Tracking A Friday Night Front

Thursday, September 4th 2014, 4:43 am

By: Alan Crone

Good morning. We're continuing to track another cold front that will move into the state Friday into Saturday bringing more rain chances along with some cooler air into the region. Temperatures this afternoon should be a degree or two warmer than yesterday with highs near 97 along with south to southwest winds at 15 to 25 mph. The front will impact northwestern OK during the day tomorrow, but will more than likely not move into our immediate areas until late Friday afternoon into Friday night. Some showers and storms will remain in the forecast Friday night into Saturday as this boundary moves southward.

The main upper level system will remain well north of the state today and tomorrow, but the surface boundary currently moving across the Rockies will emerge over the state during the next 24 to 36 hours. South wins today and for most of Friday will keep low level moisture near our area with thunderstorm chances remaining for Friday evening and night into early Saturday morning. The current timing is now slightly faster than yesterday's data and would support a few showers or storms impacting some locations for Friday night football games. The threat of severe weather, while not zero, is fairly low.

Saturday morning the boundary will continue moving south with some spotty showers or for a few hours. Northeast surface winds in the 10 to 15 mph range combined with cloud cover should keep the highs well below the seasonal average. Machine numbers indicate around 82 for the high, but we think there will be a chance to stay in the upper 70s for most of the day and we'll place a 78 on the map for the afternoon.

Sunday most of the showers and storms will be widely scattered and mainly located across the Red River Valley region of the state, but we'll keep a slight chance in the forecast with highs in the mid-80s.

Monday into Tuesday offers some controversy with the data offering little run to run consistency for early next week. The last two runs indicate two short waves moving across the central plains Monday and Tuesday with a stronger system nearing Wednesday into Thursday. I'm inclined to keep the early part of the week dry and warmer with more storm chances about Tuesday or Wednesday of next week but will reserve the right to add a slight pop for both Sunday and Monday across extreme northern OK and southern Kansas. The late week system could end up being a big rain maker. More on that later. The air mass behind the late week front next week could knock our temperatures down into the lower 70s for highs.

Thanks for reading the Thursday morning weather discussion and blog.

Have a great day!

Alan Crone