Oklahoma Just Experienced a 1,000-Year Rainfall Event

On any given day in Oklahoma, the Panhandle doesn't come up in normal conversation.

Sure, there's a social media meme where people ask what goes on in the Panhandle. We like to have fun talking about Hooker, Oklahoma, and how the local slogan is "It's a location, not a vocation." And when it's brought up, I can't usually say enough about how the best beef jerky in the world comes out of No Man's Land... but that's about it.

In the last twenty-four hours, the Oklahoma Panhandle - Cimmaron Territory - has made headlines across the country for its recent rainfall. Even though it's one of the drier parts of the state, they just experienced a 1000-year rain event.

On the tail end of the line of storms that created havoc in the Midwest, portions of the Panhandle received upwards of 8 inches of rain overnight.

Since it's usually so dry in that part of the state most of the time, and the fact that dry dirt has the hardest time soaking up moisture, it flooded a large portion of the area up that way.

How is it a 1000-year storm?

More than a few people commented on the various photos the weather outlets were posting on social media last night - "How is it a thousand-year storm? We only have weather data back a little over a century..."

That's not how it works. In fact, it's all about the odds rather than the actual event. The Oklahoma Mesonet explained it on their Facebook page.

1000-year rainfall event doesn't mean it happens every 1000 years, but rather that there's a 0.1% chance (1 in 1000) of it happening in any given year. It’s based on probability, not historical records from 1000 years ago.

As the Panhandle has been suffering the worst of the drought so far this year, as well as in most years, the floods might help cut that down a little bit if the sun doesn't suck it all back up to quickly.

Speaking of, it's about to get really hot across the state. Welcome to summer.