
Oklahoma Weather can be all over the place and 2024 did not Disappoint! Acccording to State Climatologist Gary McManus We went from seeing 60’s and 70s yesterday throughout the state, and today we are waking up to Wind chills in the lower teens!

McManus says this has been the year of Extremes for Oklahoma, including January of this year when we saw -27 wind chill in Vinita, Oklahoma, only for that to be followed by 113 degrees in Freedom back on August 24th of this year.

McManus said heat was a big factor this summer, “We had our own little circle of Hades centered in far SW OK
this year, where Altus, Hollis, and Mangum all saw 53 days at or above 100 degrees.”
As we know the old saying in the state, “if you don’t like the weather in Oklahoma, give it an hour” or as McManus says, “If an hour goes by too quickly, you can also just give it 24 hours for good measure.”
We also saw extremes when it comes to rainfall, “Remember the rainfall extremes in the Panhandle? Usually, it’s the LACK of rainfall that’s the extreme out that way, but on June 18-19, we tried to fill up Lake Optima with a 1000-year rainfall event that left the flatlands of the Oklahoma Panhandle an inland sea.”

Then, in November, we saw record statewide rainfall across the state, “NOVEMBER, and it’s obliteration of the previous record statewide rainfall total of 6.05″ from 2015 with a whopping 7.84″ in 2024. Why? Because Oklahoma, that’s why (and also don’t forget the 33, 33!, tornadoes that touched down last month as well).”
And Finally, it was also the year of the total eclipse, “the day it got dark as night in SE OK, we saw that total eclipse
down in McCurtain County and the surrounding area, and our Valliant Mesonet site was VALIANTLY (valiantly, now with an extra L!) keeping track of the solar radiation drop throughout the event. We have the pics from the site to prove it!”


With all that to say, we still have two more weeks left in December, and since it is Oklahoma, who knows what the weather will bring. Right now a White Christmas doesn’t look very likely with the forecast, with items forecasted to be in the low 60’s… But.. we can all be dreaming!

To read more from Gary McManus on his daily Ticker, click here: