Dick Faurot's Weather Blog: Warmer, Dry Weather Returns

High and dry, that pretty well summarizes the forecast through this forecast cycle.

That is also pretty much what the 7-day QPF map is showing for the entire state with any additional precipitation during that time frame largely confined to the Gulf and Eastern States. That is also becoming a problem as the lack of moisture is, once again, allowing drought to rear its ugly head. Notice the updated drought monitor map for example that was issued earlier in the day.

Speaking of moisture, there was some decent snowfall totals from the system that came through last night and earlier this morning.

As the accompanying map shows, some of the amounts were quite generous for the more western counties and into the Texas Panhandle. Reports of a foot or so have been received from the Amarillo, Texas area for example.

It pretty much changed over to all rain by the time it got to this side of the state, although there were some brief periods of snow or a rain/snow mix for a few locations south of I-40 early this morning.

The 24 hour precipitation map, courtesy of the Ok Mesonet, clearly shows that all of the moisture was confined to the more southern counties with the rest us only receiving some sprinkles or light drizzle and not enough to measure.

So we just had a wet system move through, but most of that moisture was well to the south and our chances of additional moisture of any consequence are pretty much in the slim to none category for this forecast cycle.

Since this was not a particularly cold system, temperatures will once again be well above normal as we head into the weekend and the following week.

Light northerly winds tonight and to start the day Friday will become more westerly by afternoon. Some morning cloudiness will give way to lots of afternoon sunshine and temperatures will be near normal to start the day which translates to upper 20s.

But, the sunshine together with a more westerly surface wind should result in a nice rebound with afternoon highs near 50 which is close to normal.

A light W to NW wind for Saturday along with lots of sunshine will result in even warmer temperatures with highs near 60.

Sunday will be warmer yet with the light W to SW winds, lots of sunshine, and highs likely into the 60s.

As you can see on our forecast page, these warmer than normal temperatures will continue well into next week. In fact, daytime highs will likely be on the order of 10-15 degrees above normal during that period along with overnight lows that will likely stay above freezing after Sunday morning.

Fortunately, the winds will be rather light for Friday and Saturday as the warmer temperatures, dormant vegetation and humidity levels dropping below 50% would result in more of a fire danger concern if the winds were stronger.

But, stronger winds along with the warm, dry conditions will be more of an issue going into Sunday and next week, so fire danger concerns may well be our major weather issue for this forecast cycle.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot.