Warm weekend will give way to cold fronts

By Augie Frost

Published: January 7, 2008

A record high temperature of 75 degrees was set Sunday in Oklahoma City, and other records were set across the state over the weekend.

The warm temperatures also kept firefighters busy fighting wildfires statewide.

The previous record for high temperature on a Jan. 6 in Oklahoma City was 68 degrees set in 1921, said National Weather Service forecaster Daryl Williams.

Other records were set or tied in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, McAlester, Lawton and Ponca City over the weekend.

Weather records for Oklahoma City date back to 1890.

Williams said a front pushing in from the southwest brought warm temperatures with it. The warm, dry air also brought with it high winds, which is a cause for wildfire concerns.

Wildfires were reported in Durham, Glenco, Geary, Dale, Oklahoma City and Maysville throughout the day Sunday. Crews in Oklahoma City battled a wildfire that burned about 10 acres, a fire dispatcher said.

The fire started in a field near NE 44 and Westminster about 1 p.m. Sunday, the dispatcher said. The fire spread rapidly to a wooded area where the ice storm had left a lot of fallen debris, making it difficult to put out the fire.

Crews fought the fire for more than an hour before putting it out. No structures were damaged and no injuries were reported.

Firefighters from Geary, Hinton, Greenfield and Watonga battled a wildfire near Geary that burned a dozen or more acres Sunday evening, a Geary dispatcher said. No structures were damaged and the fire appeared to be under control by about 5 p.m.

Fire crews from Pauls Valley and Maysville also battled a wildfire Sunday evening near Maysville. Details were not immediately available.

A large wildfire northeast of Lawton burned about 10 square miles, including a few structures Saturday, but no homes, officials said. No injuries were reported, but the fire burned for several hours before firefighters from more than a dozen departments extinguished the blaze.

The highest risk of wildfires is in far western Oklahoma, according to the National Weather Service in Norman.

"The bad news is we had the good rains in the summer and fall, which allowed for the grass and vegetation to grow,” Williams said. "But all the fallen brush after the ice storm just created fuel to sustain those fires.”

A cold front is expected to push into the state as early as tonight, Williams said, with a 30 percent chance of rain in central Oklahoma.

Temperatures will stay in the low 70s today with overnight highs dipping into the 20s and 30s across the state. Winds will be swift across the state as the two fronts collide in the coming days.

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