Oklahoma Climatologist Gary McManus reports recent heavy rains reduced the grasp of the drought in the state from 84% to 18%.
Writing in his Thursday morning Mesonet update, McManus explained, “Even better, the amount of Severe (D2) and Extreme (D3) drought dropped from 68% of the state to just 2% during that same time frame. Just under 35% of Oklahoma is under those Abnormally Dry (D0) conditions. D0 isn’t a drought designation, but it signals areas either going into or coming out of drought…the latter which applies here.”
Also this week, a hard freeze in the northwest and the Panhandle.
It wasn’t a brief freeze but one that lasted for several hours as shown in the attached map.
