Friday Morning Update

I expect a mostly sunny and cool afternoon with highs in the upper 50s across northern OK and the lower 60s in the southern third of the state.  Another storm system will arrive early next week with additional storm chances.  

The clouds have started clearing the area overnight but are still located near and east of the Tulsa area this morning.  Locations near and west of Tulsa have dropped to near freezing this morning despite winds remaining in the 5 to 10 mph range.  A freeze warning remains in effect through the 9am hour.  Daytime highs will move into the upper 50s or lower 60s along with north winds around 15 mph.  Today will be a very nice, but cool afternoon.   Another freeze is possible tomorrow morning across part of northern OK if the winds remain light overnight.  RAW NAM data suggest the southwest wind will remain around 5 to 8 mph, and this should keep most locations from dropping into the lower 30s.  Regardless, another freeze watch may be posted for part of the area late tonight into Saturday morning.  Our numbers for Saturday morning will remain above freezing at this point.  

The weekend looks to be in good shape.  Saturday afternoon will feature sunshine, south winds around 10 to 20 mph, and highs in the lower 70s.  The upper air flow will bring another disturbance across the central and northern plains Sunday, and the tail end of this wave will brush extreme northern OK with a very slight chance of showers Sunday morning through midday.  I have been keeping a 10% probability for this time period and will do so again this time period.  Morning lows Sunday will be in the upper 30s with highs in the upper 60s or lower 70s.  

Monday into Tuesday yet another storm system will begin influencing the area.  A surface area of low pressure will develop across the panhandle region of Texas and will attempt to bring low level moisture back across the state.  This will effectively form a warm frontal boundary that may be stretched across northern OK Monday morning.  This boundary could be a focus for some scattered storms early Monday through midday, but the higher probability for widespread storms may hold off until late Monday night into Tuesday morning as an upper level disturbance approaches the region.  The surface low is projected to dive southeastward across southwestern OK and Northwest TX and would quickly drag a surface cold front across Northern OK late Monday night into Tuesday morning.  Some of the data is suggesting mainly post frontal precipitation late Monday night into Tuesday morning with temps falling from the mid and upper 50s into the mid or upper 40s by Tuesday afternoon.  We have been thinking about using inverted temp profiles for Tuesday on the 7 day planner.   

I'll not post too many additional details regarding the recent tornadoes and severe storms across the state, but I will include a link to our friends from the National Weather Service in Tulsa.  This link will eventually provide some additional information regarding the tornadoes, the path and duration, and the damage assessment team's preliminary findings as to the "rating" of the tornadoes.  These folks, especially in the Tulsa office, do a super great job and we're proud to partner with them in providing weather information to the public.   

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/tsa/?n=weather-event_2013april17

The high in Tulsa yesterday was 69 recorded right after midnight.  Most of the day was experienced in the mid to upper 40s.

The normal high in Tulsa is 73 and the low is 50.

Daily record highs include a high 94 from 1987 recorded on this date in and the low of  34 recorded in 1953.

You'll find me on Facebook and Twitter.  https://www.facebook.com/AlanCroneNewsOn6

Twitter  @alancrone

I'll also be discussing the forecast this morning with Dan Potter and The KRMG Morning News.

You'll also hear my state-wide forecast and regional weather discussions on numerous Radio Oklahoma News Network affiliates across the state.

Thank you for reading the Friday Morning Weather Discussion and Blog.

Have a super great day!

Alan Crone

KOTV