Another Day Of High Fire Danger For Oklahoma

We’re tracking two fronts for the next few days with the second front getting all the attention.  But data late last night into early this morning brings questions back into the forecast for the Sunday system regarding precip and temp trends.  Most data are now trending warmer for this period.  We still have some work to do for the weekend at this point and additional changes are likely.

Weather Alerts

Before we get into the weekend, much warmer air is likely today with cooler air Thursday and colder air Friday.  We do have some high clouds early this morning across northern Oklahoma that may get in the way of Lunar eclipse viewing.  It doesn’t appear this will be too optically thick, but be advised, we do have some high clouds this morning at times.  Temps are mild, mainly in the 40s, due to the elevated wind speeds overnight across eastern Oklahoma.

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Afternoon highs today will move into the upper 60s near 70 with southwest winds from 15 to 30 mph before our first front arrives later tonight.  Wind speeds should diminish late this afternoon right along the front as it approaches the I-44 corridor around 5 pm.  The dry air combined with low humidity will create another high fire spread today across the area.  Our neighbors in southwestern Oklahoma may hit 80 this afternoon before the front moves across the area later tonight into Thursday morning bringing cooler air back to the region. Locations directly behind the boundary may experience a small window for a few spotty showers or maybe some light drizzle, but We think this will remain well east or southeast of the metro late tonight into Thursday morning.  The better location will be across far southeastern Oklahoma.  North winds will return tomorrow with Thursday afternoon highs in the lower 50s.  Colder air will arrive later Thursday night into Friday morning.  Morning lows in the 20s will be followed by highs in the lower to mid-40s Friday.   We’re rebounding Saturday back into the 50s along with south winds before the stronger front knocks on our doorstep Saturday late into Sunday.  As this system nears, some light showers will be possible Saturday across part of eastern Oklahoma. 

WARN Interactive Radar

The main upper air pattern will support a stout northwest flow moving down the Canadian provinces into the central U.S with the main upper level trough positioned across Hudson Bay.  A medium length trough will rotate around the main vortex and open the door for the much colder air to arrive Saturday evening into Sunday across the northern plains into the Midwest.  Our main questions continue to linger regarding how far south this air mass will travel before running out of steam and also regarding the impact for some light wintry mix or precip as the system nears.  We’ll not make any major changes to the weekend forecast at this point, but will more than likely bring some temps slightly upward, closer to the current data trends, for Sunday and Monday.  More changes in the data are still likely.

Thanks for reading the Wednesday morning weather discussion and blog.