Dick Faurot's Weather Blog: Sunny Days Ahead

That strange, bright, yellow object in the sky today was the first time we have had full sunshine in over a week. The last time we had clear skies here in Tulsa was the evening of Monday, Nov. 23.

As mentioned in yesterday’s blog, the rains over the intervening days have been at or near record levels, which has brought the statewide total into a tie for the wettest November on record, according to the good folks at the OK Mesonet. Notice the first map which shows the November rainfall totals across the state.

The generally fair skies we have enjoyed today resulted in a very frosty start this morning, but a relatively pleasant afternoon, as you can see on the max/min temperature map, again, courtesy of the OK Mesonet. Generally fair skies will prevail for the rest of this week with no major systems coming our way for a while. As a result, temperatures should be fairly close to normal, as was the case today, which means near the freezing mark at night and lower 50s during the day.

A wind shift moving across the state overnight will keep our winds from a more NW direction which will offset the abundant sunshine, somewhat, and keep us generally in the lower 50s for Wednesday. The winds will return to a more southerly direction for Thu-Sat which will warm us up somewhat, as you can see on our forecast page. But, again, no major changes are currently foreseen.

Another system will move across the state on Sunday, shifting our winds once again, but the air behind it will not be overly cold. Also, it looks to be moisture starved, so, for now we are carrying just a slight chance of some light showers for the day Sunday which should be ending that night or early Monday morning. As you can see on the 7-day QPF map, this system is not expected to drop much precipitation, and with the current temperature profile expected, it will not provide any wintry weather for us either.

After that, as we head into next week, the overall quiet pattern that will prevail this week should be the general rule then as well. The longer range guidance certainly suggests no major systems coming our way during that period either from the GFS or the ECMWF. Notice the 8-14-day outlooks, for example, which suggest temperatures will average above normal during that period along with a near normal precipitation pattern for OK.

Beyond that time frame, there are hints of a change in the pattern but those solutions are not considered very reliable for now.

So, enjoy the quiet pattern while it lasts. We have certainly earned it over the course of the last week or so.

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

Dick Faurot