Dick Faurot Blog: The Roller Coaster Ride Continues

Notice the first map which shows the daily maximum temperatures across the state on Sunday, courtesy of the OK Mesonet. There were a number of records set with those very Spring-like conditions. Now notice the second map which shows the max/min temperatures for today, again courtesy of the OK Mesonet. Obviously, some cooler air has settled in over the state, particularly for our more NE counties. Northerly winds have brought in the somewhat cooler air and another contributing factor to the lower temperatures in that corner of the state was some lingering stratus cloud cover which did not burn off till this afternoon.

Fair skies statewide and light winds becoming more easterly by morning should result in a frosty start with most locations near the freezing mark. Lots of sunshine is expected again Tuesday, but our winds will be primarily from a more SE direction. Daytime highs well into the 60s are expected, but the more easterly component to the wind is not nearly as warm as a westerly component. So, although Tuesday will once again be much warmer than normal, it will not be as warm as this past weekend.

Then another cold front arrives during the day Wednesday followed by much colder conditions for Thursday. Southerly winds in advance of the front should keep us in the 40s to start the day, then mostly cloudy skies and the winds shifting to northerly by morning or early afternoon(depending on your location) will keep us from warming as much. However, the real deal cold air will be lagging behind the wind shift to we should make it well into the 50s which is still much above normal for this time of year.

Thursday looks to be much colder as a stronger ridge of high pressure builds southward into the lower 48 from the Yukon Territory where some very cold air is entrenched. But, the real brunt of the cold air will be east of us so this will be another glancing blow followed by a nice rebound on Friday as you can see on the forecast page.

However, the rebound on Friday will also be short-lived as another surge of much colder air will arrive in time for the coming weekend which now looks to be much colder than it did just a few days ago. Some subtle shifts in the wind flow aloft will bring the cold air a little further westward in the days ahead so although the real brunt of the coldest air continues to be aimed east of us, the colder air will still be very noticeable here. We may also see some moisture by Sun/Mon as the 6-7 day QPF map shows.

Looking further downstream, the 8-14 day outlook also suggests the coldest air will be shunted to our east. Even so, we will likely experience below normal temperatures on average during that time frame. We may also get into a more active weather pattern during that weeklong period as the 8-14 day precipitation outlook suggests.

In the meantime, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot