2014 Oklahoma Drought Conditions

[Plutonic Panda]

Information below is on the on going drought in our state. Keep in mind, OKC and other communities are in constant water restrictions now which at the very least means odd/even watering.

[Urbanized]

Really hope we don't slip back into this cycle. Fortunately it works like SW Oklahoma will get a little bit more than they have been tomorrow, so hopefully that starts tipping the scale back a little.

[Plutonic Panda]

Oklahoma City, driest start in nearly 120 years | Oklahoma City - OKC - KOCO.com

[Plutonic Panda]

From Oklahoma City's Facebook page

Please remember, mandatory odd/even watering (Stage 1) is now permanently in effect. If the drought worsens, additional conservation measures will take effect.

How does odd/even watering work?

• If your address ends in an even number, you can water on even-numbered calendar days.

• If your address ends in an odd number, you can water on odd-numbered calendar days.

Example:

• If your address is 1400, you can water on the 2nd, 4th, 6th of the month and so on.

• If your address is 1401, you can water on the 1st, 3rd, 5th, etc.

- https://www.facebook.com/cityofokc/p...437312/?type=1

[Plutonic Panda]

[bchris02]

Yesterday's rain helped refill some of the creeks and ponds around where I live. Lake Hefner though is starting to look pretty bad and it did very little to better that situation.

[venture]

Yesterday's rain helped refill some of the creeks and ponds around where I live. Lake Hefner though is starting to look pretty bad and it did very little to better that situation.

Any help the rainfall did yesterday, for those that got it, will be gone by the end of the week as we stay dry. The vast majority of people didn't get anything worth writing home about.

[ou48A]

This looks like its going be so dry this year that about all I will be doing is just trying to keep trees, bushes and grass alive with minimal watering.

But don't forget about the foundation......

[ljbab728]

Yesterday's rain helped refill some of the creeks and ponds around where I live. Lake Hefner though is starting to look pretty bad and it did very little to better that situation.

I drove by Lake Hefner on Sunday and was paying close attention to the water level. It certainly wasn't full but it doesn't look "pretty bad" either.

[Urbanized]

It's a little more than 8' below normal elevation. The rain we've had the last few days should help that a bit.

[crimsoncrazy]

Looks like Oklahoma won't have much of a wheat crop again this year.

[Snowman]

Looks like it is likely to get worse before it gets any better


It was pretty clear the gamble they made to do a release at Lake Canton last year was a loss, we may be losing again on that this year since there was not hardly any meaningful replenishment to Canton if we do not get enough local rain.

[Plutonic Panda]

Mustang Times, Wheat woes

[ou48A]

It will take time but maybe this ends our drought?

Intense El Niño May Be Developing (Photo)

El Niño conditions seem to be developing in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, data from satellites and ocean sensors indicate.
A natural climate cycle that brings abnormally toasty temperatures to the Pacific Ocean, El Niño occurs when winds pile up warm water in the eastern part of the equatorial Pacific, triggering changes in atmospheric circulation that affects rainfall and storm patterns around the world.*

[LocoAko]

Fantastic (and disturbing) article about both the short and long term impacts of the drought in Oklahoma.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...ampaign=buffer

[Plutonic Panda]

Is possible we will see desertification in the state? Are any areas in the state going to be added to desertification warning map?

[venture]

Is possible we will see desertification in the state? Are any areas in the state going to be added to desertification warning map?

I believe there are parts in the state that already are.

[Bunty]

On the other hand, as drastically changeable as Oklahoma weather can be, OKC could go back to not being bypassed by flash flooding next year with talk wondering if an all time record total for annual precipitation will be set.

[Urbanized]

I'm not sure any of the state qualifies as true desert in the climatological sense, does it? I mean, certainly I would guess that rainfall totals over the past few drought-ridden years in some portions of Oklahoma are approaching desert levels of aridity, but historically that is not the case. Lots of people think of the area around Little Sahara State Park as desert, but that is actually a geological formation, not a true desert in the climatological sense.

[Plutonic Panda]

If I remember right doesn't Oklahoma have some of most diverse terrain besides Hawaii and California? I thought I read somewhere we have like 10 climate zones. Could be wrong on that though and mistaking it

[venture]

On the other hand, as drastically changeable as Oklahoma weather can be, OKC could go back to not being bypassed by flash flooding next year with talk wondering if an all time record total for annual precipitation will be set.

Which we almost set last year, but we can see that rapid flash flooding does nothing for long term drought improvement. The problem with quick heavy rain is majority just runs off and we see no lasting benefit of it. Perhaps we need to start revisiting new lake development to start taking advantage of those events to retain the water for more than a few days (or however long it takes for it to flow down the Canadian).

[Plutonic Panda]

Do you think we would be allowed to build new lakes? I thought the EPA stopped that or something happened to prevent it. Would be nice to see though.

[bchris02]

From my knowledge the Great Plains has natural wet/dry cycles that last 10-15 years at a time. How far along is the current dry cycle?

[Snowman]

Which we almost set last year, but we can see that rapid flash flooding does nothing for long term drought improvement. The problem with quick heavy rain is majority just runs off and we see no lasting benefit of it. Perhaps we need to start revisiting new lake development to start taking advantage of those events to retain the water for more than a few days (or however long it takes for it to flow down the Canadian).

The city has already been in the process of getting more capacity for years but from south east Oklahoma where there is multiple times the rainfall per square inch, will likely also likely get runoff from mountains and the quality of lake water is generally higher than either of the Canadian rivers.

There are some issues with the N & S Canadian rivers that make it a bit of a gamble in making it our primary water source. The aquifer they feed has been over tapped by Texas ans western Oklahoma for years, so the amount coming downstream to us has been declining even before the drought. They both have fairly narrow catchment areas so even when thunderstorms near us that dump a lot of water them will only channel a small percent of what storms drop near us.

[venture]

The city has already been in the process of getting more capacity for years but from south east Oklahoma where there is multiple times the rainfall per square inch, will likely also likely get runoff from mountains and the quality of lake water is generally higher than either of the Canadian rivers.

There are some issues with the N & S Canadian rivers that make it a bit of a gamble in making it our primary water source. The aquifer they feed has been over tapped by Texas ans western Oklahoma for years, so the amount coming downstream to us has been declining even before the drought. They both have fairly narrow catchment areas so even when thunderstorms near us that dump a lot of water them will only channel a small percent of what storms drop near us.

I'm definitely aware of all of that. I'm not saying we need something the size of Texoma or Eufaula here, but it would seem to be wiser to retain what we do have that falls in this area instead of relying on an pipeline from SE OK.