Mild Next Few Days Followed by a Warming Trend.

Notice the 2 day QPF map on the right. I used the two day because after Friday morning, our rain chances are pretty much in the slim to none category as the weather pattern will finally settle down for the rest of this forecast cycle. That means our best chances of additional showers/storms will be in the short term and as the QPF map clearly shows, primarily for Central and Western OK. There is a tight gradient though so if that axis should shift very much one way or the other, it could make a big difference. For now though, will only call for a slight chance of showers/storms for areas along and east of Hwy 75 for the Thu night/Fri morning time frame with chances rapidly increasing along and west of I-35. After that, little or no rain is expected going into the coming work week.

That also means temperatures will gradually return to more seasonal levels after several more very mild days. We have been on quite a run so far this month with no ‘official' triple digit days as yet. I still do not see any suggestions of a late summer heat wave that would push us to that level, and the next several days will be quite mild.

In fact, morning lows in the lower 60s and possibly even some of the cooler valleys dropping into the upper 50s will get Thursday morning off to a very mild start. We should have lots of sunshine for much of the day Thursday with clouds increasing late in the day. However, the more easterly wind component is keeping relatively dry, mild air in place and our daytime highs should be in the mid 80s again.

Friday and Saturday mornings will also be in the 60s to start the day followed by mid 80s during the afternoon hours. Mostly cloudy skies for much of Friday should then be followed by lots more sunshine going into the weekend and into early next week. Also, our winds will be returning to a more S or SE component and that combination will bring temperatures back to near normal. Morning lows will likely be back into the lower 70s and daytime highs into the lower 90s by the first of next week. However, with the wet soils and very green vegetation, the combination of heat and humidity may well push the heat index to near triple digit territory as well.

In other words, weather more typical of August. Also, it now appears that after the Thu night/Fri AM system moves out, our next good chance of rain will be well beyond this forecast cycle so things will at least start to dry out.

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

Dick Faurot