Sunny & Mild Today, Windy Monday.

The map on the right courtesy of the OK Mesonet shows the total rainfall across the state from yesterday through last night. Some folks did not receive any at all and those that did only got enough to settle the dust if even that. Another system will be moving across the state Monday with a chance of rain and possibly even some thunder, but it is not expected to be a significant rain maker either.

So, today we are in between systems with sunny skies and light winds. After getting off to a cold start this morning with most locations at or below freezing, look for a nice rebound this afternoon with daytime highs well into the 50s. Our winds will eventually get back to a more SE direction later in the day but only at 5-10 mph.

Monday will be far different as the clouds will be rolling in later tonight and cloudy skies will be the rule along with a chance of a few light showers from late morning into the afternoon hours. The best chance of rain will be late in the day or shortly after dark in advance of an approaching cool front. There may even be some thunder as this system is quite potent, but the lack of moisture will limit the storm potential to perhaps some small hail.

In addition to the cloudy skies on Monday, we will have very strong southerly winds with gusts to 35 mph or more expected. Despite the strength of the winds, there will not be enough time for the deeper, quality moisture to return as our dew points are expected to remain in the 30s to near 40 at best. Thus, the limitation on any severe storms. Temperatures though will be quite mild with morning lows near 40 and daytime highs near 60.

This is a rapidly moving Pacific system and the air behind it will be dry but not particularly cool. So, Tuesday is looking good with sunny skies, a W or SW wind and continued very mild temperatures. Wednesday will be quite mild as well although another weak surface feature may produce a bit of a wind shift during the day which is expected to have little impact on temperatures and only produce a few clouds.

A stronger cool front will be arriving later Thursday followed by a return to more seasonal temperatures for this time of year for Friday and to start the day Saturday. Right now it looks like a quick return to southerly winds should result in another quick rebound for Saturday afternoon and a very mild Sunday.

For the last few days, there have been indications of a more significant cool-down early that following week. The longer range guidance has now backed off on that considerably which is not uncommon so we will see how that plays out with the next few model runs.

In the meantime, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot