Beautiful Weekend.

After the coldest morning of the season early today in Green Country, we enjoyed a nice warm-up this afternoon as you can see on the max/min temperature map, courtesy of the OK Mesonet.  In fact, some of the cooler valleys locations actually made it down to right at the freezing mark although the more urban locations were only around 40.  The sunny skies, light winds, and dry air in place then allowed for the big warm-up this afternoon.

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For tonight, clear skies and a light SE breeze will keep temperatures from getting as cold as they were this morning with most locations well into the 40s to start the day Saturday.  Then, as the day wears on lots of sunshine and a gusty southerly wind will push those daytime temperatures well into the 70s.  So, after a couple of days with below normal temperatures, back to the much warmer than normal range again by afternoon and that trend will be the general rule right on through next week as you can see on our forecast page.

By the way, the normal max/min at this time of year is 72/49 dropping to 68/46 by the end of the month.  I mention the end of the month because the trends continue to suggest above normal temperatures as a general rule not only throughout this forecast cycle but well beyond.  More about that in a moment.

First, the rest of the weekend will see even warmer temperatures with lots of sunshine and a gusty south wind continuing through the day Sunday pushing our daytime highs to around 80 after starting the morning in the 50s.  A weak boundary looks to stall out NE of the state on Monday but with a few more clouds in the sky and a more SE wind component, that should keep temperatures from soaring much more so still near the 80 degree mark during the day.

Tuesday will see a little more cloud cover, gusty southerly winds, and a weak front approaching which is not expected to reach us till the morning hours of Wednesday.  Again, the extra cloud cover should hold daytime temperatures to around 80 although that morning will be much warmer.  Our next chance of showers or perhaps some thunder looks to be with the frontal passage which now appears to be during the Wednesday morning time frame.  If so, a brief shift to northerly winds will knock temperatures back some that afternoon and again into the day Thursday.  But, not for long as southerly winds return in time for the following weekend along with another warm-up.

Some data runs suggest the rain chances for the Tue night/Wed morning time frame need to go up, but even if that is the case, this does not look to be a big rainmaker for us.  Notice the 7 day QPF map which is certainly not very supportive of a widespread, heavy rain event.  Obviously, that is subject to change with subsequent data runs, but for now will have to downplay our prospects for a good soaking rain anytime soon.

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There are some indications we could get additional chances of showers/storms on the 8-14 day outlook which currently has us in a slightly wet category compared to normal.  But, since this is a relatively dry time of year anyway, that is not particularly significant.  

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Notice also that the 8-14 day outlook continues with a strong signal suggesting much above normal temperatures.  That would suggest daytime highs still running well into the 70s if not a few 80s thrown in there over that time frame.

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So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot