OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Labor Day brings what many consider the official end to a summer that an Oklahoma climatologist says has been odd because of cooler temperatures and more rain than usual in many areas.
The weather may even have indirectly led to more snakebites.
Associate state climatologist Gary McManus says the summer has been "really odd" with highs in early July in the mid-80s instead of near 100 degrees, and consistent rainfall that usually ends in June continuing through mid-August.
Oklahoma State University entomologist Rick Grantham says the cooler weather also led to a chain of events that produced more insects, bringing more frogs and in turn more snakes, which eat frogs — and more people outdoors in areas where snakes are, resulting in 142 snakebites reported as of early August.