Warm Days, Mild Nights.

Our day certainly got off to a clear, cool start as you can see from the statewide low temperature map on the right courtesy of the good folks at the OK Mesonet. As cool as it was this morning, those were not quite down to record levels. Keep in mind also that this is still August and with full sun expected for much of the day, temperatures will quickly warm to near 90 this afternoon. Our normal diurnal temperature range at this time of the year is 93/71 so today will have quite a spread from the 50s in some locations this morning to near 90 this afternoon.

The next couple of days will also see a pretty good diurnal temperature range with morning lows in the 60s and daytime highs back into the lower 90s for Tuesday and quite likely on Wednesday. After that, our nights will be warmer and our days should moderate some depending on cloud cover and rain chances that will be back in the forecast by the end of the week and into the coming weekend.

Light NE winds today will be returning to more of a southerly direction on Tuesday and a brisk southerly wind is then expected for the rest of the week. That will result in the warming nights as our overnight lows should be near 70 for later this week, but those winds will also bring more moisture up from the Gulf of Mexico. At the same time, a series of disturbances in the wind pattern aloft are expected to be affecting our state which will result in more cloudiness and daily chances of showers and storms, possibly by Friday and particularly into the weekend. That should keep the daytime highs around 90 for late this week and the weekend.

Bottom line is temperatures will generally be at or below normal for the most part this week and there are no indications of triple digits anytime soon. In case you are wondering, last summer we had our last triple digit day on Sep 13 and the way this summer has gone I am not about to rule out any additional triple digits just yet.

As far as the ongoing drought situation is concerned, there will be some showers/storms in W OK tonight and into the morning hours of Tuesday which will be drifting eastward, but they are not expected to make it this far before they dissipate. After that, the rest of the day Tuesday and Wednesday look to be dry as the NW flow pattern aloft which gave us the rains of the last few days is weakening. Also, the pattern aloft will be changing by the time the weekend arrives and will be supportive of at least a chance of showers/storms for Fri-Sun. This still does not look to be a drought breaking event, but at least some lucky folks will pick up some additional rainfall. Not going to get too carried away with the rain forecast just yet as the longer range guidance needs to be more consistent, but at least we will have a chance.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot