Oklahoma will unite against one State this week…the battle between OU & Texas will be one fight and the other will happen Thursday night in Stillwater for the OSU vs A&M. Looks like the weather will be great for both.
The drive to Texas…
The Battle Of The RED RIVER
Sarah
Something Oklahoma weather is not…most of the time…but the last few days have been prize-winning TOP 5 DAYS!! Today will be another gorgeous day but tomorrow will become a little breezy with a front pushing through…and a cooler afternoon is in store.
Highs today top off in the 80s.
A cold front pushed into the state overnight.
Sarah
It may now be fall, and while you may have thoughts of Halloween and Thanksgiving in your head, Mother Nature is already thinking about next spring when it comes to wildflower season. Ask any gardener, and they’ll tell you that here in Oklahoma, NOW is the time to start scattering seeds for a spring bloom.
So, why exactly do we plant during the fall? Establishing from seed requires good weather, and just the right amount of patience. The biggest advantage however is that the earlier you seed, the earlier the bloom. When seeding in the fall, you give the seed time to “settle” into the soil. From a visible standpoint, you may not see much, but underground, the seed is laying down a healthy root system. Second, the seed will know when the time is right to bloom, rather than when you think it’s right to bloom by waiting to seed in the spring. (Different species require different temperature. What you may think as being too chilly for seed germination, may be just perfect for your seed to grow.) And third, spring chores can suddenly arise and leave us with weekends that are far too busy for us to accomplish much in the gardens. I know it sounds silly, but I have always looked at this as being a good reason to seed in the fall. In the spring, the weather improves, we start to come out of our hibernation, and next thing we know, it’s April and you still have a pack of seeds at home. By now, it’s too late to enjoy a good bloom. Because by the end of May and beginning of June, most wildflowers are going to seed. Remember, once it gets too hot, your wildflowers will call it quits.And, you need a good 30-45 days for a decent bloom.
Oh, and for those wondering, I took the above picture this past spring in Throckmorton County, Texas. The Indian Blankets were going bonkers. The reason? Because of all the wet weather we had at the end of the fall season and the cold and wet conditions produced during the winter. Having lived in Texas for as long as I did, I don’t recall seeing such a good flower season down there as I did last spring.
-Damon
(PHOTOGRAPHER- LARRY PIERCE)
The days are shorter, the nights are cooler…and in Colorado this past weekend, the trees were blazin with orange and yellows. The fall foliage in The Rockies are about to peak,and in some places, peaking right this moment with incredible colors. Aspen and Birch are the primary trees that change colors in Colorado. The following picture was taken outside of Steamboat Springs, near The Rabbit Ears Pass. (The rock formation on the top of screen, to the right, is said to resemble rabbit ears.)
Colorado isn’t the only state that is seeing fall colors. Many locations from The Pacific Northwest, to The Black Hills and The Grand Tetons are seeing the peak of the fall color arrive this week (Though these areas have mostly pine trees, which don’t change) . Oh, and there may be a tree or two in Kansas that is seeing the fall colors arrive.
As for Oklahoma, we’re still a few weeks away from seeing the colors change. As of right now, I would anticipate mid-October to early November as being the peak of our color season.
-Damon
It’s no surprise that our days are getting shorter and the nights longer. And since the end of March, our days have seen more sunlight than darkness. But starting today, our days will now consist of more darkness than sunshine….
11 hours and 58 mins of sunshine today will eventually give way to only 9 hours and 45 mins of daylight by December 21st. Hey, it could be much worse, in Anchorage, Alaska, on the first day of winter, they’ll only see 5 hours and 30 minutes of daylight.
-Damon
PS- So when can we expect to see more light than dark, gotta wait until March 17th, 2011
If you woke up this morning and didn’t hear the sound of your A/C running, then this may be why!
Talk about some chilly temperatures! Will Rogers Airport cooled down to an unofficial low of 50 degrees. Our record today is 38 degrees. The last time KOKC cooled to 50 degrees was on May 11th of this year. About 4 months and 2 weeks ago. By the way, that was the morning after we had our major severe weather outbreak here in Oklahoma City. Fortunately, this cold front moved in with only a few strong storms in NW Oklahoma. An interesting note, Kenton,Oklahoma, in the far western portion of The Oklahoma Panhandle had one of the warmest morning lows today, of 50 degrees.
-Damon
PS- Oh, and on May 11th, my Minnesota Twins were 21-11 and in 1st place in the AL Central…
Happy Fall to everyone…feels nice out there but yes a tad chilly!
Later today we will warm into the mid 70s. It looks like a very nice day ahead.
Sarah
I think this won’t as much of a blog, as it is a statement. If you’ve wanted cooler weather, you’ll get it. If you wanted less humidity, it’s here. If you wanted snow, you’ll still have to drive north for “a while”. Temperatures are expected to drop into the 40s tonight statewide. It will be the coolest morning for us since late Spring. Don’t ask me the actual date, the intern has already left who would look it up for me, and, hey, it’s a Sunday night.
The upper-level low (Daniel Holdge’s favorite weather term…mine is quagmire) still northeast of us will move away, and high pressure will build in over us. By Monday night, the high should be sitting smack dab over Oklahoma, leading to clear skies, light winds, and a relatively large swing from the morning low to the afternoon high.
Rusty
It may be a new season out there, but the tropics don’t care. They remain active and nothing looks to cool ‘em down anytime soon. Here is our next storm..already brewin..
Could this be Matthew? Possibly! The National Hurricane Center has labeled this area as having a HIGH RISK for development. So, for the year so far, this is where we stand:
We told you earlier this year that this would be a very active hurricane season. And remember, this is just a forecast for hurricanes, this is not a forecast for landfalling hurricanes. (It seems that many people expect every Hurricane to be a landfalling one, when the forecast never calls for such). The outlook appears to show that the hurricane season will have a strong finish as we roll into November. 6 more storms are certainly not out of the question.
-Damon
Throw away everything you learned in earth science class. That is, if your teacher told you that the equinox has exactly 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness. If you look at Oklahoma City’s stats for today, sunrise is at 7:19am and sunset is at 7:26 pm. Thus, 12 hours and 7 minutes of daylight. How could this be? Did the laws of science change since you went to class? Nope… So, what’s going on here?
Well, the sunrise and sunset times are determined by the time the sun first appears over the horizon. Remember that the suns light is bent, giving the illusion that the sun is already above or below the horizon when it’s really not. Thus, the reason why you may not have exactly 12 hours of sunlight. Other factors include the terrain. Take Denver,Colorado. The east is flat, the west is filled with mountains. You may be able to see the sunrise above the horizon since you’re looking across the flat plains, but to the west, you have to battle the mountains. The sun may still be “up”, but it’s tucked behind the mountains.
For Oklahoma City, our “equinox” won’t really occur until September 25th, 2 days from now.
Astronomy is confusing isn’t it?
-Damon
D