Lawton temperatures miss the 90-plus mark Monday

It could have been worse. And has been.

Lawton’s expected high Monday was 92-93 degrees, depending on your weather source. It didn’t happen. The high at 3:53 p.m. was 87, while local meteorologists said it hit 88 degrees for a time. It was warmer to the west and south: Altus hit 90, while Wichita Falls and Graham, Texas, hit 93 and 95, respectively.

But if setting records is your thing, we did beat the record high for Feb. 26, which was 85 degrees set in 2009, according to the National Weather Center in Norman. But, it could have been worse.

According to the National Weather Center, the highest temperatures on record for Lawton in February is 95, set Feb. 24, 1918, and 93 degrees, on Feb. 23, 1918, and Feb. 25, 1917. By comparison, the temperatures on those days this year was 75 on Feb. 24, 71 on Feb. 23 and 79 on Feb. 25.

Monday’s high did qualify around number 7 on the Top 10 temperatures for February. Lawton has hit 88 degrees twice in February: Feb. 23, 2017, and Feb. 22, 1996. The average should be 61 degrees, weather forecasters say.

Kinda makes you long for the weekend two weeks ago, when the high on Feb. 17 was 37 degrees (and the following night gave us a low of 21 degrees).

But don’t fret.

Meteorologists are predicting a high of 55 degrees Wednesday with a morning wind chill of 25 degrees for the Lawton area. Even that could be worse. Enid can expect a wind chill of 15 degrees Wednesday morning, according to the National Weather Center.