Spotty Showers/Storms Next Few Days.

Once again, have had some spotty showers/storms during the course of the day today, but if you happened to be under one of those storms there were some locally heavy rains and very strong winds.  For example, a micro burst occurred in BA with winds estimated to near 60 mph and rainfall totals of more than 1.5”.  Locations just west of Tulsa near Sand Springs also received over an inch or rain as another example.  Officially, the total rainfall for Tulsa was only 0.04”. Here are the rainfall totals as of late this afternoon, as reported by the OK Mesonet.

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Also, for those that were at least near the showers/storms the clouds and rain cooled air made quite a difference in daytime temperatures. For Tulsa, that combination helped hold the high for the day to 88 as compared to the norm of 91.  Other, nearby locations were not as fortunate though with some mid 90s as you can also see from the data on the OK Mesonet.

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For tonight, any lingering showers/storms will be falling apart with the loss of daytime heating leaving us under partly cloudy to at times mostly cloudy skies.  A light E to NE breeze will not cool us off much though nor will it bring any drier air our way as temperatures by morning will once again be in the lower 70s.  Dew point temperatures should also hold in the lower 70s through Tue/Wed before some drier air finally arrives on Thursday.

Partly cloudy to at times mostly cloudy skies Tuesday should help hold daytime temperature to the lower 90s along with a light E/NE breeze.  A few showers/storms will once again be possible, but the areal coverage should hold to 20% or less.

Right now, Wednesday looks to be the best day for additional rainfall with some better support aloft and a stronger surface feature arriving.  As you can see on our forecast page, the mostly cloudy skies and more widespread showers/storms should also hold daytime temperatures into the 80s.

By Thursday and Friday, those NE to E winds will eventually bring drier air over us reducing the rain chances and also allowing for somewhat milder overnight temperatures.  However, the extra sunshine during the day should keep daytime temperatures close to normal.

For the upcoming Labor Day weekend and into Labor Day itself, our winds will be shifting back to a more southerly direction but the lack of upper level support suggests little or no mention of rain.  Also, we expect plenty of sunshine pushing daytime highs well above normal by then.  By the way, the normal max/min on Labor Day is 88/67 to provide a point of reference.

Looking further ahead, the 8-14 day outlook continues to suggest temperatures averaging at or above normal but our precipitation chances now look to be near to perhaps a bit above normal.  By then, the normal max/min has dropped to 85/64 as our days continue to get shorter and we get deeper into Fall.  In spite of the trend to above normal temperatures over that time frame, triple digit air temperatures are still not foreseen although cannot rule out some heat index values approaching triple digits over the next two weeks.

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So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot