Okie Wheel of the Year: Feb 8, 2021

OK Mesonet's Braum's Def-Con Ice Meter

Imbolc is a season of fire and ice in Oklahoma. Today, the fire of Brigid makes way for ice. Freezing fog and drizzle led to horrendous multi-car pileups during morning rush hour traffic in Oklahoma City, while the northern and western parts of the state are at “Go Ahead, Make My Day” on the OK Mesonet “Braums Emergency Def-Con Meter”. OK Mesonet is one of my favorite nerdy weather resources. The mesonet is a series of weather information collection towers around the state at much finer detail in space and time than other resources. The Oklahoma Climatological Survey processes the data. Together they offer many kinds of services to meteorological, agricultural, and other industries, and most importantly for me, much of this information is available online! There are graphs of averages over time that I look at when thinking about the Okie Wheel of the Year. There is current data about soil moisture and weather conditions useful for gardening. My favorite is The Ticker. The Ticker "where hot air means more than temperature" mixes detailed weather analysis with good ol’ Okie humor. This is my preferred way to get weather forecast information!

Another type of information available from the Mesonet is about fire danger. This is useful to those planning prescribed burns or managing wildfires, but it’s also useful to me when I’m deciding whether to center my ritual around a burning fire pit, jarred candles, or maybe just stick to smoke and water. Y’all know that wind can change fast and conditions outside your window might not be the same as those out at the lake. During Imbolc the golden grass of autumn gets whiter and more brittle right before the new greenery takes over, and the wind begins the process of whipping itself up to spring speeds. The moment sun hits mud, fire danger can go within hours from Low to Extremely High. This is where we are right now: fire danger is low, but freezing drizzle and a snowflake doesn’t bring much moisture. If the warmer air comes back at high speed we could have fire.

Here I sit, belly full of fresh Irish soda bread, watching ice form on the tips of the redbuds, staring down the barrel of a potentially record-breaking cold snap. Oklahoma’s winter wheat fields sit, full of more soil moisture that usual this time of year, in that mystical (to me) stage where cattle can graze the fields after planting but before jointing. The crop is reportedly doing well, and so am I. This sounds like a good time to remember the lessons I learned from the dark stillness of Yule. Nothing left to do but wait out this season of fire and ice.