Relentless heat, scant rainfall send drought surging statewide
Oklahoma baked beneath a relentless sun during the third-warmest and fifth-driest August on record. Vegetation withered and turned yellow, ponds dried up, lake levels fell and wildfires flared across the state. By month’s end, drought covered all of Oklahoma—more than double its coverage just four weeks earlier—as flash drought ran amok.
Triple-digit heat digs in August’s defining feature was the relentless heat. The statewide average temperature finished at 86.5°F, 5.7°F above normal, ranking as the third-warmest August since statewide records began in 1895. Regional heat was even more exceptional as the Panhandle and west-central Oklahoma each experienced their warmest August on record. At least one Oklahoma Mesonet site reached 100°F every day during the month, and the statewide average high finished at 100.8°F.
