Monday Morning Update

Well...we're back to the cold air!  But the weekend was extremely nice!  Temps Saturday moved into the 50s and 60s with yesterday's highs into the upper 60s and lower 70s.  Today we'll be lucky to break out of the lower 20s this afternoon.  Tomorrow morning we're going to start in the 9 to 12 ranges.  The cold air will moderate this week but our daytime highs will only be moving into the lower and mid-40s by the end of the week.  The ensemble and operational data continue to support a pattern change next weekend into early next week.  This should bring us some decent precipitation chances back to the eastern third of the state Friday into the weekend with higher chances statewide early next week.  

The main upper level pattern hasn't changed much for the past three weeks.  We have a large ridge across the west and a trough in the east.  The ridge has flattened slightly and the trough has retrograded slightly during the past few days.  The major arctic air mass across the northern latitudes has spread southward and will continue to envelope a very large portion of the country for the next 48 to 60 hours.  A weak disturbance will move out of the Rockies tonight and brush northwestern or western OK by Tuesday morning.  The lift will be sufficient to produce some light snow flurry activity but the moisture content will remain extremely low.  I'll mention a very slim probability of some flurries Tuesday morning in our area, but most if not all should remain west of the immediate areas of concern.  No significant accumulation is expected in the state. 

This cold air mass will impact the far southeastern portion of the nation and some wintry precipitation is likely in areas that rarely experience snow and ice.  Winter storm watches are posted for a large portion of the southern US.  You'll find a graphic representing these areas on my Facebook page later this morning. 

The strong front is still clearing OK early this morning and you may have noticed the strong winds blowing across your area overnight.  We're seeing some mid-level precip across central and southern Kansas but most of this will not reach the surface.  

The wind speeds will be diminishing some later tonight and then become light Tuesday morning.  Temps tomorrow morning will start near 9 to 12 degrees and finish in the mid-or upper 20s.   We'll expect teens and 20s Wed and Thursday morning with highs in the lower to mid-40s for the end of the week. 

The official high in Tulsa yesterday was 69 recorded at 4:16pm.

The daily average high is 49 and the low is 28.

Daily records include a high of 74 from 1914 and a low of 1 from 1963. 

You'll find me on Facebook and Twitter. 

I'll be discussing the forecast on numerous Radio Oklahoma News Network affiliates across the state through the morning hours. 

Thanks for reading the Monday Morning Weather Discussion and blog.

Have a super great day!

Alan crone

KOTV