We got a quarter-inch this morning, and half a rainbow. It wasn't a lot, but it was better than nothing. Of course, the ground doesn't look moist at all, but it was moist for a little while.

That's a touchy subject with me today. The thunder and wind woke me up at 5:30 this morning and kept me awake until I finally fell back asleep around 7. Then my fiance barged in after his overnight shift all happy and excited and told me we had a heat burst. The temperature was in the upper 90s at 8:30 this morning. We didn't get even a hundredth of an inch of rain out of the whole thing, either. Sigh. This summer is fired.

I got barely enough to cover the bottom of the rain gauge this morning, but I did have an inch yesterday.

The BIG question is....Did JAY get rain? The rain came from his direction, I think.

Lisa

Zero zip zilch nada here in Owasso area. It was dark, thundering, looked like it was going to open up and pour, but we just had about 12 sprinkles and it was gone....

Heather,

I saw the higher temperature on the OK Mesonet's temperature map and wondered if there was a heat burst! I had no idea it was ruining your sleep though. : ) You have my sympathy. My DH in in his third straight year of working nights and I don't think either of us has had a single good night's sleep since then. A schedule like that turns a person's life upside down. On the other hand, I get out of cooking a big meal on many days because he eats dinner when I'm eating breakfast and vice versa, so there's no point in me cooking a big dinner just for myself when a cold sandwich, chips and fruit makes me just as happy---especially on hot days.

E, When Tim was driving home from work (I get up at the crack of dawn and talk to him as he makes the 90-mile drive home because he tends to fall asleep at the wheel otherwise) he kept telling me it looked like it was going to rain here. I told him nope, I'd been outside, only clouds, no rain. He was very insistent. I checked the radar, and there were little spotty showers, but not close to us. Again, I said "nope, no rain here". We had this conversation over and over again interspersed with normal talk as he drove home. He arrived home, walked in and said "it's raining". I went outside. Didn't see or feel a raindrop. Looked at the radar and said "looks like it is raining at Burneyville and not here". He went upstairs and hollered back down to say "It's raining!" I sighed, shook my head and decided he was hallucinating. A few minutes later I walked out onto the sunporch. It was raining! Real rain. Droplets of moisture. That yummy rain smell. Rain-cooled air. Half a rainbow. So, when he wakes up, I'll have to concede to him that it did indeed rain after he went to sleep. Still, I never saw or felt rain when he was awake and insisting it was raining.

Of course, now we have higher humidity and the sun is out and it is so hot and steamy that I could just scream. It wouldn't help though.

Dawn

Wow. Sounds like most only got a tease. How sad! We've just been very blessed to catch rain from all the storms, just enough to get a good drench in the ground before it moves on. This morning it was only spitting but the soil was still very wet. I was sure to cover as much of it up as I could to maintain some moisture. I hope ya'll get some good rain soon, though I know it would take a serious amount to make a difference. *sigh

I would have welcomed the lack of sleep if the thunder came with something wet! The drought monitor will have to draw a little bullseye around us since everyone else has gotten a decent amount of rain the last two nights.

I can't imagine what a 90-minute commute would be like every day, not even considering that it's after overnight shifts. I'd be falling asleep at the wheel too! We only have about a 20 minute commute to the National Weather Center, and FH never seems to be all that tired after work anyway. My sleep just gets messed up by the fact that he is always so chatty after work and wants to tell me all about his day (or night). For overnights it's not so bad because I need to be up around the time he gets home anyway, but the evening shifts are hard. I often don't get to sleep for those until around 1:30 am. I shouldn't complain, though, because as much I dislike staying up or waking up early to talk to him after work, actually working those rotating shifts is so much harder on him than it is on me.

Bless your heart, miraje. My disabilities screwed up my schedule for a long time. Once I got back onto sleeping through most nights I felt so much better over all. I know how ya feel!

Got .3 inch yesterday morn. Nada today. But just have to chime in about those crazy shifts. Dh worked swing shift--supposedly--for 15 years. And he drove 1 hr and 45 min for most of that one way. He left at 1 pm to get to work by 3pm and then got home anytime between 1 am and 3 am if he had to work overtime. Then after his diagnosis he was put on daytime--kinda. Then got up at 4:30am to get to work by 7am. Now that he is retired he sleeps a lot more and whenever he wants.

Lisa to answer your question. We had 6 inches. 6 inches between drops. If you watched the radar it looked like it went over us. Came from the NW and split. They got rain west, south, east and north of us. Just enough to get my shirt damp. One thing I know for sure is we are one day closer. We have had under 3 inches in the last 11 months. Many are selling their cows. They started out culling now down to liquidating. My BIL and sister have an interest in a local sale barn. They have had the biggest June runs since they've owned it. As my BIL said they are having their fall run in the summer. Won't be any calves for a fall run though. Some areas got from a half inch to an inch. I would imagine Jan got some. The plant where I'm working east of Forgan got around 3/4 of an inch. They had over an inch 10 days ago. So they are dry but nothing like us. A half inch don't last long when it is 105 with 25 mph winds. Glad some of you got rain. Jay

I can't believe it, but we got rain. I think it's been over 100 days without a drop. It poured heavily for about 5-10 minutes. Enough for the ground to get decently wet. Happy dance! Maybe this drought is starting to break?

Jay, I watched that storm developing and was sure thinking some might come your way, but it just didn't happen. Yesterday morning I was trying to work fast outside because I knew rain was on the way. It got cloudy and I came inside to eat. I looked at the Mesonet screen while I was eating and watched the rain go just south of us, maybe 15 miles. We didn't get a drop.

I forgot to add that we had ten inches of lightning and most of the local fire depts fought fire most of Tuesday evening and night. It was sun up before some of them were finished. That is the way it is during a severe drought. I pray for and am thankful for the volunteer firemen who have fought fires consistently for 3 months now. Jay

Oh, Jay, I'm so sorry! I saw that big cloud on the radar and hoped it was all for you.

Lisa

Jay,

Three inches in 11 months is so incredibly low! If y'all didn't have deep sand, i guess all your trees would be in really bad trouble by this point.

I am sorry that rain missed you. Like Lisa, I was hoping it would hit your place.

That's really sad about the ranchers having to liquidate. It is so heartbreaking to see that happen when some of them have spent decades building their breeding lines. We went through that here during/immediately after the 2005/06 drought. It isn't just the financial losses either. You know, it is hard to see lifelong ranchers feeling so disheartened, demoralized and defeated by the climate.

I hope y'all get a break from all those fires soon. I know your firefighters must be exhausted. The lighting-ignited fires are so dangerous. One day a couple of years ago we were out fighing one of those fires, and lightning was everywhere all around us. I was so worried that one of our firefighters would be struck by lightning.

Tracy, We're dancing the happy dance for you. Hope you get more rain. The best thing about the rain here, piddly amount though it may have been, wasn't even the rain---it was the rain-cooled air! For a couple of hours you could walk outside without feeling like you were going to drop dead.

Did y'all notice Arlene came ashore in Mexico. So, at least they are getting rain now, which is good because they're having a drought too.

Dawn

I believe we recieved about .5" a few days ago in Harper county. didn't do a whole lot of good, but its better than nothing.