Sugar Creek Watershed Characteristics - Air

AIR - TEMPERATURES/ WIND - TORNADOES/ INDUSTRIES

Caddo County has an average annual temperature of 61.2 degrees Fahrenheit (F), with a range in temperature from 37.1 degrees F. in January to 83.1 degrees F. in July. The average daily variation is around 26 degrees. The average freeze-free season ranges from 204 days in the northwestern part to 210 days in the southeastern part of the County.

Wind estimates are interpolated from Oklahoma City and Wichita Falls, Texas. The prevailing wind is southerly (from south to north), except during January and February, when it is northerly. Wind velocity averages about 12.5 miles per hour (m.p.h.) and ranges from 11 m.p.h. in August to 15 m.p.h. in March and April. Gusts up to 80 m.p.h. may occur near squall lines and during severe local thunderstorms.

Sugar Creek Watershed is in the southwestern part of Oklahoma and has a warm, temperate continental climate. This area receives the warmer, moisture-laden air from the Gulf of Mexico, which is regularly penetrated by the cooler drier air moving down from the Arctic Zone or approaching from the Pacific. When these two air systems meet, significant changes in temperature, precipitation, and wind velocity often occur. There were 65 tornadoes recorded in Caddo County from 1950 to 1995. On the average, a tornado occurs in 2 out of every 9 years, and 75 percent of tornadoes occur from April through June.

The production of oil and gas is the largest industry in the watershed. Anardarko, Caddo County seat, to the southeast of the watershed, has a large electrical generating plant.

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