Quiet Weekend Weather-Wise.

Pretty quiet weather pattern remains the general rule with little or no mention of rain till perhaps later next week, and even then the signal is not particularly impressive.  Main forecast issues are temperatures and the concern for grassland fire danger in the days ahead.

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We have very dry air in place with dew point temperatures currently running in the teens or even some single digits across the state as of late this afternoon, courtesy of the OK Mesonet.  Keep in mind that the dew point is the temperature of saturation and those very low values mean the relative humidity levels have been in the 20% range this afternoon.  That also means with clear skies and dry, cool air in place we will cool off quickly tonight and should be in the mid-upper 20s to start the day on Saturday.

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As the day wears on, we will once again have a brisk NW wind of 10-20 mph which will offset to a certain extent the mostly sunny skies that will prevail.  At any rate, we should still make it into the upper 40s to lower 50s across the state and the relative humidity levels will again be dropping into the 30% range.  That will result in static electricity issues as well as an enhanced fire danger situation.  There will be some high clouds moving over from time to time, particularly for the more NE counties but mostly sunny skies will still be the general rule.

More of the same for Sunday although temperatures will moderate somewhat with morning lows in the lower 30s for most locations and daytime highs in the lower 50s.  We will still have a brisk NW wind so fire danger will still be a concern.  We will also see a few more high level clouds from time to time, but partly cloudy to mostly sunny skies will still be the general rule.

By Monday, the winds will be from a more SW direction which together with a lot of sunshine will push our daytime highs well into the 60s.  Those SW winds together with the warmer temperatures and abundant sunshine will make for an even more elevated concern regarding wild fires.

A weak frontal boundary still looks to be moving through during the day Tuesday, but this is not a particularly strong system and should be late enough for temperatures to still make it into the lower 60s before the wind shift arrives.  This will also be a dry system as it has no moisture to work with.

That will be followed by somewhat cooler conditions for the rest of the week, but again not overly cold.  In fact, temperatures will still be running at or above normal each day despite a more NE to E wind as you can see on our forecast page.  SE winds will return by Friday and Saturday and this will also be our next best chance for some rain showers.  The longer range guidance is not overly optimistic so far in that regard as you can see on the 7 day QPF which does have at least the potential for some light rainfall accumulation along about late Thursday and into the day Friday.

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After that, the 8-14 day guidance suggests temperatures above normal once again along with at least a chance of some scattered showers.  But, there is still no indication of a significant storm system that would bring widespread precipitation anytime soon.

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So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot