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Feast or famine: Parts of Oklahoma receive rain while others remain in exceptional drought

Raychel Sanner
/
Unsplash

While much of Oklahoma has received consistent rainfall over the past week, the most drought-stricken areas of the state are still parched.

Just about everything northwest of a line that stretches roughly from Altus to Miami is in some stage of drought right now, with the worst of it in the panhandle. Unfortunately, that’s not the part of the state that’s been getting drenched for the past few days.

Most of central and eastern Oklahoma received 1”-6” of rain over the last week, according to the Oklahoma Mesonet Ticker. That was enough to put huge swaths of the state under a days-long flood watch. The panhandle and northwestern corner got some rain too, but it was less than an inch over the whole week.

This week’s U.S. Drought Monitor report looks very similar to the one from exactly a year ago — about 60% of the state is in drought.

A new report will come out Thursday.

Graycen Wheeler is a reporter covering water issues at KOSU as a corps member with Report for America.
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