Droughtbusters!

It was a long wait for good rain in Oklahoma, but when it fell, relief finally arrived.

Friday, March 30th 2012, 2:19 am

By: News 9


Remember when all of this drought nonsense was at its worst?  We couldn't seem to buy measurable rainfall anywhere in the state.  From mid to late 2010, through most of 2011, Oklahoma's drought kept getting worse.  

Let's hop in the time machine and head back to October 4, 2011.  Take a look at the drought coverage map from that day.  More than two-thirds of the state covered in an "Exceptional" drought.  If you don't look at drought maps often, an Exceptional Drought is the driest category.  A step above that is Extreme, then Severe.  When Oklahoma was at its worst, those were the three categories from border to border.  Everyone was having a hard time breaking free from the drought's grip.  And this was coming off of one of the hottest summers in Oklahoma's history.  I think it's safe to say everyone was hoping for a big pattern change for the end of 2011 into 2012.  

Fast forward back to today.  We've seen a good dose of rain in the 5 months since our drought was at its worst on October 4.  In fact, you could easily call it a drought-busting rain.  Take a look at the March 27, 2012 drought coverage map.  How's that for an improvement?  Granted, there are still parts of the state that need rainfall, specifically far southwestern Oklahoma and a good portion of the panhandle.  However, when you look at the overall picture, it's amazing what a difference 5 months of consistent, measure rainfall can do for that pesky drought.  If you remember, a LOT of that rain came just in the past two weeks when the big upper-level cut-off low pressure system hung around Oklahoma for the better part of a week.  When systems behave that way, it usually means lots of rainfall for Oklahoma. 

We're still trying to remove the rest of the drought from our great state, and hopefully the welcome rain of this early spring season is a harbinger of things to come.

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