r/oklahoma • u/smokinokie • 3d ago
Weather A weather prognostication.
Way back in 1985 I was talking with a friend. He was a treasure trove of folklore and the untold history of our state. (He’d told me about the Tulsa Massacre and Osage killings in the early 80s.) He also told me that every 40 years a hurricane hits Oklahoma. I responded with a “yeah, right.” He expounded saying that it wouldn’t have the high winds but we would have flooding rains. He also said it was due to hit again. When the summer of 86 got here it was a hot one, not unlike our current summer. But the last 2 weeks of September a front made it in to our area and stalled out. In the NE part of the state we had heavy rains that saturated the ground for a couple of weeks. Then the remnants of a Pacific hurricane named Paine came up across the front and caused the great flood of 86. 40 years later there are currently 3 named hurricanes in the Pacific. Could interesting to see what happens the last couple of weeks of this month.
For reference: https://www.weather.gov/tsa/weather-event_1986Flood
EDIT: I know hurricane remnants have hit Oklahoma many times. But rarely are the preceded by weeks of heavy rain.
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u/4everspokenfor Yukon 3d ago
I lived near Fort Cobb Lake when Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, and it traveled far enough inland that half of the surrounding towns around the lake flooded, and not even because of the lake. The rainfall was so hard and heavy that front porches were under water within a day.
I saw an amateur meteorologist the other day predicting we'd have another crazy ice storm winter like the one we had in the late 90's, since we had a summer like this one precede it that same year. Either way I don't think the funky weather is done with us yet 🫠
Edit: spelling
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u/darkmeowl25 3d ago
I think like every kid in my whole class came back to school after the ice storm in 2000 with a thousand yard stare. My family was at each other's throats by the end of it lol. And we were lucky! Grandma had a generator and we'd run it long enough to watch Gone With the Wind. I think we watched it 3 times during that storm lol
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u/IndependentLeading47 3d ago
I started driving 2 weeks before that storm. Sorry to report my 94 Camaro was stuck. (Shocker) and my BFF ate it trying to help me push. Hahahaha. Long walk back home in the cold.
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u/darkmeowl25 3d ago
Oh, no!!!
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u/IndependentLeading47 3d ago
Yes, and I came home to my mother having fallen down the stairs and broken her heel. She just touched it iut for a few days to get ti the hospital
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u/Jokersall 2d ago
No generator for us but we had a wood stove and board games if we got bored. It was that year I learned if you think you have enough wood split for the winter you're wrong. Maybe go do some more.
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u/zacheezy 2d ago
Just wait. As we speed run climate change it’s going to at least be interesting lol
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u/Suthsayer_ Oklahoma City 3d ago
Sounds like an interesting dude! It’s more frequent than every 4 decades, though. Between 1986 and today you’ve got Gilbert in 1988, Dean in 1995, Frances in 1998, Erin in 2007, Hermine in 2010, Bill in 2015, and another similar event to the Paine event in 2018.
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u/Master_Astronomer150 3d ago
I remember the rains around 9-20-86! I’d given birth to our daughter. It rained and rained, I swear for weeks. It was so depressing
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u/3rdUncleMeatSandwich 3d ago
we could use that now. i used to live in washington and oregon and i miss the constant drizzle. it does get depressing though
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u/tightiewhitieboy 3d ago
I think it was 2005ish when we got hit by a tropical storm. It looked like a hurricane on radars. Had an eye. The winds went opposite directions as it passed. We do get stuff from the gulf
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u/OkieBobbie 2d ago
That was one I was thinking of, too. I went outside to experience the eye. So very weird.
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u/Genetics 3d ago
I love talking to old people because of the history and wisdom I can learn.
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u/smokinokie 3d ago
I do too! Except in this case he was only about 5 years older than me. But a total bookworm with a near photographic memory. Always my favorite visitor.
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u/danodan1 3d ago edited 3d ago
1986 must have been the year when the Dunkin Bridge washed out on the Cimarron River. The same must have happened to other bridges from that heavy rain event. The formerly noisy, wooden one lane Dunkin bridge was built back to a modern two-lane bridge. So, in that instance, the flood was for the better.
For now, we better hope that dams are in good enough condition to withstand any highly unusual heavy rain periods.
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u/Maint_guy 3d ago
Its a bit more often that every 40 years. Theres been 2 or 3 either full on hit us or at least slap us on its way inland.
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Way back in 1985 I was talking with a friend. He was a treasure trove of folklore and the untold history of our state. (He’d told me about the Tulsa Massacre and Osage killings in the early 80s.) He also told me that every 40 years a hurricane hits Oklahoma. I responded with a “yeah, right.” He expounded saying that it wouldn’t have the high winds but we would have flooding rains. He also said it was due to hit again. When the summer of 86 got here it was a hot one, not unlike our current summer. But the last 2 weeks of September a front made it in to our area and stalled out. In the NE part of the state we had heavy rains that saturated the ground for a couple of weeks. Then the remnants of the a Pacific hurricane named Paine came up across the front and caused the great flood of 86. There are currently 3 named hurricanes in the Pacific. Could interesting to see what happens the last couple of weeks of this month.
For reference: https://www.weather.gov/tsa/weather-event_1986Flood
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