December

Winter was noticeably absent through much of December, a deceptively warm month that ended more than 2 degrees above normal to rank as the 38th warmest since records began in 1895. The season finally lived up to its name during the month's final week, however, with a swath of 3-5 inches of snow along the I-44 corridor in southwestern Oklahoma, along with another icy plunge to ring in the New Year. New Year's Eve was celebrated with patches of freezing drizzle, snow, sleet and below-zero wind chills.

A frigid and sometimes icy December seemed a fitting way to close out the boisterous weather of 2013. Preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet ranked the month as the 17th coolest December on record at nearly 4 degrees below normal. Records of this type for Oklahoma date back to 1895. The statewide average temperature as recorded by the Mesonet was 35.2 degrees. As chilly as it seemed, however, that mark provided little threat to 1983's record cold of 25.8 degrees, but also far cooler than 2012's 42.1 degrees.

A slide back to true wintry weather, the likes of which had not been seen across Oklahoma since early February 2011, was not enough to prevent the inevitable. Although the official numbers will not be released by the National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) for a few more days, it appears likely that 2012 will go down in the record books as Oklahoma’s warmest year on record. Those records date back to 1895. Preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet indicate a statewide average temperature of 41.9 degrees for December.

December tried to end 2010 in a tranquil manner after a year’s worth of tumultuous weather. Mother Nature provided a punctuation mark instead as a strong tornado touched down near Westville in Adair County on New Year’s Eve. The tornado eventually traveled into Arkansas, killing three near the small town of Cincinnati. A less violent hazard – drought – dug its heels into most of the state during the month as lack of precipitation contributed to the 32nd driest December since records began in 1895.