Looking Good Next Few Days; Looking Interesting Next Week

Thought the 12 hour rainfall map from this morning was instructive as it clearly shows a widespread area of rain that moved through NW OK into NC OK and fell apart as it reached NE OK. 

[img]

As a result, we had a dry day for a change and plenty of sunshine with just a few of those fair weather cumulus clouds in the sky.  All in all, a pretty nice day today and temperatures were pretty close to normal for a change.   By the way, the normal temperature range at this time of year is 74/51 for the max/min. 

[img]

These recent, generous rains have been widespread across the state as you can see here, courtesy of the good folks at the OK Mesonet.  Keep in mind that we were getting very dry before those rains arrived and for Tulsa, we are still almost ¾” below normal for the year.

[img]

At any rate, today’s northerly winds have brought drier air into the state which means with clear overnight skies and light winds, we will have a cool start to our day tomorrow with morning lows mostly in the 40s to near 50.  Mostly sunny skies with just a few clouds together with light northerly winds will make for a very pleasant Friday with afternoon temperatures reaching well into the 70s and possibly even near 80 in the urban environment.

The weekend is looking mighty fine also with dry conditions expected until perhaps Sunday night.  A storm system will be moving out of the Southern Rockies by then but most of its energy looks to be further to our north.  Even so, there will be a slight chance of a shower/storm for Sunday night into Monday morning.  However, that system will tighten the pressure gradient so that we will have stronger southerly winds for Saturday and rather gusty southerly winds on Sunday.  That in turn means we will have warmer temperatures for the weekend as you can see on our forecast page.

Southerly winds will keep abundant moisture in place going into next week and cannot rule out a few isolated showers/storms on Monday, but the chances look rather slim at this time.  Tuesday still looks to be a more interesting day as a stronger storm center aloft will move into the Southern Rockies and then eject eastward out into the Plains for Tuesday night into the day Wednesday.  Although that is still a long ways off, the data runs have been consistent in suggesting this has the makings of a classic severe weather event.  In fact, that date is already being targeted by the good folks at the Storm Prediction Center.

[img]

Again, there are lots of details yet to be worked out regarding the exact track, timing, and intensity so I strongly suggest keeping a close eye on the weather as we head into early next week.  Depending on the timing, there may be another round of showers/storms on Wednesday before things settle down for a day or two.  Not for long though as the pattern suggests active weather continuing through the 8-14 day outlook as well.

[img]

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.  It could get interesting not only next week but into the following week as well.

Dick Faurot