The Oklahoma Mesonet reports the state’s drought is rapidly growing and it is working its way from the Panhandle to northwest parts and approaching central Oklahoma. Some records dating back to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s have been broken by the lack of rainfall and one expert calls it a “drought explosion.”
State Climatologist Gary McManus says the drought is rapidly expanding and intensifying and seeping into Blaine and Kingfisher counties.
“We have long-term drought in the far western Panhandle that has been persisting since the middle of last fall. It has now been 173 days since Boise City has received a significant one-day rainfall event, and has received a mere 2.4 inches of rain since last October 1, wrote McManus in his Thursday update.
He explained the deficits of more than 6 inches amount to more than 30% of normal over the time frame while the majority of the deficits have occurred in the last three months.
“Many of those areas from the OK/TX border area in west central OK through central OK have seen record low rain amounts since April 1,” added McManus.
Rain since Apr. 1 Previous Record Low
Arnett 2.3″ 2.42″ (2011)
Watonga 2.2″ 2.77″ (1933)
Kingfisher 2.6″ 3.23″ (1933)
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McManus called it “catastrophic” that some of the records that were broken date back to the 1930s.
“Exacerbated by the aforementioned historic heat of 2011, the drought at this point back then was already some of the worst the state had seen since the 1950s, and in some case the Dust Bowl days of the Dirty Thirties.”
The latest drought monitor shows half of the state has “abnormally” dry conditions where 40% is in a “moderate” drought. At least 15% of Oklahoma is under a “severe” drought while more than 4% has “extreme” drought conditions.
