Winter And Rain Return To Green Country

Its back to winter.  And back to rain.  A storm system will move near the region later this afternoon and tonight with widespread rain likely across the northern third of the state before also encompassing most of eastern OK Friday afternoon and evening. The temperature profile, while winterlike, should not support any wintry weather issues for the majority of our area.  A small window may exist for some light freezing rain or sleet later tonight across extreme western Osage and Pawnee counties into southcentral Kansas, but this chance remains very low.  Higher likelihoods for some sleet or icing will remain across west central to northwestern OK today and spreading into central and eastern Kansas Friday.  This system will be exiting Oklahoma Friday evening with dry and cold conditions remaining into the weekend.

 Temperatures this morning will begin in the upper 20s with overcast conditions and wind chills in the teens and lower 20s.  Northeast winds will remain for most of the day at 10 to 25 mph before slowly backing from the east and southeast later this evening.  Afternoon highs will attempt to reach the upper 30s and lower 40s around the metro north with some mid-40s across east central OK and upper 40s to lower 50s along the Red River Valley of southeastern OK.  Locations to our west, across southwestern to west central OK are currently below freezing with some sleet and freezing rain developing in this region. A winter weather advisory will be underway for these areas of the state, well removed from the Tulsa metro. 

Later this evening as the southeast winds return, temps will either level-off or slowly increase with readings in the mid-30s overnight and reaching the lower 40s Friday midday to afternoon across the metro before warming into the lower 50s very late Friday evening, just before midnight.  As the system exits the state late Friday night, another cold front will move southeast and bring colder weather back to eastern OK with Saturday morning lows in the mid-30s followed by highs in the mid or upper 40s.  A backdoor cold front should also enter the state from the Missouri Valley Saturday night or Sunday morning bringing our highs temperatures down slightly.  Sunday lows start in the upper 20s with highs reaching the lower 40s.

This cold air mass will remain for early next week with lows in the 20s and highs in the mid to upper 30s Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day and into the lower to mid-40s Tuesday.  Another system will be nearing by the middle of the week with gusty south winds Wednesday.  We’ll introduce a low chance for some sprinkles or showers Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning, with higher chances arriving either Wednesday night or Thursday of next week. 

Take the rain gear today.  Later this tonight and Friday you’ll need some along with the big coat.  

Thanks for reading the Thursday morning weather discussion and blog.

Have a super great day!

Alan Crone