Starting this month, we’re proud to launch a new feature in the Beckham County Record: a monthly weather story designed just for Western Oklahoma. Not just a forecast — a story. A way to follow the skies, understand the science behind the storms, and open a dialogue with your very own local weather forecaster.
Whether you’re wondering why the wind shifts the way it does, what a dryline actually is, or the difference between barometric pressure, relative humidity, and dew point — we invite you to send your questions, big or small. We’ll cover them here and help you stay a step ahead of Oklahoma’s wild and wonderful weather.
To kick things off, we’d like you to meet the man behind the forecast: Corey Lea.
ABOUT THE FORECASTER Corey, born and raised in North Carolina, discovered his passion for weather at a young age after experiencing a seizure during Hurricane Fran. As a child, he often became sick during major weather events, inspiring him to study the skies in search of answers. That early curiosity led Corey to earn a degree in Atmospheric Science from the University of North Carolina at Asheville.
After graduation, he began his broadcast career at KSWO in Lawton, Oklahoma. Although he has since moved on from television, his passion for providing localized, personal forecasts remains strong. Along with his wife and two daughters, Corey now runs a popular Facebook page called “The Weather FamLea,” offering daily updates and weekly videos for Western Oklahoma — covering areas from Elk City to Weatherford, Lawton, Altus, and everywhere in between.
You can follow their updates on Facebook at The Weather FamLea.
MAY OUTLOOK: WELCOME TO THE FIFTH SEASON If you’ve lived in Oklahoma for more than about five minutes, you know we don’t just have four seasons — we have a fifth one too: Severe Weather Season. And according to the latest model predictions, May is fixing to remind us why.
This year, temperatures are expected to run a little hotter than usual. In other words, summer’s showing up early, dragging its suitcase behind it — but thankfully, May will also deliver a decent shot of showers and thunderstorms to cool things down (at least temporarily).
Of course, with May comes the usual suspects: cold fronts, warm air, drylines, and enough Gulf moisture to make you feel like you’re breathing through a wet sponge. Strong low-pressure systems will develop out west, lumber across the Rockies, and kick out cold fronts across the heart of the country. Meanwhile, high pressure over the eastern U.S. will act like a giant fan, pulling warm, muggy air straight out of the Gulf of Mexico and plopping it right on top of us.
When that cooler, drier air from the west smacks into all that warm, sticky air from the south, it sets up what we call a dryline — and that dryline is Mother Nature’s favorite recipe for trouble. We’re talking instability in the atmosphere, ripe conditions for storms to fire up in the Texas Panhandle and march east into western Oklahoma.
As for what those storms might bring? Get ready. We’re looking at the potential for large hail (we’re talking golf balls to tennis balls, folks), wind gusts topping 60 miles an hour, and, yes, even the chance for rotating storms that could spin up tornadoes.
Bottom line: May in Oklahoma will be serving up the usual — a little sun, a little rain, a little hail, and a lot of weather whiplash. Make sure your weather radio has fresh batteries... and maybe park the car in the garage if you can.
