Dick Faurot's Weather Blog: Warm, Windy, Fire Danger Concerns

It was certainly a beautiful day today as you can see on the max/min temperature map, courtesy of the OK Mesonet. However, those warm temperatures, together with low humidity levels and gusty winds, have resulted in some grass fires today and those conditions will be even worse on Friday and into the day Saturday.

That is because we will have stronger southerly winds on Friday - temperatures will be even warmer, and the fire danger will certainly be elevated. Saturday may not be quite as bad as the winds will not be quite so strong, but temperatures will still be much above normal.

Speaking of which, fair skies and light winds will allow temperatures to quickly fall off tonight bottoming out in the 30s, but mostly above freezing. Friday will see lots of sunshine, gusty southerly winds, and afternoon temperatures well into the 60s to near 70, which will result in enhanced fire danger concerns.

A weak boundary will move into the state Friday night with light winds to start the day Saturday but those winds will quickly return to a more southerly direction that afternoon. Fortunately, not quite as strong as will be the case on Friday, but still with fire danger concerns.

Another boundary will move across the state on Sunday, knocking temperatures down somewhat, as you can see on our forecast page. However, temperatures will still be much above normal that afternoon and that will also be the case through the day Monday.

Strong winds will return on Monday as a very strong storm system organizes to our west and will be pushing a cold front our way which should arrive by early Tuesday morning. There will be a chance of some showers/storms ahead of that cold front, a few of which could become strong to severe followed by falling temperatures during the day Tuesday and possibly some light snow for the more northern counties.

The next few days after that will be quite cold, but just how cold largely depends on how much snow is on the ground up in Kansas and Nebraska by early next week. Notice the graphic which currently suggests they could end up with some decent snow cover, and that zone of heaviest snow could end up a little closer to us or perhaps a little further north. In any event, it will certainly be a reminder that winter is not over by a long shot despite the Spring-like conditions of the next few days.

Also, as you can see on our forecast page, there is no mention of rain for the rest of the month of January, which is quite a contrast to what Nov/Dec were like. Notice, for example, the number of days since there was last as much as .25” of rain across the state. Notice also the 90-day total rainfall and keep in mind that almost all of that fell in Nov/Dec as totals so far for Jan are less than an inch for most locations.

After the Monday night/Tuesday storm system moves out, we should have a more settled pattern for the rest of the week.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot