Gary McManus
Associate State Climatologist
Oklahoma Climatological Survey

June's weather was certainly calmer than May's, although it did have its moments, including a 500-year rainfall event and plenty of heat for everybody. Data from the Oklahoma Mesonet place this June as the seventh warmest since record keeping began in 1895 with a statewide average temperature of 80.6 degrees, 4.1 degrees above normal. Even the remarkable heat cannot top the historic rains that fell in central Oklahoma on June 14, however. Rainfall totals of 9-11 inches were widespread across the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, with the Oklahoma City North Mesonet site topping the rain gauge at 11.04 inches. More than 9 inches of that total fell in less than six hours, and the intensity bested both the 500-year 6-hour and 12-hour rainfall event maximums. Severe flooding that occurred throughout central Oklahoma due to the heavy rains left hundreds of homes and businesses damaged or destroyed. The official observation of 7.62 inches from Will Rogers International Airport on the 14th broke the previous record of 3.95 inches set on that day in 1930, and broke the June calendar-day rainfall record of 6.75 inches.

While central and northeastern parts of the state saw an abundant surplus of moisture, other areas were left high and dry. The Oklahoma Mesonet site at Camargo recorded less than 20 percent of normal rainfall for the month with a meager total of 0.63 inches. Much of the western one-half and southeastern one-third of the state saw totals of 20-60 percent of normal for the month. West central Oklahoma had an average of 1.36 inches of rainfall and ranked as the 11th-driest June on record for that area. Just to the east, however, central Oklahoma had an average of 6.35 inches for the 26th-wettest June. The statewide average was 3.90 inches, the 56th-wettest June on record despite a deficit of 0.36 inches.

All areas of the state were abundantly warm for the month. The highest temperature of the month was 104 degrees, recorded by Mesonet sites at Mangum on June 5 and Hooker on June 10. The lowest temperature of 51 degrees was recorded at Boise City on the 15th. Severe weather slowed considerably following the active May, although flooding reports associated with the June 14 heavy rain event were understandably numerous. A handful of possible tornadoes were reported in the northwest on June 13, but those numbers are still preliminary.