Dick Faurot's Weather Blog: Enjoy The Nice Weather While It Lasts

Finally a break, although it will be short-lived. Despite the sunshine today, temperatures were well below normal, as you can see on the max/min temperature map courtesy of the OK Mesonet.

At this time of year, our normal daily temperature range here in Tulsa is 78/58 and we will be much cooler than that again on Tuesday. In fact, the morning hours will likely be as much as 10 degrees or so below normal with fair skies and light winds. High clouds will be returning during the course of the day which, together with a light E wind component, should keep our afternoon highs in the mid-70s.

Then, there is the Wed-Thu time frame which will see another potentially very wet system moving across the state. This does not currently pose a severe weather threat, but it does pose another threat of flooding.

As you can see on the 7-day rainfall map, many locations have already received too much rainfall over the past week and more rain will only make matters worse. Of course, as is the case in real estate, the primary factor will be location, location, location - just where this next round of rain drops the heaviest amounts will make a huge difference in the flooding potential.

Right now, the timing of this particular system suggests the rains will be moving in by Wednesday afternoon, becoming more widespread that night, and then moving out during the morning hours of Thursday.

Notice the 3-day QPF map which has the central part of the state pretty well in the bulls-eye this time around. Some locations though could still use some run-off rains, particularly the lake Skiatook watershed, which has largely missed out on the heavier amounts so far. The lake is rising with these recent rains, but is still far from normal.

The system that will bring the mid-week rains will be lifting on out followed by a brief break again for later Thursday and perhaps into the day Friday.

But not for long; the pattern will become unsettled again going into the coming weekend with chances of storms, and those will also pose a threat of becoming severe, as you can see on our forecast page. Fortunately, this next round of unsettled weather looks to be moving out by early next week, followed by another brief break.

Since the month of May is normally our wettest month of the year, and also the most active month for severe weather, it certainly appears it will live up to its reputation this year in contrast to recent years.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot