Friday Morning Update

We'll have a chance of a few showers later this afternoon and tonight.  Highs today will be in the lower 70s with increasing clouds.

The result of the dry air moving across the region yesterday afternoon is super cool temperatures this morning.  We're seeing some mid to upper 40s in the valleys this morning with the Tulsa metro nearing the 50 degree mark.  We could be flirting with some record lows this morning, including the Tulsa metro.  This is the first time we've been below the average morning low in weeks.  The afternoon highs will be in the lower 70s with increasing clouds and a chance for a few showers or storms this afternoon into early Saturday.   The upper air flow will require us to keep a mention of a few showers and storms in the forecast this weekend.  The cold front that moved across the area yesterday is now positioned to return as a warm front Saturday evening into Sunday and a small upper level disturbance is projected to move across the area from the west to east Saturday evening into Sunday bringing a chance of showers and storms to the region.  A few of the storms could produce some small hail and gusty winds as the boundary lifts northward but widespread storms are not expected during this time period. 

The warm front will lift north of the state by Sunday afternoon placing much of the southern plains back into the warm, muggy, and breezy category for most of next week.  Extended model data continues to indicate the potential for the front moving into the area Thursday or Friday of next week along with some modest upper level support that should bring another round of showers and storms to the region.   

The temperatures next week will be dominated by morning lows in the upper 60s and lower 70s along with daytime highs near 90.  South winds will be common in the 10 to 25 mph range until the boundary arrives late next week with a shift in wind direction.  

We finished the month of May 4.69 inches below the normal average of 5.87 inches of rainfall.  While May is typically the wettest month of the year for Tulsa, June is a close second with an average rainfall of 4.72 inches.  Let's hope and pray for a wet pattern to develop soon if not, we're in store for another dry summer.  

June is also the official start of the Atlantic Hurricane season.  We've already had 2 named storms before the official start.  The next few names on the list include:  Chris, Debbie, and Ernesto.

The Pacific basin has a different set of names compared to the Atlantic Basin.  This is why we had Hurricane Bud about 2 weeks ago off the west coast of Mexico, and why we can have a tropical storm named Beryl in the Atlantic.

How about the June stats?

The average high June 1^st is 83, but by the end of the month the average high will be near 91.  As you well know, we have been in this category of temperatures for a few weeks already across northern OK.

The wettest June on record was in 1904 with 14.87 inches of rainfall.  The driest June was recorded in 1933 with only 0.27 inches of precipitation.