in 1950. On Jan. 2, severe storms developed across northeastern Oklahoma and quickly became tornadic, producing five confirmed tornadoes according to the National Weather Service.
December provided a fitting end to Oklahoma’s tumultuous 2022 weather story. This final chapter came complete with a half-dozen tornadoes, the coldest December day in 32 years, and the finishing touches on an all-time Oklahoma rainfall record. The Oklahoma Mesonet site at Goodwell finished 2022 with 6.48 inches of rain, breaking the previous all-time lowest annual rainfall record for any location in Oklahoma of 6.53 inches from Regnier in 1956. Those data go back to the late 1880s.
Oklahoma’s extended spate of warmer than normal weather—which began in early June and continued largely uninterrupted for the next five months—came to an abrupt halt on Nov. 10 following a clash with the season’s first true arctic cold front. Highs in the 70s and 80s those first 10 days of November were soon replaced with highs in the 40s and 50s, and low temperatures below freezing more often than not. Any hint of a return to the weather’s previous mild ways was quashed by recurring cold fronts throughout the rest of the month.
Drought held on through October in Oklahoma for the fifteenth consecutive month, its roots dating back to August 2021 and boosted by additional flash drought conditions beginning in June 2022. The drought’s severity and coverage peaked in mid-October, its impacts varied and extreme. Dead and dormant vegetation led to almost daily fights with wildfires for fire departments in all regions of the state.
Drought surged across Oklahoma as the driest September since 1956 took its toll on the state’s landscape. The amount of drought in the state remained largely unchanged through September at approximately 99%, but the intensity of that drought increased dramatically according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Extreme and exceptional drought, the Drought Monitor’s two worst categories, jumped from 47% on Aug. 30 to 64% at the end of September, the highest such levels seen in the state since Feb. 19, 2013. Exceptional drought alone rose to 17%, its highest level since May 8, 2018.