Very Mild Next Few Days.

As you can see from the map on the right, courtesy of the OK Mesonet, this has been a very mild day across the state. Particularly when you consider that our normal temperature range is 29/49 for the min/max temperatures respectively. There will be a few ups and downs to start the coming week, but in general look for temperatures to remain well above normal until our next cold front arrives Wednesday night to bring us back to the real world.

Those high cirrus clouds this afternoon should be thinning out enough tonight to allow our overnight lows to drop into the 30s followed by daytime highs Sunday afternoon back into the low-mid 60s. Again, these numbers are well above normal for this time of year. Winds on Sunday will be rather light and from a SW direction along with mostly sunny skies.

A weak system aloft will be quickly moving across the state Sunday night pushing a bit of a wind shift line into the more northern counties. This will also generate a little more cloud cover for Sunday night into Monday morning for the more northern counties. However, this system will also be dry.

Monday should then see a return to mostly sunny skies by afternoon, a weak pressure gradient so relatively light winds from a general westerly direction, and temperatures still well above normal. In fact, the above normal temperatures will also be with us for Tuesday and Wednesday, particularly since the winds will become rather gusty from a southerly direction through the middle of the week.

A stronger cold front is still on schedule to arrive sometime Wednesday night to usher in more seasonal temperatures for the latter part of the week and into the coming weekend. In fact, Thursday looks to be a rather raw, blustery day with strong northerly winds and temperatures starting off in the lower 30s and struggling to get into the 40s by afternoon. There is also a slight chance of showers as the front pushes through the state Wednesday night, but as has been the case for far too long, the better moisture and therefore the better rain chances will be well east of us. There may even be a few flurries on the backside of the system just across the state line into KS, but this is not expected to amount to anything either.

After that, the calendar says winter will arrive on Friday and it looks like the weather will cooperate with more seasonal temperatures for Friday and Saturday. Looking further ahead to the Christmas Holiday period of Mon-Tue, the longer range guidance remains inconsistent with one set of solutions looking cool and wet(rain), and another suggesting somewhat warmer than normal conditions and dry until Wednesday. These solutions will likely flip several more times before settling down on a more reliable set of guidance, so stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot