Oklahoma, 2010

Excessive Heat in Oklahoma, July 12 to 23, 2010

July 12 to 23, 2010 · NWS TSA · 25 events in 25 counties and zones

A strong subtropical high pressure system developed and remained over the south central United States for a prolonged period during the middle of July. This resulted in an extended period of exceptionally hot weather.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 22 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
1
Injuries
28
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
25

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS TSA wrote it up.

A strong subtropical high pressure system developed and remained over the south central United States for a prolonged period during the middle of July. This resulted in an extended period of exceptionally hot weather. Temperatures were above normal with daytime readings reaching the mid 90s to near 100 and overnight temperatures only falling into the mid to upper 70s. Very humid conditions as a result of the excessive rainfall that occurred earlier in the month and subsequent highly saturated soils resulted in afternoon heat index values between 105 and 115 degrees. At least 28 people were treated for heat-related illness in the Tulsa area during this period and a heat-related death occurred in Skiatook on the 22nd.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 12, 11:23 AM CST, 1 hour 37 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 12, 11:23 AM CST, 1 hour 37 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>
Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 12, 12:02 PM CST, 58 minutes before
<!doctype html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
  <meta charset="utf-8">
  <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
  <title>Service Notice</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="index.css">
</head>
<body>
  <main class="wrap">
    <section class="card" role="status" aria-live="polite">
      <div class="status" id="status">Temporary Notice</div>
      <h1 id="headline">This service is currently unavailable.</h1>
      <p id="message1">
        The site you requested is temporarily down for maintenance or an unexpected outage.
      </p>
      <p id="message2">
        Please try again in a few minutes.
      </p>
      <p class="small" id="detail">
        If you are an administrator, restore upstream service and remove the redirect/fallback rule when normal operations resume.
      </p>
    </section>
  </main>
  <script src="index.js"></script>
</body>
</html>

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

25 excessive heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Excessive Heat, Pushmataha

When
July 12, 1:00 PM CST to July 20, 6:00 PM CST
Where
Pushmataha forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
34.416, -95.376 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Choctaw

When
July 12, 1:00 PM CST to July 20, 6:00 PM CST
Where
Choctaw forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
34.027, -95.552 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Le Flore

When
July 12, 1:00 PM CST to July 23, 9:00 PM CST
Where
Le Flore forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations

Excessive Heat, Osage

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 9:00 PM CST
Where
Osage forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations

Excessive Heat, Washington

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 9:00 PM CST
Where
Washington forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
36.715, -95.904 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Nowata

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 9:00 PM CST
Where
Nowata forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
36.799, -95.617 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Craig

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 9:00 PM CST
Where
Craig forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
36.762, -95.208 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Ottawa

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 9:00 PM CST
Where
Ottawa forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
36.836, -94.810 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Pawnee

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 9:00 PM CST
Where
Pawnee forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
36.317, -96.699 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Tulsa

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 8:00 PM CST
Where
Tulsa forecast zone
Deaths
1 direct, 0 indirect
Injuries
28 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
36.121, -95.941 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Rogers

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 8:00 PM CST
Where
Rogers forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
36.372, -95.604 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Mayes

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 8:00 PM CST
Where
Mayes forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
36.302, -95.231 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Delaware

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 8:00 PM CST
Where
Delaware forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
36.408, -94.803 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Creek

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 8:00 PM CST
Where
Creek forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
35.903, -96.371 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Okfuskee

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 8:00 PM CST
Where
Okfuskee forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
35.466, -96.323 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Okmulgee

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 8:00 PM CST
Where
Okmulgee forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
35.647, -95.964 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Wagoner

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 8:00 PM CST
Where
Wagoner forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
35.961, -95.521 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Cherokee

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 8:00 PM CST
Where
Cherokee forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
35.907, -95.000 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Adair

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 8:00 PM CST
Where
Adair forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
35.884, -94.659 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Muskogee

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 8:00 PM CST
Where
Muskogee forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
35.616, -95.379 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, McIntosh

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 8:00 PM CST
Where
McIntosh forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
35.374, -95.667 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Sequoyah

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 8:00 PM CST
Where
Sequoyah forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations

Excessive Heat, Haskell

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 23, 8:00 PM CST
Where
Haskell forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
35.225, -95.117 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Pittsburg

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 20, 6:00 PM CST
Where
Pittsburg forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
34.924, -95.748 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Excessive Heat, Latimer

When
July 13, 2:00 AM CST to July 20, 6:00 PM CST
Where
Latimer forecast zone
Reported by
Official NWS Observations
Coordinates
34.876, -95.250 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

EventDateAgeSexWhereKind
Excessive Heat, Tulsa2010-07-2293MaleUnknownDirect

What these are

Excessive Heat
Heat at or above the local excessive heat warning criteria, or heat that caused deaths.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Oklahoma in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, July 2010

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 254391, 254394, 254395, 254398, 254400, 254402, 254405, 254406, 254408, 254410, 254411, 254412, 254413, 254416, 254418, 254419, 254420, 254423, 254424, 254426, 254428, 254430, 254431, 254433, 254434.