A Few Showers Today; Hot & Humid for the Weekend.

The maps on the right, courtesy of the OK Mesonet, shows the total rainfall since midnight and over the last week respectively. Some sections of our state have received a good soaking and they certainly needed the rains. But, other sections of the state have been left out, including those of us in the NE corner and we need some rain as well. The system that brought the rains to SW OK overnight will bring a decent shot at showers/storms for those of you along and south of I-40 this afternoon. Further north, there will be fewer showers/storms, but at least there is a chance. I just don't want to get your hopes up too high.

After today, our chances will be pretty well reduced to a few of those popcorn showers/storms that could develop on just about any given day. But, the chances of any one location receiving measurable rainfall will generally be less than 20% and we don't usually put such small chances on our forecast graphics.

So, that leaves us with a return to hot, humid conditions as our winds have already returned to a southerly component. Those southerly surface winds are bringing higher dew points back over us which also means our nights will be warmer and the pleasant 50s and lower 60s of the last few mornings will be a thing of the past. In fact, our overnight lows should generally be running in the upper 60s to lower 70s through the weekend and into the coming week.

Daytime temperatures will be dependent on cloud cover and the high level clouds from those showers/storms to our south will keep us in the 80s this afternoon. After that, we expect to have partly cloudy to mostly sunny afternoon skies which should push our daytime highs back into the lower 90s and heat index values will be a few degrees above that.

The flow aloft will be undergoing some changes over the next week or so and that could eventually bring a little better chance of rain for later next week. Ridging aloft will be building over the state during the next few days, but it is expected to be a short-lived feature and an impressive long wave trough will be replacing it by early next week. However, most of the energy from that system looks to be north of us. But, this does represent a pattern change and the trend is for that system to dominate through the latter part of next week. That gives us at least some hope for more than just the spotty showers/storms that may or may not occur between now and then.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot