Thursday Morning Update

Welcome back winter! It was good to see some spring like weather yesterday, but today it's back to a one day reality check with very cold conditions likely across northern OK.  Highs will range in the mid to upper 30s along with some drizzle or brief shower potential in some locations.  I doubt we'll see any freezing drizzle late tonight or early Friday morning, but we will of course monitor the observational trends closely.  

The cold shallow air mass will travel southward before stalling (hanging up) across some of the differing terrain of southeastern OK and Northeast Texas.  These air masses are very thin ( not exceptionally deep in the atmosphere).  Think of the air mass as a thin layer of water that pours out over a concrete surface.  Eventually the water rolls downhill, but it also stops when it can get over bumps and humps along the surface.  This same thing happens with cold shallow air.  Consequently, the bumps and humps will be represented by the Kiamichis and the Arbuckles.  Areas to the south of this line could stay in the 50s and 60s with even 70s across north Texas.  Locations along and north of the I-40 area will be in the 30s or lower 40s.  

Another frequent weather possibility with a shallow cold air mass is drizzling or light patchy precip.  Since the air mass is cold and shallow, a direct thermal circulation exists with warm air rising and cold air sinking.  A layer of warm air is likely to rise up and over the shallow layer of air helping to produce some a stratus cloud deck and some patchy precip. But our atmosphere is extremely dry this morning and we may not see this process developing until later tonight across extreme NE OK.  This morning some patchy fog will be likely across southern OK.  

The cold air will not last long and is expected to move eastward out of the area Friday along with a return of highs nearing 50 by Friday afternoon.  

The weekend will feature a fast moving upper level trough that could produce some showers or even a rumble of thunder by Sunday.  No expected severe weather is expected, but another stronger system nearing Tuesday is likely to produce severe weather to our east.  The Tuesday system, if it slows down, could produce some strong to severe storms across extreme eastern sections of the state.  We'll keep you posted on both of these weather makers.  

Our high yesterday was 62

recorded at 4:13pm.

The daily normal average high is 48 and the low is 28.

Daily records include a high of 79 from 1950

and the low of 04 from 1906.

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Thanks for reading the Thursday Morning Weather Discussion and blog.

Have a super great day.

Alan Crone

KOTV