1. Oklahoma Climate and Weather

2. Climate  Oklahoma has a humid sub tropical climate.  The key word to describe OK’s overall climate is mild.  The sun shines 2/3 of all daylight hours.  Southerly winds dominate in the spring, summer, and fall. Northerly winds prevail in the winter.  Extremely cold weather for an extended period is unusual. Overall OK does not receive much snow.

3. Weather  Weather can change very quickly in OK.  Thunderstorms are frequent in the spring, summer, and fall. The clash of hot and cold air masses lead to the development of thunderstorms and tornadoes.  The worst tornado in OK history was on May 3, 1999. It started south of Chickasha and ended north of Midwest City.

6. Weather  This tornado had the highest wind speeds ever recorded (over 310mph)  The damage in the Moore area was unbelievable. Video of May 3rd Tornado Video of May 3rd TornadoVideo of May 3rd Tornado  The previous worst tornado disaster was in 1947 in Woodward, OK. There were 95 killed. The tornado came at night with little warning.

10. Weather  SE OK averages over 50 inches of rain per year. The panhandle gets less than 16. The records for rainfall in a year are 84.5 inches (LeFlore Co.) and 6.5 inches (Cimarron).  The record snowfall is 87 inches in Beaver Co. in 1911-12. SE OK averages 2 inches of snow and the panhandle 20 inches.

11. Weather  Southern OK is the warmest part of the state the panhandle the coldest.  OK average temperature is 60 degrees.  The record high temperature in OK is 120 at Tishomingo in July 1934.  The record cold temperature is -20 in February 1930 in Watts.