Stormy Outlook Beyond Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! A sincere thanks to all of those serving or have served to protect our country's freedom. We can enjoy our freedom by basking in the warm sunshine in Green Country today. Temperatures will warm quickly to near-record levels in response to the sunshine and southerly winds. With all of this heat and moisture in place, you may be thinking, something's gotta give!

A cold front will be sliding into eastern Oklahoma this afternoon. The arrival of cooler air will be delayed a few days as the frontal boundary stalls out in the region, giving us periodic showers and thunderstorms, starting as early as this afternoon. There is not much upper-level energy for widespread storms or severe weather today, but given the instability, a few heavy-duty thunderstorms with gusty winds and hail remain possible late in the day. There shouldn't be a need to change BBQ, swimming, or other outdoor plans today, but you'll still want to keep an eye to the sky in case a storm forms near you. Just a reminder, you NEVER want to be in an exposed location outdoors during an Oklahoma thunderstorm!

Those storms will become increasingly numerous as time goes on. The stalled frontal boundary will act as a focus for storm formation through midweek with several waves of upper-level energy overspreading the region. The most significant wave will likely come later on Wednesday when a complex or two of storms may roll through Green Country, producing a whole gamut of severe weather. The outlook for severe thunderstorms on Wednesday is shown in the image above. We could do without the severe weather, but the rainfall will be welcome amidst our unusual May dry spell!

The unsettled weather should be a thing of the past by Friday. In its place will be nice, cool, refreshing air with highs only in the 70s! After the rain, it might be nice to have cool air to mow that freshly-watered lawn again.

One other interesting thing in the weather world to note – our second tropical storm of the season has not only formed, but moved ashore near Jacksonville, Florida with sustained winds just under hurricane limits. It's not even officially hurricane season and we often don't see our first named system until the end of the summer. However, "Beryl" defied the odds and now is dissipating over land, and still bringing some rough seas to the Southeast's coastline. The timing was far from great for holiday beach-goers, but the rain is welcome in that part of the country as well. This doesn't necessarily mean this year's hurricane season will be much worse than usual. In fact, hurricane experts generally agree it will be a near-normal season – just clearly an early start to it.

Have a great end to your holiday weekend. Be sure to follow me on Twitter: @GroganontheGO and "like" me on Facebook!