🛢️ Tulsa Weather

Tulsa's weather, explained by a local pattern

Tulsa sits where the wooded hills of eastern Oklahoma start to flatten into the Great Plains, and that hand-off shapes everything about its weather. Moist air rolling north off the Gulf of Mexico meets dry, cool air spilling down from the Rockies almost directly overhead, and the collisions between those air masses are what give the city its dramatic spring skies. The Arkansas River, which curves through downtown, does little to soften the swings — Tulsa's temperature can climb or drop 30°F (17°C) in a single afternoon when a front sweeps through.

Spring is the headline act

From April into June, Tulsa lives on the eastern edge of Tornado Alley. Warm Gulf moisture, a capping layer of dry air, and a strong jet stream stack up to produce supercell thunderstorms capable of softball-sized hail and tornadoes. Tulsa County has been struck directly more than once — an EF2 tore through midtown in August 2017, unusually late in the year. Most residents keep a weather radio or a phone alert app through these months, and the city's tornado sirens are tested at noon on the first Wednesday of each month.

Winter's real threat is ice, not snow

Tulsa winters are mild on paper — January highs hover in the upper 40s°F (8–10°C) — but the danger isn't cold so much as freezing rain. When Arctic air slides in beneath warm, moist air aloft, rain falls and freezes on contact, glazing roads and snapping power lines. The December 2007 ice storm left hundreds of thousands of Tulsans without power, some for over a week. Heavy snow is comparatively rare; the city averages only around 5–6 inches a year.

Long, sticky summers

By July, Tulsa settles into a humid Southern summer. Afternoon highs run in the low-to-mid 90s°F (33–35°C), but the dew point is the real story: high Gulf humidity pushes the heat index past 100°F (38°C) for days at a stretch. The all-time record high is a brutal 115°F (46°C), set during the Dust Bowl summer of 1936. Evenings stay warm and muggy, and pop-up thunderstorms offer brief, dramatic relief.

Tulsa weather at a glance

The city averages about 42 inches (1,070 mm) of rain a year, most of it in spring and early summer, with a secondary autumn peak. Autumn — September into November — is many locals' favorite stretch: warm days, cool nights, low humidity, and far fewer storms. If you're planning a visit, late September and October offer Tulsa's most reliable, comfortable weather.