Last week, we gloated that, although Tulsa and OKC made the cut as two of the five hottest cities in the U.S., Lubbock, TX had the dubious honor of being awarded Very Most Hellish City of 2011 by The Daily Beast. “At least we don’t live in Texas,” we poked.
We will now eat our words, because the Oklahoma Climatological Survey has just announced that July, 2011 in Oklahoma was the hottest month ever recorded in the contiguous United States. From Mesonet:
Statewide average temperature records begin (in 1895) for the United States. There have been 1399 months pass by since 1895. Multiply that number by 48 and you have 67,152 months of temperature records for the contiguous states. How hot was it in Oklahoma last month? Of those statewide average temperature records for the 48 states, none has been hotter than July 2011 in Oklahoma.
Adds OCS:
The July statewide average temperature finished 7.5 degrees above normal at 89.1 degrees, smashing the previous record of 88.1 degrees set back in July 1954. Statewide averages date back to 1895. The news was equally grim on the rainfall side of the ledger. The statewide average rainfall total was 0.70 inches, more than 2 inches below normal and the fourth driest July on record. Combined, the 2011 June-July period was the hottest and driest on record statewide, an ominous achievement with another month of summer yet to go.
The Oklahoma heat has been blamed for 9 deaths so far, but that number may rise to 16 as the cause of 7 more possibly heat-related deaths are determined.
The good news: we can expect a cool down later in the week as storms are predicted to move in and push the mercury to just under triple digits.
For an illustration of Tulsa’s scorching temperatures, click here to watch the short film “Heat” by Sterlin Harjo and Matt Leach.
-
http://www.facebook.com/MommyGlamour Jacqueline Guevara Myers
