Filed by btucker in Feature, Local News.
June 28, 2011

Oklahoma has seen record-breaking highs this June, as well as record-breaking high nighttime low temperatures. Associate State Climatologist Gary McManus says the hot temperatures are part of the drought.

“As we’ve gone through the spring months the heat has just continued to build. There’s not really a lot of soil moisture around the southern plains to help alleviate the heat problem,” McManus said.

Summer 2010 was preceded by a wet winter and spring which set the summer off with good moisture availability. But the drought started in the fall and continues to plague the state.

“This year we’re starting out way behind the curve, with very little available moisture. So, when you take a normal-type drought and you put that into the summer months, the impacts can multiply quite rapidly,” McManus said.

The drought is just beginning to move into the summer months, and without much moisture in the near future it is likely to continue without reprieve.