Autumn Arrives Sunday.

As you can see from the statewide low temperature map on the right, courtesy of the OK Mesonet, our day has certainly started off on the cool side. This is the coolest we have been since early in June and is long overdue as temperatures so far this month are running nearly 5 degrees above normal. Just in time for the start of the Fall season as well since Fall ‘officially' begins on Sunday; that is, according to the calendar. Keep in mind that meteorologically speaking Fall is considered to be the calendar months of Sep-Nov.

Anyway, the pleasant, cool start this morning will be followed by slightly below normal temperatures this afternoon with afternoon highs generally running in the upper 70s. We will also have sunny skies all day and a light NE wind making for a very pleasant last ‘official' day of summer. For the ‘official' beginning of Fall on Sunday another cool start is expected with morning lows similar to this morning's upper 40s and low 50s. Sunny skies all day and a more E to SE wind will bring afternoon temperatures to near the 80 degree mark which is just a tad below normal as well.

After that, a gradual warming trend is expected for the coming work week as southerly winds will be the general rule. There is one caveat to that as a weak surface system will be approaching on Tue and could briefly shift the winds to a more northerly component for the more western counties by the end of the day. However, this system will most likely be moisture starved so will keep the forecast dry for now.

At any rate, temperatures will be much warmer by the end of the week with gusty southerly winds expected by Thu/Fri and afternoon highs well into the 80s. Also, our nights will be getting warmer with overnight lows well into the 60s by late in the week so much above normal temperatures will quickly return. That will eventually bring more moisture this way and there may be a few isolated showers/storms on Friday. Right now though, the longer range guidance is more supportive of the next cool front moving across the state on Saturday bringing our next best chance of showers/storms and also another cool down.

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

Dick Faurot