A Break From Spring This Spring Break

While the calendar still says it’s winter, our blooming and leafing foliage says otherwise thanks to a long series of days much above-normal. The graphic below shows this trend quite well for the past month.  In fact, we nearly had the earliest last freeze on record until Sunday morning when Tulsa dipped to 28°. As of late, it had also been a drier than normal trend, which created our high fire danger up until this weekend when some nice soaking rains fell.

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                As I write this, rain is now falling in the Tulsa area thanks to another fast-moving storm system sweeping past Green Country. Rainfall totals will also be light with this system, but it still is a welcome event, coming exclusively in our nighttime hours.

                Beyond the rain comes another cold front, reinforcing the cooler air already in place. We’ve finally entered a pattern where the gateway to colder air is unhinged. Northwesterly flow in the jet stream is allowing colder air to keep clipping Oklahoma while the true Arctic air gets swept to our northeast across the Great Lakes and New England. Speaking of those regions, if you were heading to the Northeast in the next day or two, you’d find near-blizzard conditions across the urban corridor from Washington D.C. to Boston. It’s thanks to the system currently (as I write this) bringing rain to us that will continue to move off the East Coast and strengthen into a late-season Nor’easter. We may have a colder than normal pattern here, but at least it doesn’t include the risk for impactful wintry weather.

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                This cool spell through midweek is a reminder for gardeners not to get too ahead of themselves. Overnight lows will dip back into the 20s Monday night and again the following night for much of the area. This should be no surprise since our average last freeze in Tulsa isn’t until March 29th.  Our high temperatures won’t rise to near or above normal until the end of the week when we see the jet stream trough over the eastern half of the U.S. slide eastward.

                The change in weather pattern in the second half of the week also brings some unsettled weather. Starting Wednesday evening, shower chances return. The returning south winds bring back moisture and clouds, acting to stunt the warm-up initially. By Friday, we’ll see a more organized storm system moving through the area providing a better focus for showers and a few storms. That may send some St. Patrick Day revelers indoors for their green ales. Overall though, it doesn’t appear to be a drought-busting rain by any means.

                We’ll see quite a warm-up just as Spring Break wraps up – poor timing for the kiddos wanting to spend some time outdoors. In any case, we’re looking at quite a warm spell into next week. The weather pattern also has signs of being active with a few rounds of rain and storms as shown below. That will assuredly speed up the green up and allow Green Country to be true to its name once again.

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                Be sure to follow me on Twitter: @GroganontheGO and on my Facebook page for the latest weather updates!