Cool Tonight, Warmer Wednesday, Big Cooldown for Weekend.

After a beautiful day today and another very pleasant day on Wednesday, look for some significant changes to be taking place late Thursday which will be most noticeable for Friday and through the weekend. The next cool front now looks to be pushing through the state during the afternoon and evening hours of Thursday, but ahead of that boundary southerly winds will really warm things up.

After a clear, cool night tonight, sunny skies and southerly winds of 10-20 mph by afternoon should bring us back into the lower 80s for the afternoon hours. Those southerly winds will also keep us from cooling off quite so much Wednesday night as temperatures should be near 60 to start the day on Thursday. That will be followed by brisk southerly winds for much of the day until the cool front arrives during the afternoon and late evening. Since this boundary will be moving from NW to SE, then the more NW counties will likely see temperatures topping out in the late morning and falling back into the 60s by afternoon or early evening. Ahead of the front, temperatures should reach well into the 80s before the wind shift brings in the much cooler air.

Lingering cloud cover and brisk northerly winds for Friday and Saturday will keep temperatures from warming much. Also, there will be at least some light rain and showers behind the front which will temporarily stall out across extreme SE OK on Friday. As the QPF map on the right shows, rainfall totals may reach ½" for some locations. Perhaps more importantly, any light rain or shower activity together with the gusty northerly winds and lack of sunshine will make for a very short thermometer both Friday and Saturday. A stronger push of cooler air will push the front on southward for Saturday and Sunday but the bottom line is that temperatures will struggle to make it out of the 50s for several days.

If the skies clear out as is now expected Saturday night, then Sunday morning will start off clear and cold. Would not be surprised if some of the cooler valley locations in N and NE OK have frost to start the day. Lighter northerly winds and lots of sunshine on Sunday should start a warming trend and a return to southerly winds will warm things up considerably by early next week. However, another cool front looks to be waiting in the wings for arrival the middle of next week.

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

Dick Faurot