Red Flag Warning Posted For Northeast Oklahoma

The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for northeast Oklahoma from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. Monday. 

Seven-day burn bans have been issued for Latimer, McIntosh, Pittsburg and Wagoner counties amid the high-fire danger. An already existing burn ban for Sequoyah County has been extended through Monday, December 18, 2017.

Weather Alerts

The upper air pattern will continue to bring a few surface fronts into the area for the next few days, but the lack of low level moisture will keep the forecast dry for now. A front enters the area later today and late Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Later this weekend another system will move across the state with a very low possibility of a shower or two across far southeastern Oklahoma but these probabilities will remain too far to the southeast to impact the metro. Our main weather issues will resolve around gusty winds and the increasing fire danger issues for the week. Highs today will be in the mid-60s after morning lows in the lower to mid-30s. South to southwest winds will prevail for the first part of the day before shifting from the northwest early afternoon as a surface front clears the northeastern Oklahoma region. Low dew points and humidity values in the 25 to 35% range will cause a rapid-fire weather spread later this afternoon.

The main upper level pattern will consist of the ridge in the west and the trough across the northeast. This will create and keep a west to northwest flow aloft across the middle portion of the nation. This will bring several systems across the central and southern plains for the next 7 days but the lack of moisture in the atmosphere will keep the precip mentions out of the forecast for our immediate area. We are seeing signals of a pattern change for the week nearing Christmas. A more active southern stream is likely to develop including the possibility of a southwesterly upper air flow. This would bring wet weather into the southern plains nearing the state for Christmas. Again, this is a signal in the data and not a specific forecast. At this point the better and deeper moisture would be across Texas. We’ll continue to update of course over the next few days.

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Highs today will be in the mid-60s with southwest winds shifting to the northwest later today and becoming strong with 20 to 25 mph winds possible. The fire danger will be increasing today across northern Oklahoma and southern Kansas where near Red Flag criteria is possible.

Tuesday morning lows will be in the upper 20s and lower 30s with north winds and highs in upper 40s and lower 50s with sunshine along with northwest winds.

Wednesday morning south winds return with lows in the mid-30s and highs back into the lower to mid-60s. Later Wednesday night into Thursday morning gusty north winds will arrive with morning lows in the mid-30s with highs in the upper 40s and lower 50s Thursday afternoon. Friday morning lows will be in the 20s with highs in the mid to upper -50s.

South to southwest winds near 30 mph may be possible Saturday with morning lows in the lower 40s and highs in the lower to mid-60s. The surface cold front will move across the state into Sunday morning with a slight chance of showers and storms for southeastern Oklahoma. Sunday morning lows will be in the mid-30s with highs in the lower to mid-50s.

WARN Interactive Radar

Thanks for reading the Monday morning weather discussion and blog.