Garrett’s Blog: July 2012 Summer Highlights

For the second summer in a row, Arkansas and Oklahoma had unusually warm and dry conditions across much of the region. The National Weather Service in Tulsa compiled some climate information from the last month that I thought was interesting and worth sharing.

July was the 4th warmest since record keeping began in 1882 for the Fort Smith area. Records in Northwest Arkansas don’t go back very far because of the relatively fast economic growth.

However, in Fayetteville there was 8 days at or above 100 degrees which is 8th on record for most days at or above 100º

In Fort Smith there were 19 days at or above 100º which is the 4th most on record. The summer of 2011… last year… still holds all of the heat records for hottest and most consecutive days above 100º.

Another interesting note is the timeframe from Jan 1 to July 31st is the warmest on record ever for both Fort Smith and Tulsa, OK.

As far as the drought goes, the USDA Drought Declaration is the largest area in history with most of the country being affected by the drought and agricultural industries seeing the biggest loss.

The forecast for August calls for above normal temperatures and below normal rainfall. El Nino is forecast to be weak or moderate by the end of the year which typically leads to wetter and colder winters for our area and usually and… in my opinion… more icing events. Much can change between then and now. In the short term, it looks like the drought and hot weather will hold for at least the next month.

Garrett