Oklahoma’s Heat Relief Keeps Moving Further Away

Another brutally hot week is winding down, and to no surprise, the heat relief in the extended forecast is moving further out again. It's so weird.

How many times must we do this?

We talked about this last Friday when the temps were supposed to come back into a normal Oklahoma August range in the mid-to-upper 90s by this weekend. Today, those glorious 90s are two weeks out again, and I don't think they'll stay there. It's the trend. I suspect they'll keep moving deeper into September.

Why The Forecast Keeps Moving The Finish Line

I'm starting to wonder if the forecast is just moving the finish line because it knows we're getting tired of looking at it. But there is actually an interesting reason the extended forecast keeps changing, and it has a lot to do with just how stubborn this heat is being.

I'm not trying to say that Oklahoma isn't normally hot in August. It is. I can remember the time Central Mall resurfaced the parking lot to a glossy jet black, must have been 2015 or so. The temperature on that hot August day was 113 degrees - actual air temp, measured at the airport - which means the heat island temp in that parking lot was likely closer to 115+.

The only reason I can remember that is that I melted a pair of Crocs while walking inside to do some back-to-school shopping with my nephews.

We're definitely on one of those high-heat cycles again this year.

Now the forecast is predicting a drop back into the normal 90s by the first week of September... Or so they say today.

Would that be awesome? Yeah... But the question remains... will that happen?

Oklahoma Has Seen Heat Like This Before

I don't know how long you've lived in Oklahoma, but stretching 100+ degree temperatures deep into September isn't a wild thought. We've seen it before. We've taken the kids trick-or-treating on 99-degree Halloweens before. That's pretty rare, but it has happened.

Of course, it's super hard to say. Just a few months ago, around the start of spring, we were coming off one of the best winters ever across Oklahoma. People had Christmas picnics outdoors. We went to see Santa in shorts and tees. And the worries about summer crept in.

If it's so warm this winter, how brutal will summer be? And to be honest, up until this past week or so, it's been pretty average for a normal summer... But when you start seeing back-to-back-to-back-to-back 113-degree days on the 7-day forecast, that's enough to kill any motivation for fall sports - football, soccer, etc.

All the same, if that first big cold front does roll in on September 2nd and cools everything down, we still won't be happy. The complaints will just evolve into allergy hate instead of this heat.