September

Flash drought continued to spread across southern Oklahoma during a dry, hot September, and had enveloped nearly 17 percent of the state by month’s end. According to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the statewide average rainfall total was 1.43 inches below normal at 2.1 inches, the 33rd driest September since records began in 1895. It was particularly dry across south central and southeastern Oklahoma, areas that had seen record rainfall from April through July.

Hopes were high for much-needed rainfall across Oklahoma after August's disappointing totals. June and July were exceedingly wet, lending optimism that August's step back would be but a brief interruption. Unfortunately, that script did not play out as written and September became yet another dry month in the now four-year-old drought. According to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the statewide average rainfall total was 2.6 inches, 1.3 inches below normal and the 46th driest September since records began in 1895.

Autumn returned to Oklahoma nearly right on cue during the last week of September thanks to a moisture-laden cold front. The temperatures got downright chilly with lows in the 40s and 50s and highs in the 60s and 70s for a couple of days, although temperatures zoomed back into the 80s on the month's final day. The cold front provided a brief respite to what had become, at least for most of the state, a decidedly dry and warm September. The late heroics by Mother Nature were not enough to avoid the inevitable, however, as the month finished both drier and warmer than normal.

Hopes for drought relief were starting to fade as September wound down, only to be saved by a slow-moving soaker of a storm system during the month’s last week. The storm system’s prodigious moisture output was aided by a stationary front and in part by the remnants of Hurricane Miriam, spawned in the Pacific Ocean during the previous week. Totals of 2-4 inches were widespread across central and southern Oklahoma according to the Oklahoma Mesonet, mainly south of Interstate 40. The Mesonet site at Byars in Garvin County recorded 6.02 inches during the event.

While little relief from drought was found in September, the reprieve from the intense summer heat was nearly instantaneous. After three summer-like days to begin the month, fall weather kicked into high gear and temperatures plummeted. The hottest summer in Oklahoma history soon gave way to the 30th coolest September since records began in 1895. The statewide average temperature for the month was 70.9 degrees according to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, 1.6 degrees below normal. Unfortunately, similarly good news did not arrive for most of drought-stricken Oklahoma.

Oklahoma’s penchant for warmer-than-normal months continued during September and depending on where you live, you probably had either too much or too little rain to go with that warmth. The September statewide average temperature, as measured by Oklahoma’s weather network, the Oklahoma Mesonet, was 74.5 degrees. That marks September as the 29th warmest since 1895, 2.1 degrees above normal. While the statewide average rainfall of 3.99 inches ranks as the 36th wettest on record at 0.18 inches above normal, much of the state was actually quite dry during the month.