Heavy rainfall provides a little help with drought, wildfires

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Heavy rainfall put a bit of a damper on Oklahoma's drought, but did little to extinguish the fire danger.<br/><br/>Up to two inches of rain fell over the weekend in southeastern

Monday, January 23rd 2006, 1:23 pm

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- Heavy rainfall put a bit of a damper on Oklahoma's drought, but did little to extinguish the fire danger.

Up to two inches of rain fell over the weekend in southeastern Oklahoma, including Idabel and an Broken Bow.

Southeastern Oklahoma has been either in drought or flirting with drought for several years. The Southeast Oklahoma Climate Division, made up of Choctaw, Latimer, Le Flore, McCurtain and Pushmataha counties, was the driest of the 392 climate divisions in the continental United States last year.

Statistics show that southeastern Oklahoma receives an average of 50.94 inches of rainfall a year. The climate survey's Web site says the 24.49 inches of rain recorded in 2004 made 2005 the driest since 1921.