Dick Faurot's Weather Blog: Fog/Low Clouds Tonight, Warmer Next Few Days

Now that October is history, thought a brief look back would be instructive. As was the case in September, this past October was both warmer and drier than normal as opposed to cooler and wetter conditions which prevailed in August. As officially measured at the airport, October rainfall was only 1.50” which is 2.43” below normal and temperatures averaged 1.6 degrees above normal. Fortunately, we did end the month with some badly needed moisture but you have to go all the way back to Sep 8 for the last time as much as an inch of rain was officially recorded.

Of course those totals vary considerably by location. Notice the rainfall over the last few days for example and then the rainfall over the last two weeks as recorded by the good folks at the OK Mesonet. Quite a contrast across the state with some locations in NC OK receiving less than an inch over the last two weeks.

Now that we are into the month of November, today happens to be the normal date for our first freeze of the fall season.  As you can see on our forecast page, we still do not see a freeze in our future; at least not in the short term.  In fact, temperatures will once again be running well above normal in the days ahead with daytime highs and overnight lows running 10 degrees or more above normal for this time of year.

After the fog this morning finally burned off, temperatures rebounded nicely late this afternoon as you can see on the max/min temperature map.  Tonight will see a little more of a southerly breeze which may limit the fog density somewhat, but will still produce a low cloud deck and still some widespread fog for the overnight and into the morning hours of Tuesday.  As those southerly winds increase during the day, the low clouds/fog should mix out more quickly giving us more sunshine and therefore the warmer temperatures.

Wednesday will see even stronger southerly winds and therefore less of a dense fog potential along with the much warmer than normal temperatures.  Our next storm system now looks to be moving across the state on Thursday bringing another good chance of rain and possibly some thunder.  As you can see on the 5 day QPF map, most of that rain is expected to be concentrated over the more S and SE counties, but most of us should get at least some additional moisture.  The timing on the front itself now looks to be late in the day or perhaps Thursday night bringing an end to any showers by Friday morning.

That should set the stage for some nice weather for Friday night football and also a cool upcoming weekend.  In fact, frost may occur by Sunday morning with some of the outlying areas perhaps seeing a freeze.  Beyond that time frame, another warm-up is expected with above normal temperatures on average again expected during the 8-14 day outlook.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot