Oklahoma recorded so much rain last month it turned out to be a record.
A record, not a new record. As a follower of the late Edwin Newman, a longtime NBC correspondent and author, I believe he’s correct in his belief emphasized in his book “Strictly Speaking: Will America be the Death of English?” that one doesn’t set a “new” record. They set a “record.”
First there was November 2024 when Oklahoma set a record for the total amount of rainfall during the month.
Now it’s done it again, setting a statewide average rainfall total for April. It totaled 8.74 inches, reported Oklahoma Mesonet Climatologist Gary McManus.
The record beat the previous April record of 8.32 inches set in 1942.
“Numerous locations posted similar records, including Oklahoma City, where 12.55 inches of rain fell, topping April 1947’s
11.91 inches and ranking as the city’s sixth-wettest calendar month since records began in November 1890,” explained McManus in his Thursday newsletter.
Other April 2025 rainfall records (asterisk denotes wettest calendar month on record):
• *Duncan: 19.63 inches
• Lawton: 14.25 inches
• Edmond: 14.14 inches
• Apache: 13.04 inches
• Norman: 12.67 inches
• Shawnee: 11.88 inches
But with the record came the loss of seven lives to flooding during the month. Four of the deaths happened on April 19 and 20.
The state also recorded 16 tornadoes during the month and one death from the storms.