Oklahoma certainly experienced some weather extremes in the just-concluded month of May including only two tornadoes.
Severe weather can and does have an impact on the energy provided in Oklahoma but this year, line crews with the state’s major utilities didn’t face some of the all-night storm-caused power outages they have in the past.
As Oklahoma Climatologist Gary McManus with the Oklahoma Mesonet reported Monday, the state either tied with 1988 for the second-lowest number of May tornadoes with 2 or maybe in a tie with 2012 for the third-lowest at 3.
“June has had eight years with no tornadoes, including the recent years of 2012,
2013, 2012, 2016, 2022, and 2024, so here’s hoping we tie that record as well.
The only problem with these tornado droughts is it can also mean fewer storms
traversed the state, so less rainfall, boosting ANOTHER the OTHER drought,” he wrote.
May brought an abrupt slowdown in tornado activity after a historic start to
2026. The year opened with January tying its monthly tornado record, followed
by a record-setting March and an active April that pushed the preliminary
annual count to 57 by the end of that month. May is normally Oklahoma’s most
active tornado month, averaging 32.7 tornadoes since 2000, but the month
produced only two official tornadoes, both on May 27 in southeastern Oklahoma.
The record fewest for May is zero, set in 2005. Another possible tornado near
Hobart remained under investigation.
Despite the relative tornado lull, May was far from uneventful. Large hail,
damaging winds, summerlike heat and worsening drought all made their presence
felt, while climatological spring — March through May — finished as the second-
warmest on record. The month still managed one final brush with cold, however,
with the season’s final freeze occurring May 7 at Kenton and four other
Oklahoma Mesonet sites. The warmth extended beyond the season as well, with
January through May also ranking as the second-warmest such period since
records began in 1895.
Dry May keeps drought entrenched
May continued the springtime dry spell across much of Oklahoma, with the
statewide average rainfall total of 3.25 inches finishing 1.68 inches below
normal and ranking as the 34th-driest May since records began in 1895. The
deficits were most pronounced across western Oklahoma, where parts of the
west-central region recorded less than 25% of normal rainfall for the month.
Climatological spring — March through May — did little to help, finishing with
9.01 inches of rainfall statewide, 2.29 inches below normal and the 33rd-driest
spring on record.
Drought coverage changed little during May, but drought intensity increased.
The amount of the state in drought, defined as D1 to D4 on the U.S. Drought
Monitor, remained nearly unchanged during the month, hovering around 81%. The
more intense drought categories expanded, however, with severe-to-exceptional
drought increasing from 44% to 47%, and extreme-to-exceptional drought rising
from 30% to 37%. Exceptional drought (D4), the highest intensity on the Drought
Monitor, also returned to Oklahoma for the first time since July 11, 2023,
covering more than 4% of the state by the end of May. The result was a familiar
split: some localized rainfall helped parts of the state, but persistent
deficits kept drought entrenched across western Oklahoma and allowed the worst
conditions to intensify.
May by the numbers
• Statewide average temperature: 69.4°F, 1.0°F above normal — the 42nd-warmest
May since records began in 1895
• Temperature extremes: High of 107°F at Erick on May 15; low of 30°F at Kenton
on May 7
• Temperatures of 100 degrees or above: 54 instances recorded at the 120
Oklahoma Mesonet sites
• Warmest and coolest locations: Highest monthly average, 73.2°F at Altus;
lowest, 63.2°F at Kenton
• Statewide average precipitation: 3.25 inches, 1.68 inches below normal — the
34th-driest May since 1895
• Rainfall extremes: High of 8.62 inches at Tulsa; low of 0.63 inches at
Camargo
