Cupid Strikes Us with a Cool-Down

Love is in the air, and so are some very cool clouds. This screenshot was taken over south Tulsa during the Noon hour. This is a special cloud-form called Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds. The less fancy name is a wave cloud (as you can see why). These are formed with vertical wind shear (different wind speeds at different levels in the atmosphere in this case) and create the wave-like structure to the clouds. Next time you see clouds like the ones attached to this post, you can impress your friends and family with that tidbit!

Something that isn't in the air today – rain. We've seen several rounds of rain and even snow over the past week, but only enough to gradually chip away at our drought. The latest Drought Monitor is attached and shows minor improvement across southeastern and east-central Oklahoma. The Extreme/Exceptional drought categories were reduced by 3%... it's a start! This does not factor in the most recent bout of rain and snow from Tuesday so more improvement is expected on this map in the next week. Even they aren't gully-washers, these storm systems in more rapid succession will help to curb the drought's effects and gradually allow more moisture into deeper levels in the soil and into our reservoirs.

It's a quiet, but chilly weather pattern for the rest of the week, but we could see a very small amount of precipitation both tonight and Friday night. Upper-level waves of energy riding the jet stream from northwest to southeast over the area will promote some lift to cause a few sprinkles tonight and some light snow showers tomorrow night. A dusting is even possible in a few locations by Saturday morning. Still, we will wait until Monday before a more vigorous storm system arrives.

Cool weather will gave way to a warm influx of air by Sunday ahead of that next system. Unfortunately, the moisture return will be meager so the best focus of rain and storms will be east of our area. An even stronger storm system is showing up about a week from now, and this one could be a doozy. Indications are that we'll be on the warmer side of this system with the moisture, so rain and thunderstorms will be likely. It's a long ways out, but severe weather may go along with that system. On the back-side, a major winter storm is possible. Right now, that looks like it'll be north of here, but it's worth watching. The outlook for the remainder of the month supports cooler-than-normal temperatures so winter weather won't be leaving us for good any time soon.

Enjoy Cupid's treat of nice weather today before the chilly air settles back in. As always, I'll have updates on Twitter: @GroganontheGO and on my Facebook page.