Frost/Freeze Advisories Tonight.

Don't recall how many times I have said this over the last month or two, but once again it is appropriate: What a difference a day can make! Notice the 24 hour temperature change map on the right, courtesy of the OK Mesonet. Quite frankly, this is something that would be more typical of January or February rather than late April.

Given how cold we are this afternoon, the next question is how cold will we be tonight? The answer to that depends on how quickly our skies clear and if the wind goes calm. Frost advisories/freeze warnings have been issued for much of the state tonight in anticipation of temperatures at or below freezing by Wednesday morning. For much of E OK, it looks like the skies should have cleared out by sunrise if not a few hours before and the next question is the wind. The winds will be decreasing by first thing in the morning, but they really need to go completely calm in order to maximize the radiational cooling effect. At any rate, that may be just enough to keep the Tulsa metro above freezing, but many of the outlying areas and locations that are protected from the wind will likely be at or below freezing by early morning.

Sunny skies and northerly winds will keep Wednesday much cooler than normal as well with afternoon highs well into the 60s. Keep in mind that our normal daytime highs at this time of year are into the mid 70s.

Thursday morning will also start off clear and cold with temperatures in the mid 30s and another frost potential. After that, increasing cloudiness will likely keep our afternoon highs into the upper 60s so another relatively cool day for this time of year.

Friday will be overcast as a disturbance aloft will be passing over the state. This does not currently appear to be a severe weather maker, but it does look like we will have widespread showers and possibly some thunder. That combination will also keep temperatures quite cool with 50s to lower 60s expected for much of the day.

Temperatures will finally begin to warm up over the course of the weekend with highs in the lower 70s on Saturday and mid 70s by Sunday. Those warmer temperatures should extend into the coming week as well.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot