Rain Ending Tonight, Mild Weekend.

The first round of showers that went through this afternoon did not help much and unfortunately, the second round that is expected during the overnight hours will not do much for us either. As the map on the right shows, courtesy of the OK Mesonet, rainfall amounts so far have been very light and the additional rain that is expected will probably only add another one or two tenths of an inch to those totals. That will not even put a dent in the ongoing drought situation, but hey, we will not turn it down either.

The second round of showers will be quickly moving eastward and our skies will be clearing by Saturday morning with lots of sunshine for the balance of the day. Temperatures will start off Saturday morning close to what our normal daytime highs would be for this time of year and with the sunshine and gusty SW winds, our daytime highs will soar well into the 60s. It will not take long for what rain has fallen to be evaporated and much drier air will also be moving in with those SW winds. This all adds up to an enhanced fire danger situation on Saturday.

Lighter, more northerly winds on Sunday will cool us off somewhat, but we will still have lots of sunshine and temperatures will still be running well above normal. Southerly winds will be returning by Tuesday and Wednesday and together with mostly sunny skies will result in temperatures soaring well into the 60s again and likely an enhanced fire danger situation as well.

Another cool front is still on schedule to arrive Wednesday night and should bring temperatures closer to seasonal levels in time for the first day of Winter on Friday. However, this front also looks to be mostly dry with only a few isolated showers now anticipated.

Looking further ahead to the Christmas Holiday period, the preliminary indications suggest that Christmas Eve looks promising, but cannot say the same about Christmas Day. This is certainly subject to change as the longer range products often will flip around on us at these time ranges, but at least the current guidance suggests it will be turning cooler with a chance of rain.

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

Dick Faurot