Locally Heavy Rainfall for the Carolinas; Thunderstorms and Fire Weather Concerns for Intermountain West

Heavy rainfall from scattered thunderstorms is expected across the Southwest, Intermountain West, and Plains. Isolated dry thunderstorms may initiate additional fires across the west. The coastal Carolinas may experience flash floods in the coming days due to repeated thunderstorms. Additionally, a wave of intense summer heat will hit the Southern Plains and central Gulf Coast States this week. Read More >

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January 2017

Tulsa: January 2017 was the 15th warmest (42.1°F; since 1905), the 12th wettest (3.42"; since 1888), and the 30th least snow (0.2", tied 1919, 1936; since 1900) January on record.

Tulsa: Daily records set or tied this month include a record warm mean temperature and a daily rainfall record.

Fort Smith: January 2017 was the 15th warmest (44.7°F; since 1883), the 62nd wettest (2.34"; since 1883), and the 42nd snowiest (2.0", tied 1996, 1945, 1936, 1888; since 1884) January on record.

Fort Smith: Daily records set or tied this month include a record warm maximum temperature.

Fayetteville: January 2017 was the 10th warmest (40.3°F; since 1950), the 30th wettest (2.39"; since 1950), and the 29th least snow (0.5", tied 1994, 1972; since 1950) January on record.

Fayetteville: Daily records set or tied this month include record warm maximum temperatures and a daily rainfall record.

McAlester: Daily records set or tied this month include record warm maximum temperatures, a record warm minimum temperature, record cold minimum temperatures, record warm mean temperatures, and a record cold mean temperature.

Using the radar-derived estimated observed precipitation from the RFCs, rainfall totals for January 2017 ranged from 1.25” to near 5”, with the minimum occurring in the lower Arkansas River basin area. This corresponds to near 300% to near 50% of the normal January rainfall from north central OK to southeast OK and west central AR. The rainfall pattern this month was wet to dry from northwest to southeast across eastern OK and northwest AR, which is flipped from what is normally observed.

No mainstream river flooding occurred this month.

January 2017 was a 3°-5° above normal across eastern OK and northwest AR, despite a few arctic outbreaks of cold air, some snow, and an ice storm. Rainfall was above normal northwest of I-44 and below normal southeast of I-44.

According to the Drought Monitor from January 31, 2017, D3 (Extreme Drought) conditions continued over western Pushmataha and western Choctaw Counties and developed over portions of Haskell, Latimer, Sequoyah, Le Flore, Crawford, Sebastian, and Franklin Counties in southeast OK through west central AR. D2 (Severe Drought) encompassed portions of Pawnee, Creek, Tulsa, Rogers, Wagoner, Adair, Muskogee, Okfuskee, Okmulgee, McIntosh, Pittsburg, Haskell, Sequoyah, Latimer, Le Flore, Choctaw, and Pushmataha Counties in eastern OK, and Washington, Madison, Sebastian, Crawford, and Franklin Counties in west central AR. D1 (Moderate Drought) conditions existed over portions of Osage, Washington, Nowata, Rogers, Wagoner, Mayes, Delaware, Cherokee, Adair, Muskogee, Okmulgee, Okfuskee, McIntosh, Pittsburg, Latimer, Le Flore, and Pushmataha Counties in eastern OK and Benton, Carroll, Washington, and Madison Counties in northwest AR. D0 (abnormally dry conditions but not in drought) were present across portions of Osage, Nowata, Delaware, Craig and Ottawa Counties in eastern OK, and Benton and Carroll Counties in northwest AR.

According to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, January 2017 was the11th wettest for northeast Oklahoma, the 38th wettest for east central Oklahoma, and the 46th driest for southeast Oklahoma. Records go back to 1921. For the Water Year-to-date, October 1, 2016-January 31, 2017, northeast Oklahoma ranked as the 42nd driest, east central Oklahoma was the 14th driest, and southeast Oklahoma was the 8th driest period.

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Locally Heavy Rainfall for the Carolinas; Thunderstorms and Fire Weather Concerns for Intermountain West

January 2017 Climate and Hydrology Summary