Much Colder This Afternoon

Wednesday, February 4th 2015, 4:14 am

By: Alan Crone

The forecast is centered upon a strong cold front moving quickly southward this morning. The boundary will slide across southern Kansas and into northern OK this morning and pass the Tulsa area around noon.   Falling temperatures will occur this afternoon along with a chance for some light wintry precipitation across northeastern OK late this afternoon into the early evening.   No accumulations or travel impacts are expected.   The cold air will remain entrenched across the state and northeastern OK this afternoon, Thursday and into Friday morning before quickly moving eastward by Friday afternoon.   A warming trend is likely Friday into the weekend.

Temperatures today may move into the upper 40s across northern OK before the readings take a dive into the lower 30s later this afternoon along with strong north winds and increasing clouds.   Post frontal precipitation is likely to develop, but the higher chance for some light measurable precip will remain across southeastern Kansas, southern Missouri, and part of northwestern Arkansas.   Model data and observational data continues to support a small window for light wintry precip developing across part of northeastern OK between 3pm and 11pm tonight.   This may include some light showers or drizzle mixing with sleet or changing to light snow showers as the colder air deepens across the region.   This chance remains low, but not zero.   If precipitation does occur, the amounts would be very light with little or no travel impacts expected across the region.

The cold air will remain tonight into Thursday morning. Clouds will clear out and wind speeds will diminish later this evening.   This will allow temperatures dropping into the teens Thursday morning across a large portion of Green Country.    North winds will remain Thursday with mostly sunny conditions and highs in the mid to upper 30s to near 40.   The cold air will quickly modify as warmer air flows into the southern plains from the southwestern U.S.   This should allow Friday afternoon highs in the lower to mid-60s and Saturdays highs nearing 70 to 73 along with southwest surface winds around 10 to 20 mph.

Another cold front may drop southward into the state Sunday into Monday, but the air-mass behind this boundary may be more of a hybrid PAC-northwest variety.   I have lowered some Sunday and Monday temps slightly, but these numbers will still be above the seasonal average.   We may notice a small downward trend in the numbers around Tuesday or Wednesday.

Thanks for reading the abbreviated version of the Wednesday morning weather discussion and blog.

Have a super great day!

Alan Crone

KOTV