Drought, Coal
- When
- September 13, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
- Where
- Coal forecast zone
- Reported by
- Drought Monitor
- Coordinates
- 34.588, -96.298 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Drought in Oklahoma, September 13 to 30, 2016
Abnormally dry conditions allowed severe drought to reform over parts of south central Oklahoma, showing up on the drought monitor on the 13th and lasting into October.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 7 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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 7
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 OUN wrote it up.
Abnormally dry conditions allowed severe drought to reform over parts of south central Oklahoma, showing up on the drought monitor on the 13th and lasting into October.
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 Norman, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 12, 11:15 PM CST, 45 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Sep 12, 11:15 PM CST, 45 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Norman OK 1215 AM CDT TUE SEP 13 2016 .DISCUSSION... The September 13, 2016 06 UTC TAF discussion follows... && .AVIATION... Generally expect VFR conditions to continue through tomorrow morning. Overnight, there is a low probability thunderstorms could impact KGAG and KWWR; however, the probability is too low to include in TAFs. A northerly wind shift is expected to shift southward across northwest Oklahoma tomorrow morning. Low stratus/MVFR ceilings are expected to develop behind the wind shift. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop tomorrow afternoon in vicinity of the wind shift (primarily across western Oklahoma), which could bring brief MVFR conditions. Mahale && .PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 902 PM CDT MON SEP 12 2016/ UPDATE... Decreased rain chances tonight in northwestern Oklahoma. Added low rain chances after 1 am in far western north Texas. Increased cloud cover tonight. DISCUSSION... Storm formation this evening appears to be very low due to strong capping across northwestern Oklahoma. A few cells have tried to form near Greensburg and Meade Kansas near the cold front, but have struggled to maintain themselves. Think this trend will continue, especially with the loss of daytime heating. Lowered rain chances tonight to 20% and kept mention northwest of an Arnett to Medford line. Latest models have been depicting a signal for possible storm development late tonight in far western north Texas with QPF depicted, mainly west of a Quanah to Seymour line. This may be a result of increasing low and mid level isentropic ascent. Added 20% chance of storms to account for this after 1 AM tonight. The rest of the area should remain mostly cloudy and dry tonight. Overnight lows were lowered about 1-2 degrees as the air remains fairly dry with surface dewpoints mainly in the lower to mid 60s, which combined with some thin cirrus clouds and a decent southerly breezy should allow for some radiational cooling. Products will be updated shortly. MBS PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 635 PM CDT MON SEP 12 2016/ DISCUSSION... The September 12, 2016 00 UTC TAF discussion follows... AVIATION... Generally expect VFR conditions through the TAF period. Gusty southerly winds are expected to weaken this evening and will remain relatively light tomorrow. There is a low probability thunderstorms could impact KGAG and KWWR this evening, but the probability is too low to include in TAFs. A northerly wind shift is expected to shift southward across northwest Oklahoma tomorrow morning, which will shift the winds at KGAG and KWWR. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop tomorrow afternoon in vicinity of the wind shift. Thunderstorms are most likely at KGAG/KWWR/KCSM; any storms may briefly reduce flight conditions to MVFR at these terminals. Mahale PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 320 PM CDT MON SEP 12 2016/ DISCUSSION... No significant change to the general forecast thoughts this afternoon as a relatively cool period with scattered storms is expected. The surface front will move into northwest Oklahoma tomorrow morning before stalling somewhere over the southern plains. Cloudiness and storm chances will increase as humidity increases and various shortwaves move over the area aiding in convection. Specific timing of storms will be tricky as usual in these situations, but there will be at least chance pops each period for a few days. Precipitation chances look to decrease late Saturday as a surface ridge moves south into the plains, although it may not completely clear the storm chances out this weekend. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Oklahoma City OK 67 90 67 85 / 0 20 40 30 Hobart OK 69 89 66 83 / 10 30 40 40 Wichita Falls TX 70 92 69 88 / 10 10 30 30 Gage OK 65 79 60 77 / 20 40 50 40 Ponca City OK 67 88 65 82 / 10 20 40 30 Durant OK 68 91 69 90 / 0 0 20 30 && .OUN Watches/Warnings/Advisories... OK...None. TX...None. && 17/10/10
