Pleasant Weather For New Year's Eve

Welcome to the last day of 2019.  You’ll want to grab a coat or at least a jacket out the door with most locations reporting the upper 20s near 30 early this morning with even colder temps in the valleys.  Wind speeds will be much lighter today compared to yesterday’s gusty winds.  We anticipate another day of abundant sunshine resulting in highs mostly in the lower 50s near the metro with a pocket of upper 40s remaining across far northeastern OK.  The upper air pattern will become quite active over the next few days, but in the short term, we’re in fine shape. 

Our weather should be rather uneventful today with New Year’s Eve celebrations not impacted by any inconvenient weather.  We’re expecting near normal conditions, meaning temperatures tonight will be dropping from the lower 40s into the mid-30s by the midnight hour.  New Year’s Day features highs ranging from the mid to upper 50s along with a sunshine-cloud mixture.  But stronger southwest winds are likely to develop by midday to afternoon with wind speeds in the 20 to 30 mph range creating a slightly elevated Friday danger across northeastern OK.  More clouds are likely across southern OK through the day and will eventually move northward into the metro by later Wednesday afternoon and evening. 

Our upper air pattern will bring at least one, possibly two storm systems near the area over the next few days, the first one Thursday night into Friday morning with a chance for a few showers. 

As the system exits early Friday morning, colder air will filter into the region with a very low chance for some light snow flurries or snow showers across southern Kansas into extreme northern OK.  While the mid-level temps will be cold enough to support flurries, temperatures at the surface may be too warm for anything other than some light sprinkles or showers.  This remains a very low chance for Friday morning, but it’s something we’ll watch in the data for this period.

The 2^nd and stronger wave may also bring some light flurries nearby late Friday night into Saturday morning, but the data also remains very dry and this chance is about 10%.  I have continued to trend the Saturday highs down a few degrees from previous forecasts with highs now expected into the upper 40s Saturday with north winds and decreasing morning clouds supporting a mostly Saturday afternoon.  Sunday should feature a fast return to south winds and highs climbing back into the upper 50s across northern OK and the lower 60s across the south. 

Thanks for reading the Tuesday morning weather discussion and blog.

Have a super great day!  And a safe New Year’s Eve.

Alan Crone