December 2022 - General Weather Discussion

[ChrisHayes]

Outside of a pocket around Sequoyah County the entire state is below-normal for the year with historically low annual totals across northern OK. Case in point, the Arkansas River through Tulsa has been mostly dry for the past several months. Entering the driest months December-February I don't expect these numbers to improve significantly but remain hopeful for a wet spring. A wet spring has followed the last few major droughts.

We're 3 years into a La Nina cycle. That's been a big driver of the drought, not only in Oklahoma, but across a good swath of the country. We might break out of La Nina late winter or in the spring. We may even go into an El Nino. That should help feed a lot better rainfall for the country. The 2011/2012 heat waves and drought were also fed by a La Nina.

[BG918]

We're 3 years into a La Nina cycle. That's been a big driver of the drought, not only in Oklahoma, but across a good swath of the country. We might break out of La Nina late winter or in the spring. We may even go into an El Nino. That should help feed a lot better rainfall for the country. The 2011/2012 heat waves and drought were also fed by a La Nina.

Yes this is very similar to the La Nina in 2011-12 which typically means lower rainfall/drought for the southwest and central regions. We should be getting into a wetter period as early as next year possibly later in '23. Typically El Nino brings more severe t-storms/tornadoes to the state