Soggy Weekend Lies Ahead

It's a big weekend for outdoor events and it seems that Mother Nature would like to rain our parade. Between the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, the Tulsa State Fair, the Maker Faire at the Guthrie Green, and countless other activities, many of us have made our plans to be out and about. Here's some good and bad news.

The bad news: It's going to rain. Saturday will be the soggier of the two weekend days as a cold front sweeps into Green Country. The front will slow its course Saturday evening, bringing the rain to a very gradual close from northwest to southeast. A few showers may even linger into Sunday morning in southeast Oklahoma. The whole day won't feature a continuous downpour, but off and on rain with some thunder appears likely. The first attached map shows the timeline for Tulsa's rain chances. Showers may graze the region as early as the pre-dawn hours.

The good news: It's going to rain! Our wet spells have been very few and far between. As drought holds a significant grip on much of our state, we welcome the moisture to our parched ground. (See 2nd attached map.) Heavy rain is a definite possibility as this system is interacting with a sizeable moisture plume in the atmosphere. That could lead to rain totals like you see in the following map.

The rain and clouds will clear out Sunday, leaving us with a very nice end to the weekend. This cold front is not sending much cold air our way so our brief spell with highs in the 70s and lower 80s ends by midweek next week. The gradual warm-up with dry weather will lead to yet another storm system by the end of next week. That cold front may scoop up quite a bit of cool air and send it down our way for the next weekend. It's possible that might be our first taste of chilly fall weather!

In the meantime, it's time to break out the galoshes and enjoy the weekend, rain or shine! Follow my weather updates on Facebook or on Twitter: @GroganontheGO!