October 2024 - General Weather Discussion

[Anonymous.]

Looking at a potential freeze along I-40 and points N in low-lying areas for Wednesday morning.

[Anonymous.]

Coldfront has arrived here in OKC. Tonight, we will see our coldest night since winter. Lows into the mid and upper 30s. As mentioned earlier, lower valleys could see an actual freeze.

[Pete]

Straight from the a/c to the heater.

OKC has to be the high utility bill capital of the U.S.

[bison34]

Straight from the a/c to the heater.

OKC has to be the high utility bill capital of the U.S.

https://www.doxo.com/w/insights/u-s-...g-report-2023/

This is for 2023, but OKC isn't nearly as high as you'd think. Electricity is cheap here, as is natural gas.

But I get it. We have extreme weather here, for sure.

[Pete]

^

The per-unit price may be low, but usage is ultra-high.

I had almost non-existent utility bills in California.

[The]

^

The per-unit price may be low, but usage is ultra-high.

I had almost non-existent utility bills in California.

Didn’t you live in Malibu? That is not the case throughout California.

[Pete]

Didn’t you live in Malibu? That is not the case throughout California.

I also owned a home in Thousand Oaks which is inland by about 10 miles. Had an a/c but used it only once or twice a year.

Unless you live far inland or in a valley, the temperature is so temperate it's difficult to comprehend unless you live there. There are very good reasons for the massive housing expense.

[LakeEffect]

According to Forbes, an Oklahoman's overall average utility bill is 18th lowest in the U.S.... just barely above the bottom 1/3rd.

https://www.forbes.com/home-improvem...osts-by-state/

[FighttheGoodFight]

According to Forbes, an Oklahoman's overall average utility bill is 18th lowest in the U.S.... just barely above the bottom 1/3rd.

https://www.forbes.com/home-improvem...osts-by-state/

And this old house has it right about mid-way https://www.thisoldhouse.com/home-fi...lity-bills-101

But Pete is right about Usage for sure: https://www.eia.gov/state/analysis.php?sid=OK

"Total electricity sales in Oklahoma are less than in almost half the states, but its electricity sales per capita are among the top 10 states.77"

[Mississippi Blues]

I also owned a home in Thousand Oaks which is inland by about 10 miles. Had an a/c but used it only once or twice a year.

Unless you live far inland or in a valley, the temperature is so temperate it's difficult to comprehend unless you live there. There are very good reasons for the massive housing expense.

That’s valid for within 30 miles of the coasts and the Shasta Cascades region where it feels like an extension of the Pacific Northwest, but anyone that lives in the Inland Empire, Central Valley or points eastward, that changes quickly. It’s still not like Oklahoma with all the extremes we get, but there’s a reason people harp on about San Diego, Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Francisco but forget Bakersfield, Fresno, Merced, Modesto, Stockton are part of the same state.

[Pete]

Even in the vast Inland Empire it doesn't get hot and stay hot like here and it doesn't get nearly as cold.

In the dead of summer, the evenings and mornings are still very nice.

[Mississippi Blues]

Even in the vast Inland Empire it doesn't get hot and stay hot like here and it doesn't get nearly as cold.

In the dead of summer, the evenings and mornings are still very nice.

Which is why I said “it’s still not as extreme as Oklahoma.” There’s not many places as year-round extreme as Oklahoma, but being more tolerable with lower utilities than Oklahoma doesn’t make the areas I mentioned as mild or temperate as Malibu or Thousand Oaks, and it doesn’t take long (not factoring in traffic) for that to become apparent.

[Bunty]

Even in the vast Inland Empire it doesn't get hot and stay hot like here and it doesn't get nearly as cold.

In the dead of summer, the evenings and mornings are still very nice.

I doubt for the summer heat in Riverside. Riverside has record highs into the hundreds for 9 out of 12 months. I doubt Riverside ever had a summer in which it never got to 100. At least very true that it never gets below zero there.

[BoulderSooner]

that is good for california ... their average KWH price is almost triple that of oklahoma ..

[Pete]

ONG also charges you a minimum of $35 per month, even if you don't use any gas at all. That doesn't happen in California.

Also, Cali has was more liberal incentives on solar which is why you see it all over the place out there and very rarely here.

My utilities were roughly 1/3rd what I pay here and home insurance is more as well.

[Bunty]

TV weather put the low for Stillwater at 29, but at my urban Stillwater location it was 36. So, none of my flowers, the marigolds, died. The 29 low is from a Mesonet station. It's located in a rural OSU location west of OSU campus. Where it froze in the rural areas surely killed off the ragweed and other pollen sources for allergy suffers.

[gjl]

Looks like we are headed back to the mid to upper 80s next week SMH.

[Anonymous.]

Beautiful weekend coming up. Then yes, we head back to record high temperatures and continued strengthening of drought. Fire danger will really start picking up next week.

Looks like W/NW OK could get a drink this weekend. For C OK, I don't see any legitimate rain chances through the end of the month. The latest drought monitor that came out today (10/17) has over 30% of the state in Cat 4 drought [Extreme]. I would not be surprised to see the highest Category 5 [Exceptional] return to our state on the next outlook.

The recent tropical systems saved the east coast, otherwise the whole eastern half of the US would be in some form of a drought.

[C_M_25]

I know we’ve had worse droughts but this is up there in the top 5 for what I’ve experienced.

[BG918]

Models are in agreement that NE NM and the Texas/Oklahoma panhandles will see some high rainfall totals over the weekend. Then there is divergence in the models with what happens after with the GFS showing potential for heavy rains across Texas and the others not showing anything.

[OkiePoke]

ONG also charges you a minimum of $35 per month, even if you don't use any gas at all. That doesn't happen in California.

Also, Cali has was more liberal incentives on solar which is why you see it all over the place out there and very rarely here.

My utilities were roughly 1/3rd what I pay here and home insurance is more as well.

Those incentives have gone away for roof top solar, well at least changed quite a bit.

[Pete]

Those incentives have gone away for roof top solar, well at least changed quite a bit.

Lots of the solar incentives come from the local energy companies and municipalities, not just federal.

The state also provides easy financing through slightly increased property tax and a long payout.


When I moved back here I was shocked to see a tiny percentage of solar arrays compared to what you see all over California.

I'd say fully half my neighbors there had solar and in my current neighborhood it's maybe 1%.

[April in the Plaza]

Lots of the solar incentives come from the local energy companies and municipalities, not just federal.

The state also provides easy financing through slightly increased property tax and a long payout.


When I moved back here I was shocked to see a tiny percentage of solar arrays compared to what you see all over California.

I'd say fully half my neighbors there had solar and in my current neighborhood it's maybe 1%.

isn't the net metering situation also a mess here?

like, the utility will buy kWh's back but it won't be anywhere close to the market rate. last i heard, the average was like 3 cents/kWh.

[OkiePoke]

isn't the net metering situation also a mess here?

like, the utility will buy kWh's back but it won't be anywhere close to the market rate. last i heard, the average was like 3 cents/kWh.

Correct. You sell to OG&E at wholesale (like 3 cents).

Net Metering in California has recently changed, too. They had some issues w/ the duck curve, etc. Had to come up with some other ways to provide a consistent power generation curve.

[Pete]

How many times have we gone a full month with zero or close to zero precip?