Sleet, Snow Event Expected Wednesday In Green Country

Gusty north winds, ice and snow are in the forecast for Green Country. Snowfall amounts from 1 to 3 inches is likely - but it could be as much as 6.

WARN Team Meteorologist Dick Faurot say a strong cold front will arrive followed by strong northerly winds and temperatures falling below freezing by early morning.

Freezing rain and sleet will begin falling early Wednesday as a cold front pushes into eastern Oklahoma. The frozen precipitation will transition over to snow as the front moves out of western and central Oklahoma, he said.

Read Dick Faurot's Weather Blog

"That transition will develop as the air column aloft cools, and that will take place more slowly than the cooling that occurs at the surface," he said.

"That is why the precipitation type and time of transition is so difficult to pin point at any particular location, and those factors will play a huge role in total accumulations of wintry precipitation."

One thing's for certain: it will be very cold.

"Northerly winds of 15-25 mph with higher gusts will bring wind chill values down into the teens and perhaps even the single digits at times so it will be brutally cold all day," Faurot said in his weather blog.

Snowfall amounts could range from 2 to 8 inches in parts of eastern and northeastern Oklahoma.  Green Country should see about a quarter-inch of ice with up to three-quarters of ice further south - around the McAlester area.

The wintry precipitation will be ending from west to east Wednesday night, and Thursday should be sunny but still cold with snow and sleet on the ground.

WARN Interactive Radar

The National Service Service has also issued a Winter Storm Warning for three eastern Oklahoma counties, Latimer, LeFlore and Pushmataha for the same time period.

It says travel across those three counties will be very hazardous or impossible. The NWS also warns about possible power outages due to the weather as the storm moves into western Arkansas.