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okiedawn1

Rain, Rain and More Rain

No, not for me. Not yet. I feel like it will happen. We have had a few one hundredths of an inch over recent days, but not enough in the last week to even add up to 1/10th of an inch at our house, so we're underachieving on rainfall. Hopefully that changes tonight.

For many of the rest of you, rainfall has been plentiful, at least as compared to our normal rainfall at the end of July/earliest August. So, here's the OK Mesonet rainfall map for the last 7 days:


7-Day Rainfall Accumulation Map

And, here's the Qualitative Precipitation for the next 7 days.


7-Day QPF

If we were to get the amounts (or anything close to them) that the QPF forecasts for the next 7 days on top of what many of you already have had, that would be incredibly awesome rainfall for August. It doesn't happen often, so I just hope everyone enjoys whatever rainfall they have gotten/are getting today/are going to get over the next week.

And, as a reminder of how dry it has been (though some of that has been erased by recent rainfall) in some places and how overly wet it has been in others, here's the year-to-date rainfall map that shows departure (over or under average rainfall for same period). If you remember how this map looked last week, there was a lot more of the orange and golden areas with rainfall shortages and not quite as much blue and green. By next week, it should have even more blue and green. Could these be drought-busting rains? Maybe, but not necessarily.


Year To Date Departure From Average Rainfall


Comments (48)

  • AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
    6 years ago

    2"plus about 3/8 I think. Still getting used to the new gauge.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    Cool! That's a really nice amount. Our chickens have a new trick---they seem to knock over the rain gauge every day as they dig, scratch, hunt and peck their way around the yard. So, half the time, I go out to see what is in the rain gauge and nothing is in that one because apparently the chickens uprooted it. Not that it really matters since it doesn't rain here.


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  • Rebecca (7a)
    6 years ago

    Just under 2.5" here. Probably closer to that to account for blowing rain.

  • mulberryknob
    6 years ago

    2.22 here last night. Yay.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    Yay, Dorothy, that's terrific.

    I don't want to brag, y'all, but the rain finally found us a little after 10 pm last night and then we had thunder, lightning, and torrential rainfall mixed with periods of lower rainfall, etc., etc., etc. How much? Probably too much for one day, but we'll take it....power outages, downed tree limbs and all. How much? There was wide variation in our county, and we got one of the larger amounts in our county. How much? Is the suspense killing you? How about a total from Saturday (those few 100ths of an inch) through this morning of....3.4". That's how much is in our rain gauge closest to the house. I haven't checked the two rain gauges in the gardens, and sometimes they differ, so we'll see later if they are the same as this one. I am so relieved. I was just ready to give up yesterday. If rain hadn't fallen, I wouldn't even have bothered thinking about planting for fall. The second best thing is that it was 72 degrees when I went out earlier and it felt cool. On other days, even when we dropped into the 70s by morning, the dewpoint was so awful and the residual heat from the ground was so awful that it didn't feel as cool as you'd think it ought to feel. Today it feels cool.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    Another .25" fell, not that we needed it.

  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    6 years ago

    Congratulations, Dawn! Yay for rain!


  • mulberryknob
    6 years ago

    Yay. About time.

  • elkwc
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Judy had 1.6 Saturday night at 3 different locations. Then this morning we got another 1.2 here at Elkhart and supposedly a good chance of more over the next 4-5 days. We are around 4.5 inches in the last ten days. It is wet everywhere. Hope everyone gets some out of this.

  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    6 years ago

    Mud IS better than dust. Not only that, when one has mud, one doesn't have to be dragging garden hoses all day! Win-win!

  • Dragonfly Hollow (z7b,North Texas)
    6 years ago

    Nancy, I had to drag the hoses this morning as the rain skipped Wichita County again. But it was so cool and nice this morning that I didn't mind it too much. Of course, anytime ya'll want to share some of that rain, I'll take it. ;o)

    Michelle

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    Michelle, I'd send you some rain if I could figure out how to package it up and ship it. I was so relieved to get rain here, and I hope you get to experience that joyful feeling soon.

    Jay, It sure is your year for rain. That's terrific. I hope the garden ishappy.

    Have y'all looked at the rainfall maps lately to see how the rainfall/moisturechanges are reflected in various Mesonet maps. Here's a couple:


    Recorded Rainfall In Inches: Last 30 days

    And then there's this one, which shows the variance from average year-to-date rainfall, whether your rainfall total is above average or below average:


    Year To Date Rainfall Departure From Average Rainfall

    Obviously the yellow and orange areas still need more rainfall just to make it back to average, but look at all the blue and the green! That's pretty awesome rainfall overall for most parts of the state.

    With rainfall in the forecast on most of the next week (and beyond) perhaps we'll keep seeing more blue and green and less yellow and orange.

    Here's the 7-day QPF, which updates multiple times daily:


    7-Day Qualitative Precipitation Forecast

    It is August and we're still talking about cooler temperatures and more rain. That in and of itself is pretty awesome. Clearly some areas need more rain, and unfortunately Michelle's been missing out on the latest rain....but Jay got rain, Kim got rain, and I got rain...so, Michelle, that should offer you some hope.

    Dawn

  • Dragonfly Hollow (z7b,North Texas)
    6 years ago

    Dawn, I'm always hopeful, if just a bit worn out. (Doesn't that always happen this time of the year?) Thankfully, August so far is feeling more like late September, so it has perked me right back up. It's been over six weeks since we had good rain here, and the bermuda is crunchy and my sandy soil is dry, dry. But I know it'll come, it always does.

    Michelle


  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    6 years ago

    Surreal weather!


  • Sandplum1
    6 years ago

    Nancy, I'll take it, lol.

    I was beginning to worry about how I could handle watering after school starts next Monday. I've gotten up in the middle of the night a couple of times to water because I worry about running our well dry. (I try to give it a rest between deep waterings.) In the summertime, I try to schedule showers and laundry when it's too hot to water. I would love to see this weather pattern continue, knock on wood.

  • elkwc
    6 years ago

    Dawn it has been raining here for almost two hours. Not real hard but steady. I'm sure over another inch. If you look at the links I'm where the 4.4 is and on the other map I'm where the dark blue is. I heard men talking yesterday about some have over 19 inches so far. Our average is 16. Still a chance for some more before the year ends. Getting some subsoil moisture now. The garden overall is looking good. More fruit set showing up than I expected. The plants in the main garden are coming out of the spray set back but haven't started blooming again. Those in the raised bed are all blooming except for the east two which had some mild damage from the spray. I will have a good harvest for a while if nothing happens. The one JD's C-Tex had just stared showing some fruit set and saw some wilt on it today. Will watch it. I've seen where they will bounce out of it and also I've seen it spread through the whole plant. Have fruit set on most of my favorites Cherokee Purple, Cowlicks Brandwine, KB, Barlow Jap, JD'S Special Pink, Grandma Suzy's, Randy's Brandywine and County Agent. If nothing happens I shoud have a basketfull of large pink tomatoes. Nothing better in my opinion. Hope the rain reaches everyone before it ends.

  • elkwc
    6 years ago

    Dawn just another quik note. While visiting with a friend at Leedey Sunday we got to talking about crops and farming practices. He said he felt the desert started about 60 miles west of them. I'm at lest 130 miles west so didn't say anything. It is interesting to find out others perception of where you live.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    Michelle, I think that in the summer months, when rain fails to fall, the worrying about the lack of rain wears me out more than the heat itself does. It is stressful to go too long without rain. I hope this week is your week. And, surely, if not this week then next week. It does feel more like late September, doesn't it? What's not to love about that? What if the rest of August stays cool? Could it happen? Probably not. Still, it is something to think about.....could the Hotter Than Hell Hundred 2017 maybe not be hotter than hell this year?

    Six weeks is too long to go without meaningful rainfall so I know y'all must really need rain in the worst possible way. In my county, because of the kinds of soils we have, it only takes 3 weeks without meaningful rainfall to put us back in dire straits. It is shocking how quickly we go from being plenty wet and nice and green to too dry and brown and crispy sometimes.

    Nancy, Surreal is good, right? The only bad thing about having a nice August is that somewhere down the line, Mother Nature will make us pay for it.

    Sandplum, I'm knocking on wood. Knock, knock, knock!

    Jay, Steady rain is the best kind. I hope the horses aren't growing webbed hooves and starting to quack.

    It is great that y'all are having an above average rainfall year there. I bet that is a lot more rare up there than it is down here.

    Congrats on the great fruit set. You've got the perfect weather for it. I bet you will have an awesome harvest. Large pinks are my favorites too. I grow too many of them, but I cannot help myself---the large pinks are just irresistable and when I start cutting tomato varieties off my planned grow list, it usually isn't the large pinks that I cut. I hate to hear about the wilt. I hope it goes away. I lost two plants (both Paul Roberson, which hates my soil and me anyway and never does well here) to what looked like and acted like bacterial wilt here a few weeks back, but when I put a cut stem in a glass of water, I didn't get the bacterial exudate. Regardless, whatever it was did not spread after I yanked them out and threw them on the compost pile, and plants that were growing beside them did just fine.

    We're going to be in the 90s down here the next few days and our chances of rain are very low until the weekend when they climb up to about 40%. For August, the low to mid 90s isn't bad, and neither is a 40% chance of rain. I will be content with whatever happens because our month-to-date rainfall at our house already is higher than our average for August, so it's all gravy from here on out.

    Dawn

  • Turbo Cat (7a)
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Here in Claremore, our forecast for the next week include highs in the 80's and rain chances every day. I read in the Tulsa World that we should see 4-6 inches of rain starting tomorrow through the weekend. That's a lot of rain! I was going to water the cucumbers today, but I think I'll hold off and let the rain take care of it. :)

  • Dragonfly Hollow (z7b,North Texas)
    6 years ago

    It rained here last evening. It was a strange little downpour with the setting sunlight coming in from the west. In less than 20 minutes we got 0.70", so it's a nice start. Unfortunately, the rain brought out the green June beetles. (I caught as many as I could-yuck!)

    And Dawn, it's definitely looking like the HHH could be cooler than it's been in years.

    Michelle

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    Mary, I hope you spent part of today teaching the cucumbers how to swim. I love rainfall in August, but I wouldn't want to get as much as they say y'all are going to get. That's a bit much.

    Michelle, Real rain???? Like, that liquid stuff that drops from the sky? Oh, that is so cool! I'm glad you finally got some. I know you need more. We don't have green June beetles here. By don't have, I mean I might see one or two per summer, but usually I don't see any. I wonder why, not that I want them.

    It could be a great year for the HHH....not that I would want to be out in the heat anyway--even if it is milder than usual.

    Dawn

  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    6 years ago

    Yes, it has been a blessed summer, weather wise, for sure. Perfect tonight. Warm during the day and too hot in the direct sun to do too much. No idea how much rain we'll be seeing in the next five days. I guess we'll just see what happens. I don't know that there will be payback. Last summer was grueling. Maybe this summer is payback for THAT. That's what I'm going with. :) .


  • Turbo Cat (7a)
    6 years ago

    Dawn, so far the rain forecast here has been a bust. I hope you all are getting some, though. The radar is showing some good rain coming your way, and maybe we will see some up here later this evening.


  • luvncannin
    6 years ago

    Yay for big rain

  • Turbo Cat (7a)
    6 years ago

    Kim, sounds like you are getting some good rain! Awesome :)

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    Yay, Kim. After you get back from market and have a rainfall total from home to share, be sure to come here and brag about all that beautiful rain.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    It rained on and off all night....more off than on, but still, when all was said and done, we got another 2" of rain in the last 24 hours, giving us a total since last Sunday of 5.3", making it one of our rainiest Augusts ever since moving here.

    I hope everyone else got nice rainfall and not severe or violent weather.

  • luvncannin
    6 years ago

    It was a beautiful sight. One and a half inches at home. Driving to Lubbock tho was difficult. I kept hydroplaning so I drove really slow. The last 20 miles there was no rain. Right when I got to the edge of Lubbock torrential rain hit. Streets flooded and we waited and waited. Then it slowed to a mist. We set up and it awesome managers got us coffee. Good day. Rain and still we had customers. My onion people came and as they were leaving with their fix for the week they said see you next week. Uh no I won't be here see you in 2 weeks. They stopped dead in their tracks turned around and got more onions lol. It was really cute and made my day

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    I'm glad you made it to Lubbock alright. Tim and I were watching the radar out yonder and thinking surely you must be in that mess of rainfall somwhere. I love the onion story. Are you taking off next week?

  • luvncannin
    6 years ago

    Yes. My oldest son is getting married. So excited for them. He got a sweet girl who absolutely adores him. And 2 bonus grandboys. I will be glad to get it all done.


