Freeze Warning Remains

Friday, October 31st 2014, 4:40 am

By: Alan Crone

Welcome to the cold air. Temperatures this morning have dropped into the 40s as a Canadian air mass has moved into the region setting the stage for a widespread freeze event late tonight into Saturday morning. A freeze warning will be required for a large portion of Oklahoma due to the first freeze of the season by early Saturday morning. Tender potted plants should be sheltered (inside) and away from the cold air to survive. Temps will drop into the mid to upper 20s.    A strong storm system will be nearing the area early next week with rain chances increasing across the state including northeastern and eastern OK.

Temperatures this morning will continue to drop a few degrees before hitting bottom in the mid-40s. Sunshine with gusty north winds in the 15 to 30 mph range combined with the colder air will keep wind chill values in the 40s this afternoon while surface readings move into the lower and mid-50s.

Some low clouds have developed this morning across part of eastern Kansas and will move southward during the next few hours. The RAP indicates some of this cloud cover will enter northern OK this morning and “thin out” around the early morning to mid-morning hours.   But with a cold air mass moving into the region, sometimes these clouds still linger longer than expected. I'll still keep the noon hour into the afternoon with full sun, but will add some clouds for the morning hours.

Friday Night Football and Halloween festivities will be quite chilly with 7pm temperatures near 43 and 9pm readings near 37 along with north winds at 10 mph.

We'll be near freezing around midnight through 8am to 9am.

After the Saturday morning freeze, southeast winds return in the 10 to 15 mph range and our afternoon highs will move into the mid-50s with mostly sunny conditions.

The upper air flow currently from the northwest will transition to a southwesterly flow pattern by Sunday and early next week allowing another western system to move into the region. This upper level system will help produce rain and thunderstorm activity Monday into Tuesday with a surface cold front positioned from southwest to northeast across the state. The upper air flow will parallel the boundary allowing for a relatively slow moving system capable of producing some 1 to 2 inch rainfall totals before the system exits late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. There remain some differences regarding the start and end times with the rainfall, but our forecast will generally keep high chances for Monday afternoon into the evening and continuing for most of Tuesday. Some rain may linger Wednesday morning across southeastern OK.

Thanks for reading the Friday version of the Morning weather discussion and blog.

Have a super great day!

Alan Crone
KOTV