Cooler Saturday, Another Chance of Storms Sunday Night/Monday.

What a difference a day can make. Notice the 24 hour temperature change map as of mid-afternoon, courtesy of the OK Mesonet, and it is obvious that the summer-like temperatures of the last few days have been replaced by much cooler conditions. The cold front that has ushered in those cooler temperatures also helped provide a focus for some widespread showers and storms. Notice the 24 hour rainfall map, also courtesy of the OK Mesonet, and it is obvious that some locations received too much rainfall too fast.

The cold front and the support aloft which are the remnants of what was once Pacific hurricane Simon will continue to work their way on eastward. However, there will continue to be some wrap-around moisture keeping us mostly cloudy through the day Saturday along with a chance of some lingering light rain or showers, primarily for the more eastern counties. As a result, we will have a short thermometer on Saturday with morning lows near 50 and afternoon temperatures pretty much holding in the 50s or low 60s at best. Brisk northerly winds will also keep us on the cool side Saturday.

Sunday will see a return to brisk southerly winds and enough sunshine for afternoon temperatures to make it back into the lower 70s for most of us. The increasing southerly winds will be in response to another very strong storm system aloft that will be moving across the state during the late night hours of Sunday night and into the day Monday. This system will have quite a punch to it with another round of showers/storms expected during that time frame, some of which could become severe. If it should slow down by 12 hours or so, then we would really stand a chance for some severe weather; but the way the timing is working out it looks like it will be moving through to closely on the heels of our current system for the atmosphere to recover sufficiently for a more significant outbreak. Also, the timing of this cold front during the early morning hours of Monday is not very favorable for the instability to be maximized. Needless to say, this system will be closely monitored as the dynamics are quite strong with it, but it appears the other parameters such as the instability will not be maximized till it gets on east of us. Notice the 3 day QPF map which shows there will be the potential for another inch or two of rain, particularly for the more eastern counties.

Temperatures early Monday morning should be in the 60s along with gusty southerly winds, then the winds shift to northerly as the system moves on eastward and temperatures will drop off with some recovery possible later in the afternoon. That is only if we get some clearing by then although there may some wrap-around clouds and showers for the more eastern counties for much of the day.

After that, the longer range guidance is consistent in stabilizing the pattern going through the rest of next week and that following weekend and perhaps well into that following week as well. Above normal temperatures should return along with little or no mention of rain.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot