Dick Faurot's Weather Blog: Cold Wednesday, Flurries Possible; Warming Trend To Follow

Once again, the max/min temperature map for today, courtesy of the OK Mesonet, shows another very cold day across the state.

Our normal diurnal temperature range at this time of year is 48/27 and we have been a far cry from that since the year started. At least we have bottomed out in that regard as the normal temperature curve is now on the upswing.

In fact, by the end of the month our normal daytime max/min climbs to 50/28 and will continue to steadily climb until late in the summer.

Now back to the real world, and the fact of the matter is that we will see well below normal temperatures again Wednesday - Thursday will also be cold but on the upswing – then, much warmer conditions in time for the weekend.

Despite today's sunshine, we did not warm much and, with little or no sunshine expected for Wednesday, it will be another cold one.

Morning lows in the low 20s and daytime highs only reaching the mid 30s are expected. Along with the cloud cover comes a chance of a few snow flurries, but this particular system looks to be shearing apart rather rapidly as it moves overhead losing a lot of its energy.

Thus nothing more than some brief flurries, if anything at all, are anticipated and no accumulation nor any other related issues. At least the northerly winds will be light at less than 10 mph all day.

Sunshine returns for Thursday into the weekend with sunny or mostly sunny skies as a general rule. Also, a light westerly breeze on Thursday will help to warm temperatures well into the 40s after starting the day in the low 20s.

That will be followed by daytime highs well into the 50s if not near 60 by Friday and Saturday.

Brisk southerly winds on Friday will shift back to the north late Saturday as a dry cold front moves across the state. However, this is not going to be a particularly cold system, with daytime highs still holding in the 50s for Sunday into early next week.

That is because the pattern aloft is finally shifting to a more zonal or W to E flow as opposed to the more amplified N to S flow we have had for the last two weeks or so. As a result, the cold fronts that reach us will be more of a Pacific nature instead of Canadian and therefore milder.

Also, as you can see by the seven day QPF map, our chances of measurable precipitation are in the slim to none category.

Don't count on that milder pattern persisting for the rest of the winter though as it can certainly shift back, but, as you can see by the 8-14 day graphics, at least there are no indications of a return to a colder pattern as normal to above normal temperatures, on average, will be the general rule for a large part of the country.

The exception to that coincides with a higher than normal precipitation signal so, therefore, would be due more to clouds and the associated precipitation than any renewed arctic blasts.

So, hopefully, provided you with something to look forward to this coming weekend and perhaps beyond that - at least in relation to how our January has gone so far, and even with respect to what it is normally like.

Dick Faurot.