Friday Morning Update

We're tracking two more systems over the next 7 days and both of these systems could produce wintry precipitation across part of Eastern OK. The first one arrives Saturday afternoon and evening, and the second arrives Wednesday.   Bitterly cold arctic air will invade the state Saturday night and may remain through the middle of next week. A surface ridge of high pressure will be near NE OK Monday and Tuesday allowing for single digit lows and Monday afternoon highs in the teens. Wind chill values Monday morning may be from O to -10 across our area which would require wind chill advisories for portions of northern OK.  

The pressure will be falling today across the Rockies in advance of a fast moving short wave dropping out of the Pac Northwest. This will result in gusty south winds this afternoon in the 15 to 25 mph range with highs in the lower 40s across eastern OK.   Wind speeds will be higher across central and western OK.  We'll move into the mid-40s for Saturday afternoon readings before the strong cold front sweeps across the state Saturday night setting the stage for the cold air to invade the state. 

As the surface front passes southward, a few showers will be possible across eastern OK Saturday afternoon. The short wave will move near the area Saturday night allowing for some snow to develop across far NE OK, SE Kansas, and NW Arkansas. Current data would support anywhere from 1 to 2 inches of snow across Far East central OK into western Arkansas. The Tulsa Metro would be in the running for a dusting to near 1 inch. The EURO model is slightly more aggressive with snowfall amounts, but not by much. 

The system rapidly lifts eastward Sunday morning and the cold air will remain for early next week with the arctic air entrenched through Tuesday, and possibly Wednesday morning.  The confidence for this portion of the forecast remains low as the shallow arctic air may erode Tuesday afternoon or Wednesday, but if it remains intact, we could be looking at some freezing rain potential Wednesday.  

The official high yesterday in Tulsa was 32 recorded at 4:03pm.

The normal daily average high is 47 and the low is 28.

Daily records include a high of 78 from 2009 and a low of -2 from 1919.

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Have a great day!

Alan Crone

KOTV