Dick Faurot's Weather Blog: Early Taste Of Spring This Weekend

Nice warm-up today as you can see by the 24 hour temperature change map from mid-afternoon and although it will not be of that magnitude, even warmer temperatures will be the general rule into next week.

Keep in mind that our normal diurnal temperature range at this time of year is 51/29 for the max/min and slowly climbing as the calendar advances.

Statewide, notice on the max/min temperature map the upper 60s and some 70s that were prevalent across W OK. That part of the state will be the warmest again Saturday, but warmer air will also be spreading over the eastern counties.

Most of us should be well into the 60s and some 70s with a W-E gradient once again, i.e., warmest temperatures over the western counties and decreasing into the 60s for the extreme eastern counties.

If we were to have a more westerly surface wind component then the 70s would be more widespread for the eastern counties as well, but right now it appears we will have brisk southerly winds again for Saturday. Those winds will keep us from cooling off as much tonight with overnight lows generally in the upper 30s to lower 40s.

Wind speeds will be generally 10-15 mph overnight and back up around 10-20 with some higher gusts during the day.

Cloud cover is another wild card with regard to temperatures as some of the guidance suggests a low level stratus deck to start the day which should burn off by late morning or early afternoon. Another set of guidance keeps the clouds pretty much at bay.

In either event, certainly a more spring-like pattern to start the weekend.

Sunday will also be spring-like with regard to temperatures even though a weak front will arrive by early morning shifting our winds to the NW at 10-20 mph for much of the day. However, the cooler air normally associated with cool fronts at this time of year will be delayed and not arriving till that night and for Monday.

Even then, temperatures will still be well above normal as you can see on our forecast page.

Lots of sunshine will also be the general rule for Sun/Mon along with no mention of precipitation with this particular system.

Tuesday may well turn out to be the warmest day of this forecast cycle with gusty southerly winds returning in advance of a stronger cool front that will be arriving on Wednesday.

The timing and strength of that front is still somewhat in question as the longer range guidance keeps us on the western fringe of the coldest air as the real surge looks to be further east during that time frame.

Even so, temperatures will be turning cooler on Wednesday and back to near or below normal for Thu/Fri. Notice on the 7 day QPF map we are also pretty much high and dry through that time frame.

The Valentine's Day weekend into the following week also looks to be relatively mild for us with the colder air continuing to be shunted further east and warmer air to our west. It also looks to be quiet with no major storm systems currently on the horizon; notice the 8-14 day outlooks for example.

So, enjoy this early taste of spring. Although there are no major changes currently foreseen, there is still plenty of winter ahead of us.

Dick Faurot