Rainfall records shattered in Oklahoma Panhandle

  • June 19, 2024

 

Oklahoma Panhandle residents must be thinking it’s Christmas in June as rain, so much that it shattered records, began falling Tuesday night.

Farmers and ranchers were left puzzled about those small lakes in their fields and pastures.

By Wednesday morning, the Oklahoma Mesonet’s Climatologist Gary McManus reported Goodwell had recorded 7.52 inches.

“Goodwell’s highest daily rainfall total on record is 5.38″ from June 8, 1942, so that’s also blown completely out of the water…pardon the pun,” he wrote in his daily Mesonet column.

It “absolutely” shattered the all-time daily record in Goodwell where the yearly total is 16.7 inches. McManus explained that the total of 7.52 inches of rain in 8 hours would already rank as the 4th wettest month on record. That was in July of 1950 when 9.21% was recorded.

“Hooker’s rain isn’t quite as much, but equally ridiculous. It started raining 9:20 p.m. last night in Hooker, and by midnight 5.35″ had fallen. Hooker’s daily rainfall record alone is 5″ even from Aug. 24, 1972, so they blew that out of the water in just 2 hours and 40 minutes.”
But by early Wednesday, rainfall in Hooker totaled 6.94% in a 10-hour period.
“Then we have Beaver’s 5.63″ in just about 9 hours, which is a bit closer to their 100-year rainfall. Remember, as you go east, those return interval rains go up along with climatology (i.e., it rains more as you go east in Oklahoma, for the most part),” he added.
Regardless, Beaver’s rainfall record of 5.07″ on June 10, 1983 was also shattered.

Jerry Bohnen