  • luvncannin
    6 years ago

    Well this is too close

  • luvncannin
    6 years ago

    Turkey got hit. Maybe tornado, haven't heard for sure. Thankful no one was hurt. Lots of property damage and power down.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    Oh, I forgot his wedding was in August! I hope y'all have a wonderful week and that everything goes perfectly. In case no one warned you, I will....the heat index values in DFW later in the week are supposed to be above 105. I was watching that radar last night and wondering (a) if a tornado ever made it down to the ground, and (b) how close the warning are was to you. I'm glad to hear no one was hurt and that it was far enough away from you that it didn't impact your home or garden. Granted, it was too close but not that close. Turkey is how far from you? 20 miles? 30 miles? And, as a native Texan, you know that I cannot even hear the words Turkey, TX, without responding "Bob Wills is still the king!" (My daddy raised me right.)


  • luvncannin
    6 years ago

    Said in a booming voice

    "Bob wills the king of western swing"

    I am 8 mile west of damage

    6 mile south of where it started. I was wondering about the storm but by time it hit lightening was all around me. The worse part for me was as usual the neighbor burning oil tires etc. When the wind shifted from nw to SE it came right over me. I had to shut down ac.

  • luvncannin
    6 years ago

    We are getting allot more rain right now. It is so good to have rain.

  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    6 years ago

    Okay--how much rain are you all getting? Looks like we're going to miss the bulk of it, which is fine. . We're coasting along fairly damp, anyway!

  • AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
    6 years ago

    I'm getting rain, but nothing like Sand Springs and Tulsa. Rains hit right at rush hour. DIL ran out of gas. Can see my son's eyeroll.

  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    6 years ago

    No, we aren't missing the bulk of it. We're in the thick of it. LOL

  • hazelinok
    6 years ago

    We barely got any.

  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    6 years ago

    Wow, HJ; I wasn't watching all along but I thought sure it would have hit you. I am SORRY! GRRR.

  • hazelinok
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    I know! It got the north part of the metro pretty good and even at my Mom's house. She's on the line between OKC and Moore. We are in a weird place this year that often gets missed. Maybe it's a good thing? I've had a lot of stuff to do outdoors lately. We had rain twice today, but it was super short.

  • Rebecca (7a)
    6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Had a pretty good storm here. Wouldn't be surprised if I got another inch.


    Amy, there was a gustnado in Owasso.

  • Nancy RW (zone 7)
    6 years ago

    It's still raining here, more softly now for the past couple hours. We got a lot the 2 hours before that. I emptied the gauge at 2.5", there's another half inch now. This first half of August is like the first 10 or 12 days in July, with about 7 inches or so. I can't imagine such a thing!


  • luvncannin
    6 years ago

    Somewhere between 5 and 7 inches here. In 3 days.

  • AmyinOwasso/zone 6b
    6 years ago

    The Tulsa Mesonet had .58, I MIGHT have a quarter inch in my gauge. I kept thinking I was going to get a good soak out of it. TV hype made it sound like a flood. I guess there was a lot of rain in Sand Springs and heavy rain in Tulsa for Rush hour. More the further south you went. Rebecca, when the wind first got here it blew an empty pot across the patio. That was it. Maybe more further north.

  • Okiedawn OK Zone 7
    Original Author
    6 years ago

    Kim, Why is the neighbor burning oil or tires? Is that not illegal in Texas? If someone does it here, we can call and report them to the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality.

    Hooray for the rain for those of you who got it.

    We have invisible sprinkles this morning. You know, the kind that fall about 8' apart from one another, so you feel a sprinkle, you stand still and look around you. You don't see anything and you wonder if you dreamed it up, but then you feel another one a few minutes later. Of course, these tiny sprinkles add up to nothing in the rain gauge, but perhaps they are a sign we might get rain later.

    Amy, I swear, I could hear your son's eyes rolling too. (grin) I only ran out of gas once in my life, and I sure did learn my lesson and never did it again.

    Perhaps your day for heavy rain is today....or tonight or tomorrow. Jay has had good rain. Michelle has had good rain. Jennifer finally got rain there at her place. We've had rain down here. Rebecca and Nancy always get rain (grin). It seems like it surely must be Amy's turn now.

    Y'all watch for severe stuff today. I started its own thread for that topic so anyone who comes to the page is more likely to see it.

    Dr. Forbes is supposed to be live on TWC from 6-8 pm Eastern time, and since he's gone to part-time, he's generally only live on the air when somebody is expected to get severe weather. While we are a part of that somebody today, there's other places at risk too.

    Dawn

  • luvncannin
    6 years ago

    Yes it is very illegal. But they do it here all the time. Another reason to move.