Thursday Morning Update

First up:  Winter weather and much colder air.  

The arctic front moved across the area late yesterday evening bringing more cold air back to the state along with some light snow along the OK-Kansas state line area.  This fast moving short wave that produced the light snow is well east of the state this morning, but the frigid air will remain during the short term.  We'll be riding the roller coaster of temps once again but the ride up will not be as robust as last week.

Snow amounts are generally light and mainly confined from northern Tulsa county to the northeastern portion of the state and southeastern Kansas.  Some northwestern Arkansas neighbors also received a dusting overnight.  Some locations north and east of the Tulsa area may have a few slick spots on roadways and bridges due to the light dusting of snow from yesterday evening.  Obviously, you are encouraged to remain aware of your travel areas this morning. 

The afternoon highs are expected to remain near or below freezing with some sunshine and north winds.  The wind chill values this morning will be in the single digits for the next several hours with surface temps in the middle teens.  Be sure and grab the big coats, gloves, and head coverings if you must be outside for any length of time this morning and afternoon.    

We'll make some progress in the temp category Friday and Saturday with afternoon highs moving into the 40s or lower 50s but another strong cold front will roll across the state late Saturday night bringing more shallow arctic air to the region.  The front will pass the area Saturday night and a short wave will trail across the central plains producing some light wintry precip, mainly to our north and east.  But model data indicates some rain will be possible Saturday afternoon or evening across far eastern OK for a short time period.  As the cold air arrives, we may see small window of opportunity for a transition from rain to freezing rain and then to some light sleet.  The overall coverage will be very low, but this may require a slight increase in probability for the north and eastern sections of the state.  Our chance will remain anywhere from 20 to 30% with the subfreezing air remaining from Sunday through at least Tuesday or even Wednesday of next week.  This would include both overnight lows and daytime highs. 

A strong arctic ridge of high pressure will center over the region Monday with morning lows in the lower single digits and highs possibly in the teens.    

The official high in Tulsa yesterday was 52 recorded at 3:12pm.

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

Our daily records include a high of 76 from both 2004 and 1997.  The record low is 2 from 2001 and 1911. 

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Thanks for reading the Thursday Morning weather discussion and blog. 

Have a super great day. 

Alan Crone

KOTV