Dick Faurot's Weather Blog: Stable, Warmer Weather Ahead

What a day. After reaching the mid-80s on Saturday, we cooled off nicely on Sunday and even cooler yet for today, as you can see on the max/min temperature map, courtesy of the OK Mesonet.

NE winds and cloudy skies certainly contributed to the cooler conditions, but the biggest factor was the rains that persisted for much of the day, particularly over the more western counties. As you can see on the second map, which shows the 48 hour precipitation as of late this afternoon, our more western counties have had quite a soaking. And, it is not over yet as the rains were still falling as I write.

Certainly a blessing for those folks, although, in some cases it was too much too fast and they went from drought to flood in a short period of time. Those widespread, locally heavy rains have certainly put a dent in the drought, but it is not over. Surface water availability has certainly improved but it will require more rainfall in the days/weeks/months ahead to get the subsoil moistened back up and consider the drought as being over. Again, drought takes time to develop and usually takes time to alleviate.

As mentioned, the rains are still falling as I write, but the system responsible for this cool, wet pattern is beginning to move on eastward. That means our rains will be tapering off from west to east by early morning and the rains should be pretty much out of the state by Tuesday evening.

Low clouds and lingering showers to start the day will be replaced by high clouds and an end to the rain as the day wears on and from west to east. Not thinking there will be much, if any, sunshine for Tuesday but should see lots more of the sun for the Wed/Thu time frame and going into the weekend. That will have an impact on temperatures as you can see on the forecast page.

Temperatures will be much cooler than normal again Tuesday, but then starting to rebound as the sun returns and our winds eventually return to a more southerly direction later in the week.

In fact, the rest of the week and through the weekend looks to be very quiet considering that this is historically a very active time of year for severe weather. Having said that, the next storm system that looks to be coming our way should be arriving by the first of next week.

Looking further ahead at the 6-10 day outlook, next week could be very active along with a return to warmer than normal conditions. If those rains next week also materialize as the outlook suggests, perhaps we can knock another significant dent in the ongoing drought for our more western neighbors.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot