Active Weather Pattern Setting Up Next Week

Pleasant weather will remain Friday with highs in the mid-50s along with sunshine and light winds. 

Several upper-level waves will traverse the plains over the next 10 days, including two this weekend and a stronger system by the middle of next week. The main impact will be to bring a few clouds and chilly weather across northern Oklahoma Sunday before a stronger storm system approaches the state early next week with increasing rain and thunderstorm chances into Wednesday and Thursday morning. 

A few strong to near severe storms may be possible with the Wednesday system across southeastern Oklahoma.  Colder air will filter southward into the state by the end of next week to finish 2018.

Beautiful weather is expected Friday across the state with light winds, sunshine and temperatures above the seasonal average.  A front will move across the state Saturday morning to midday bringing north winds by afternoon along with highs still in the mid-50s.  Sunday should feature a few clouds and slightly colder weather with lows near freezing and highs in the upper 40s to lower 50s. 

Christmas Eve will feature a very low chance of early morning showers across northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas with lows in the mid-30s and highs in the mid-50s along with gusty south winds. Most of the day will be fine. 

Christmas Day appears breezy with south winds from 15 to 25 mph along with a chance for a few passing showers. Again, a relatively low chance.  But Wednesday, the day after Christmas, will feature a good chance of showers and storms across eastern Oklahoma, including the possibility of some locally heavy rainfall across southeastern Oklahoma. South winds from 20 to 30 mph will be likely with highs in the upper 50s and lower 60s.  The front will clear the area late Wednesday night into Thursday morning with colder air moving across the state to finish the week. 

The difference this morning is how the GFS is handling the backside of the departing system compared to previous runs. The data is bringing additional precipitation across northern Oklahoma Thursday morning before exiting into the Missouri Valley by afternoon. The colder air filtering southward brings some changeover to snow across NW OK.  The EURO continues to be less aggressive with this wrap around feature but has slowed slightly compared to yesterday’s data. Temps behind the departing system will eventually drop to near or slightly below the seasonal average. 

Thanks for reading the Friday morning weather discussion and blog.

-Alan