More Rain On The Way

Another wet day today as you can see by the rainfall totals, courtesy of the good folks at the OK Mesonet.  Fortunately, those rains did not come all at once so it has been a good soaking. 

[img]

And, not just here in OK as you can see by the regional view of 24 hour rainfall totals through 7 AM this morning.  The rains did come too fast though for some locations in Texas which did produce significant flooding and locally heavy snows also occurred in Colorado.  This was all due to the major storm system that was discussed extensively last week as it moved our way.

[img]

The rains started in W OK on Saturday so here are the 3 day totals and again, quite a soaking state wide.  In fact, some locations went from drought to flood as some of those rainfall totals came in a relatively short time in SW OK and out in the Panhandle.  At any rate, those rains will go a long way toward mitigating the drought that has been developing across our state since the first of the year.

[img]

And, it is not over yet as this active period will continue for at least another couple of days with good chances of rain and perhaps some storms for Tuesday, again on Wednesday, finally tapering off by Thursday.  As you can see on our forecast page, we will finally get a break in time for the coming weekend

The drizzly, dreary conditions that dominated much of today will continue off and on through the overnight hours tonight and into the day Tuesday.  With the atmosphere pretty well saturated, temperatures will be changing very little tonight and should hold near 60 to start the day Tuesday.  Cloudy skies, a light northerly breeze, and occasional light rain or drizzle will keep us in the 60s to near 70 for daytime highs.

Tuesday night will be more interesting with a stronger wave moving around the main storm center aloft which is now in Colorado but will slowly drift eastward.  This will cause storms to form in W OK late in the day moving our way overnight.  The severe threat is minimal with this system and it should be moving steadily along which will hopefully minimize the potential for flooding rains. Another system will also move this way on Wednesday keeping us with a good chance of showers/storms but the main storm center aloft will finally drift on eastward and weaken enough to minimize its impacts on our weather heading into the latter part of the week. .  That is why the 3 day QPF map is illustrated as we should finally get a break for later in the week. 

[img]

With all the clouds, chances of rain, and a weak surface wind pattern, temperatures will be characterized by short thermometers through Wednesday.  We should start to warm up on Thursday and will be much warmer for the coming weekend.

However, after that, the upper flow continues to suggest an active pattern across much of the country.  Notice the 8-14 day outlooks which continue to suggest a pronounced wet signal for a large part of the country.  At any rate, this certainly suggests an active period through the end of April and going into early May.

[img]

So, stay tuned and check back for updates. 

Dick Faurot