Winter of 1980?

[bucktalk]

With the constant reminder from our local weather TV personalities about the summer of 1980 - I wonder if anyone remembers what the winter of 1980 was like? I'm not suggesting we could use that particular winter as a preview of this winter - but who knows?

[HewenttoJared]

This winter is a little hard to predict right now.

[Thunder]

This winter is a little hard to predict right now.

Its going to be much worse than last time.

[Midtowner]

Snowmageddon is upon us.

[Roadhawg]

Snowmageddon is upon us.

Good... I bought a Jeep this year

[Thunder]

Good... I bought a Jeep this year

If it was one of those Buy One, Get One Free....where is mine?

[BG918]

I wasn't alive but wasn't that a cold one? Or was that 1983? I remember hearing about pools in Oklahoma and even Dallas freezing so solid that you could walk across them during a cold period in the early 80's.

[bluedogok]

I wasn't alive but wasn't that a cold one? Or was that 1983? I remember hearing about pools in Oklahoma and even Dallas freezing so solid that you could walk across them during a cold period in the early 80's.

The winter of 80-81 was pretty cold. It was my junior year of high school and in photography class we used to go over to Lake Overholser quite a bit (since it was a block away) and take pictures. I have a bunch of frozen pics from that year somewhere.

[PennyQuilts]

I wasn't alive but wasn't that a cold one? Or was that 1983? I remember hearing about pools in Oklahoma and even Dallas freezing so solid that you could walk across them during a cold period in the early 80's.

I thought that was the winter of 1977/78. I may be wrong.

[Bunty]

I thought that was the winter of 1977/78. I may be wrong.

I think you're right. I remember New Year's Eve 1977 snowed a lot and couldn't get out of my drive to get to a party. It didn't matter since hardly any one else did. And from then on a very dreary, cloudy and snowy winter set in. The sun seldom came out for a long while to warm things up. So the snow never got a chance to fully melt off until the next snow storm, which probably came nearly every week. Snow always covered most of the ground up to near a foot until mid March. Never saw a winter like that before.

[skyrick]

I couldn't find the data for OKC 1980-81, but in Tulsa that was only the 77th coldest winter.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tsa/?n=climo_tulwinstemp
The coldest winter was 1978-79. I remember that one!

[ou48A]

I couldn't find the data for OKC 1980-81, but in Tulsa that was only the 77th coldest winter.
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tsa/?n=climo_tulwinstemp
The coldest winter was 1978-79. I remember that one!

It was cold. We had about 4’’ of sleet + a few inches of snow that took over 2 months to melt off of most drive ways in northern Ok.
We spent many days below freezing. We had several days of below zero weather. There were people even ice fishing at area lakes. There was ice and snow cover from northern OK north to the polar areas. Because of the ice / snow cover anytime the wind blew out of the north it got much colder than what you would normally experience.
I don’t know if this is the correct terminology but I called this the snow plains effect.

[ou48A]

I was alive and well. The 1980/ 1981 winter was a fairly mild winter in central Oklahoma.

The winter of 1983 / 1984 was particularly harsh.
Much of my work in the energy business was outside that winter on the high plains near Pampa TX.
It was very cold in the OKC area but it was much worse on the high plains.

[bluedogok]

I remember Overholser being frozen over to the point that we could walk across the channel and out onto the lake for 100 yards or so and the ice was still very thick for Oklahoma.

[okcisok]

Would we consider this past Jan and Feb as part of the Winter of 2011? If so, we've already had a horrible Winter. Ice storm in Jan, blizzard in Feb. Remember just six or seven months ago? Eleven inches of snow with 50 mph winds!? Temps 10 degrees and below.

[USG'60]

All but one week of the past winter was in 2011 so I feel we can call it the winter of 2011. :-)

[skyrick]

All but one week of the past winter was in 2011 so I feel we can call it the winter of 2011. :-)

I've always considered winter a wrap-around season, i.e. Jan-Feb was part of winter 2010-11. We have yet to begin winter 2011-12.

[USG'60]

I've always considered winter a wrap-around season, i.e. Jan-Feb was part of winter 2010-11. We have yet to begin winter 2011-12.

I "think" of it that way, too, Rick, as though winter is Dec, Jan & Feb being winter and March being Spring, but technically only the last week of Dec is Winter and Spring starts with only a week left of March. But we have certainly had "winter" weather in Oct and "spring" in Jan and Feb. We CERTAINLY had "summer" this past Spring. :-)

[adaniel]

Count me as one who thinks this winter will be pretty harsh. I wasn't alive in 1980, but the last time we had a summer that was particularly hot was 2006, and I recall that winter (2006-07) being severe. I was still at OU and we ended up missing 2 days of school duing that freak November snowstorm. I actually remember cancelling my trip to KC for the Big XII championship. We also had several bouts of ice, including a devastating one in SE OK and there was still pockets of unmelted sleet 6 weeks later. Of course this is all speculation, and we are going into another La Nina so anything can happen.

I'm not so sure we got our due this past winter. Yes there was an absolutley horrible 2 week time frame with snow, freezing cold, wind, etc. but leading up to that it was pretty normal, and after all of the snow melted it was actually warm (60's and 70's).

If we do indeed have a cold winter I wonder how many people will be wishing for the weather we're having now. Remember you don't have to shovel heat!

[flintysooner]

1/1/1980 thru 3/31/1980:
Low Low: 7.9 on 3/2
High Low: 57.9 on 3/16
Low High: 28 on 1/28
High High: 80.1 on 2/28
Average: 40.7
Snow depth: 5.9" on 2/9
Snow days: 13

[USG'60]

1/1/1980 thru 3/31/1980:
Low Low: 7.9 on 3/2
High Low: 57.9 on 3/16
Low High: 28 on 1/28
High High: 80.1 on 2/28
Average: 40.7
Snow depth: 5.9" on 2/9
Snow days: 13

This gives me a chance to ask something I have wondered for years. I have always thought that high/lows and low/highs were just as important as just lows and highs. Since you posted this evidently there is a place to find this infor, so please fess up, where do you find it for OKC?

[flintysooner]

Since you posted this evidently there is a place to find this infor, so please fess up, where do you find it for OKC?

I found it on the Old Farmers Almanac.

[HewenttoJared]

Hi lows are extremely important for crops.

[valsvic]

The real issue or question is "How much moisture will we get this winter?"
Remember, before this punishing hot, dry summer, we had a punishing dry and cold winter. The amount of moisture in the atmosphere plays a big role in the overall weather. Temps and otherwise. We need ALOT of REGULAR OCCURING precip to get things back to normal. (I realize "normal" is a relative term for OK).
Bottom line is there are many factors that make for good or bad weather. It seems like the jet stream has been like a crazy game of craps for the last few years.

[venture]

We need a very wet/snowy winter to help us out for next year. If we go through winter very dry again, or with low moisture content snow, we are going to be set up for a repeat next summer. Not to mention a worse fire season.