After a bone-dry July heralded another looming drought, welcome rain arrived in Kingfisher County Thursday and Friday, with all the pyrotechnics that only a summer storm can bring.

Rainfall amounts, measuring from .3 inch at the Okarche Grain and Feed Elevator, west of Okarche, to 8.5 inches at the Brandon Hay-maker farm, southeast of Hennessey, provided a boost to pastures, crops, lawns and gardens, which had begun to show drought stress.

Local Weather Observer Steve Loftis reported 1.5 inches at the National Weather Service station in Kingfisher while the Mesonet site, west of Kingfisher on the Mueggenborg farm recorded 1.8 inches at 9 a.m.

Other gully-washer rain reports coming in from southeast of Hennessey included: eight inches at the Ronnie Fry farm, 5.5 to six inches at several locations and enough to fill a gallon ice cream carton setting in the yard at the Jeremy Ingle residence. Ingle said his three-inch rain gauge was overflowing so he did not have an accurate measurement but reported that water was flowing across roads and the rain was still coming down Friday morning as he drove to work.

The rain system brought cooler temperatures to the county, which recorded a high of 106 degrees on Wednesday, which was recorded at 7 a.m. on Thursday at the NWS station in Kingfisher.

U.S. 81 was closed briefly south of Hennessey early Friday due to water crossing the highway.

The rain recorded at the Kingfisher National Weather Service station Friday morning pushed the year’s total to 36.14 inches – above the annual average rainfall of 35.65 inches.

Other rainfall amounts recorded across the county included:

Cashion Grain and Feed Elevator – one inch even at 9:15 a.m. Friday.

Dover – 2.3 inches at the Jack Witt residence, northwest of Dover.

Hennessey – Three inches and still raining at the Harold Ebers residence.

Loyal – The power went off as an electrical storm passed over the area at 5 a.m. Friday. Jon Cochran Sr. reported .5 inch at a rain gauge in his back yard.

Okarche – Three inches at the CHS Elevator in Okarche, 2.4 inches at two rain gauges at the Mike and Donna Reid farm northwest of Okarche, .3 inch at the Okarche Grain and Feed Elevator; three inches at the Charlie Williamson residence, northeast of Okarche, with rain still falling.

Omega – .9 inch at the CHS Omega branch Elevator.

The system bringing the rain covered the northeast section of the state, according to Mesonet graphics, with the heaviest rainfall amounts centered in the central to north central regions of the state with the far southern regions of the state mostly missing out on the rain.

Yukon had the heaviest Mesonet rainfall measurement at 4.01 inches.

Other Mesonet rainfall reports included: Marshall 1.18, El Reno .38, Guthrie1.02, Lahoma 2.20, Fairview .79, Seiling .36, Elk City .14, Cheyenne .14, Woodward 1.10, Beaver .78, Shawnee 2.24, and Alva 1.06 inches.