Nice Fall Weather in Wake of Storms

A stormy Saturday gave way to a sunny Sunday. In the wake of those storms, some places were left with nearly 5 inches of rain! It wasn't an equal-opportunity system though. Some places, like in south Tulsa County, picked up a measly 0.1 inch of rainfall. The attached map shows the rain footprint from the powerful system that brought severe weather to Green Country. Training storms were responsible for the high totals along and just north of the I-44 corridor. With it, came wind gusts in excess of 70 mph! No tornadoes occurred in Oklahoma, but in neighboring northwest Arkansas, a brief twister was reported.

Overall though, the severe weather was toned down from what it could have been. Due to numerous showers and storms immediately ahead of the main impulse, the line of storms could never get itself fully organized. The "clutter" of rain and storms ahead of the cold front stabilized the atmosphere some and numerous storm interactions disrupted storm organization. In that kind of wind shear environment, tornadoes were certainly a risk. We were fortunate that scenario didn't play out here.

Sunday stood in stark contrast to Saturday with hardly a cloud to be seen and a nice, dry, mild air mass settling into the region. This is setting us up for several beautiful days ahead. High pressure controls our weather pattern, allowing for temperatures to cool off nicely at night and sunshine with a return to warm air during the day. As high pressure pushes further away on Tuesday, our winds get stronger and a temperatures go up even more. That trend will end Wednesday as another cold front sweeps into Oklahoma. Without much time for moisture return, rain chances are low with its passage. However, unlike the last system, this cold front has its origins from further north, bringing with it cooler air. A nice cool-down for the second half of the week will make it ideal pumpkin-carving, cider-sipping, hay-riding weather. Enjoy this time as temperatures level out in a comfortable range. We know too well about the only thing that lasts in Oklahoma is our summertime heat. Thankfully, that is no more.

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