Tuesday Morning Update

Well friends...we're back to big coat weather today and for most of the week.  High temps this afternoon will remain the 30s.  We'll see a quick bounce into the 40s Wednesday, but the remainder of the week looks cold.  The quick frequency of frontal passages has kept the low level moisture well south of the region.  This means no rain chance for precipitation for the next few days.  Some mid-level moisture may arrive in the form of low clouds Thursday into Friday but we're not anticipating any precipitation.  

The main upper level pattern has remained locked for the past week and will remain locked for the next 5 to 7 days.  A broad ridge of high pressure is located across the western third of the country with a trough in the east.  This is called a positive PNA or Pacific North American pattern and will keep most of the big systems to our northeast.  The upper air pattern will remain from the northwest and this will keep the cavalcade of fronts moving into the state for the next few days.  Another decent chunk of arctic air is growing across the central Canada and will slide southeast soon.  There's already a very cold air mass across the upper Midwest and we will see another surge arriving Wednesday night into Thursday.  Temps in our area will drop into the teens for Thursday morning and into single digits Friday morning with highs Thursday in the 20s and Friday in the 30s.  The air mass is expected to quickly modify this weekend with daytime highs in the lower or mid-50s.  Strong north winds Thursday night into Friday morning may knock the wind chill values into the -5 to -10 range.  Our friends at the NWS may issue wind chill advisories for some sections of northeastern OK late Thursday night into Friday morning.  

This PNA pattern may begin to change by the end of the month into early February.  Some of the ensemble model data are hinting at a system nearing the state as the new month begins.  But until the end of January, our precipitation chances will remain low.   

The official high in Tulsa yesterday was 62 recorded at 3:57pm.

The daily average high is 48 and the low is 27.

Our daily records include a high of 75 from 1957 and a low of -1 from 1918. 

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I'll be discussing the forecast on numerous Radio Oklahoma News Network affiliates across the state this morning through the noon hour.

Thanks for reading the Tuesday Morning Weather Discussion and blog.  

Have a super great day!

Alan Crone

KOTV