Hazardous weather outlook, Sep 12, 8:19 PM CST, 3 hours 41 minutes before
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK 919 PM CDT MON SEP 12 2016 OKZ004>048-050>052-TXZ083>090-140230- HARPER-WOODS-ALFALFA-GRANT-KAY-ELLIS-WOODWARD-MAJOR-GARFIELD- NOBLE-ROGER MILLS-DEWEY-CUSTER-BLAINE-KINGFISHER-LOGAN-PAYNE- BECKHAM-WASHITA-CADDO-CANADIAN-OKLAHOMA-LINCOLN-GRADY-MCCLAIN- CLEVELAND-POTTAWATOMIE-SEMINOLE-HUGHES-HARMON-GREER-KIOWA-JACKSON- TILLMAN-COMANCHE-STEPHENS-GARVIN-MURRAY-PONTOTOC-COAL-COTTON- JEFFERSON-CARTER-JOHNSTON-ATOKA-LOVE-MARSHALL-BRYAN-HARDEMAN- FOARD-WILBARGER-WICHITA-KNOX-BAYLOR-ARCHER-CLAY- 919 PM CDT MON SEP 12 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF NORTHERN... WESTERN...CENTRAL...AND SOUTHERN OKLAHOMA...AND WESTERN NORTH TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT... .THUNDERSTORMS... ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE TONIGHT ACROSS PARTS OF NORTHERN OKLAHOMA. A FEW THUNDERSTORMS MAY OCCUR AFTER 1 AM TONIGHT IN FAR WESTERN NORTH TEXAS AND FAR SOUTHWESTERN OKLAHOMA. IF STORMS OCCUR TONIGHT...LOCALLY HEAVY DOWNPOURS WOULD BE POSSIBLE. NO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY... .THUNDERSTORMS... THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE EACH DAY. THE MOST WIDESPREAD THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IS EXPECTED THURSDAY THROUGH EARLY SATURDAY. ALTHOUGH SEVERE WEATHER CHANCES WILL REMAIN LOW...HIGH RAIN TOTALS COULD LEAD TO LOCALIZED FLOODING. .HEAVY RAIN... HEAVY RAIN AND AREAS OF FLOODING MAY OCCUR WEDNESDAY THROUGH THIS WEEKEND. GET GRAPHICS AND MORE DETAILS AT WEATHER.GOV/NORMAN...AND FOLLOW OUR WEATHER FORECAST OFFICE ON TWITTER AND FACEBOOK. MBS
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
7 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Drought, Atoka
- When
- September 13, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
- Where
- Atoka forecast zone
- Reported by
- Drought Monitor
- Coordinates
- 34.374, -96.038 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Drought, Hughes
- When
- September 13, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
- Where
- Hughes forecast zone
- Reported by
- Drought Monitor
- Coordinates
- 35.048, -96.250 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Drought, Johnston
- When
- September 13, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
- Where
- Johnston forecast zone
- Reported by
- Drought Monitor
- Coordinates
- 34.317, -96.661 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Drought, Pontotoc
- When
- September 13, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
- Where
- Pontotoc forecast zone
- Reported by
- Drought Monitor
- Coordinates
- 34.728, -96.684 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Drought, Murray
- When
- September 13, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
- Where
- Murray forecast zone
- Reported by
- Drought Monitor
- Coordinates
- 34.482, -97.068 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Drought, Seminole
- When
- September 13, 12:00 AM CST to September 30, 11:59 PM CST
- Where
- Seminole forecast zone
- Reported by
- Drought Monitor
- Coordinates
- 35.168, -96.615 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
What these are
- Drought
- A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Tornado and Damaging Wind in Florida, September 13, 2016
- Marine Thunderstorm Winds in South Atlantic Coastal Waters, September 13, 2016
- Flash Flood and Flooding in Missouri, September 13 to 14, 2016
- Frost and Freeze in Montana, September 13, 2016
- Tropical Storm and Flood in Florida, September 13 to 15, 2016
- Drought in Rhode Island, September 13 to 30, 2016
- Flash Flooding and Hail in Kansas, September 13, 2016
- Drought in Texas, September 13 to 26, 2016
- Drought in Massachusetts, September 13 to 30, 2016
- Drought in Connecticut, September 13 to 30, 2016
- Flooding in Puerto Rico, September 13, 2016
- Tropical Storm in Georgia, September 13 to 15, 2016
More
Every storm in Oklahoma in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, September 2016
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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 655410, 655411, 655412, 655413, 655414, 655416, 655417.