An extra weather blog for you tonight showing you the fires from a satellite perspective some 23,000 miles into space.
The fires in the Oklahoma City region and now a bit closer to Tulsa are raging tonight, fueled by 110-115° heat today (and for the past few days) dry air, and the festering drought across OK. Winds near the I-44 corridor are gusting to 25 MPH which is creating conditions allowing embers to travel far from the original source thus lighting new fires that fire crews are having a tough time keeping up with. Here is a look at the highs today in Oklahoma.
Now here are the current winds…again higher to the south of I-44.
The fires are visible from space…take a look. click on this image to make it larger.
Our sister station in Oklahoma City has been covering this fire from the air. Here is a link to some of their work today.
Oklahoma City today hit 113° which tied their ALL TIME record high ever. That to me is the most impressive record you can get during the summer months. It also marked their 3rd day with highs 112°+ which is the hottest 3 day stretch in Oklahoma City history. Of course all this heat and dry weather is worsening the drought in that part of the country as well.
It’s so bad that the Turner Turnpike from Tulsa to Oklahoma City was closed @ 5PM on Friday evening. One of the evacuation centers in Turner had to be evacuated due to the fires. In Luther, OK fires are reportedly jumping from home to home. Luther authorities are seeking a suspect because that fire was potentially intentionally set.
Finally I saw this on the KFOR Facebook page…apparently even the squirrels are hot!
Joe
