At Least New Year's Eve is Looking Pleasant.

What a difference a day can make. Notice the maximum wind gusts as of about 7:30AM which is the first map on the right, courtesy of the OK Mesonet. The strong northerly winds behind the cold front are very obvious. The second map shows temperatures at the same time and the much colder air behind the front are also obvious. When you combine the two, you have the wind chill which is the third map on the right. Pretty brutal and those cold, windy conditions will continue to spread southward across the state today. Don't expect temperatures to recover much if at all this afternoon either due to overcast skies and gusty northerly winds.

At least this is largely a dry system. Radar has indicated a few spotty showers and there may be a brief flurry or two and perhaps some minimal freezing drizzle, but no impacts are anticipated.

Clearing skies later tonight and diminishing winds will result in a very cold start to the day Monday with morning lows generally in the lower teens. Even with lots of sunshine throughout the day and a light NE to E wind, temperatures will struggle to get much above freezing.

Brisk southerly winds will return Tuesday along with lots of sunshine so after a cold start with morning lows near 20, daytime highs should recover to near 50. That will result in a pleasant evening for New Year's Eve festivities with temperatures generally in the 40s for the evening hours and still above freezing by the midnight hour. New Year's Day will see another cold front moving through the state, but it looks to be much later in the day than what the earlier data sets were suggesting. At any rate, southerly winds that morning should result in a relatively mild start with morning lows near 30, partly cloudy skies that afternoon and highs well into the 40s before the winds shift back to a northerly direction. This will be another dry system. In fact, the 7 day QPF map on the right keeps us pretty much high and dry through this forecast cycle.

Thursday will be colder again with northerly winds and lots of sunshine. Southerly winds will return by late Friday to initiate another rebound in temperatures which will extend through the day Saturday. Another system could impact our weather by late Sunday, but the longer range guidance is not showing much continuity just yet so will await some additional data runs before getting too excited about any wintry weather prospects with that system.

In the meantime, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot