The Finch Formerly Known As Gold

1 January 2006

Fired up

The winds hit 45 mph on a regular basis this afternoon, and the temperature was an amazing (and a record) 75 degrees. Perfect weather for grass fires, and they got bad enough on the northeast side of town that an evacuation order was issued for an area centered on NE 63rd between Coltrane and Sooner, an area largely rural, but only about two to three miles from I-35. Farther north, fires near Guthrie forced the closure of the highway for an hour or so.

Winds are slowing down now, but relative humidities are still low and won't climb much tonight. Monday will be cooler; however, temperatures will rise sharply again on Tuesday.

Posted at 8:19 PM to Weather or Not


We can smell the smoke all the way over here in Tulsa.

Posted by: Steven Roemerman at 9:54 PM on 1 January 2006

Wasn't sure on which side of town you lived, so glad to hear you're ok. Isn't this weather crazy? I seriously considered wearing shorts yesterday.

Posted by: rita at 3:13 AM on 2 January 2006

Absurd. The NWS reported this morning that the temperature had actually touched 77 yesterday afternoon.

Lower 60s today, maybe, but the winds will still be up, and tomorrow looks like a repeat of yesterday.

Posted by: CGHill at 7:25 AM on 2 January 2006

Charles, I think we should give a big thank you to all the fire departments especially the volunteers, they have been working their tails off to try to keep the state from going up in smoke. Last report I heard on it over 900 departments have been involved and a lot of the volunteers have used up their yearly fuel allotments, but they keep fighting. So once again cheers and thank you to all our brave firefighters.
Regards,
anomdragon

Posted by: anomdragon at 3:54 PM on 2 January 2006

We've had a few imported from non-adjacent states, in fact, to help out with this scary business.

Posted by: CGHill at 3:55 PM on 2 January 2006

If I could send this rain that's nagging over Brooklyn right now, your way...

Posted by: Tat at 4:57 PM on 2 January 2006

I'll take it. We've had a bit less than a third of an inch since Halloween; there are other parts of the state — and in Texas — which haven't come close to that.

Posted by: CGHill at 5:11 PM on 2 January 2006