Mother Nature & Mother’s Day Weekend

This past week was straight out of a Chamber of Commerce pamphlet with blue skies, light wind, and incredibly comfortable temperatures. Unfortunately, the picture-perfect weather has shifted into many shades of gray for the weekend. Two weak weather features are giving us an unsettled pattern for a couple days. Normally any bit of unsettled weather this time of year means severe weather possibilities, but this case is different.

A weakening upper-level low is drifting eastward across Texas and is responsible for our initial bout of light rain Friday afternoon. There is just enough energy and ambient moisture to provide widespread showers as it continues to fade on its eastward journey. A clap or two of thunder can't be ruled out, but rather stable conditions should prevent the formation of severe thunderstorms. A weak cold front is also drifting southward, far-removed from its upper-level support. That essentially means it will wash out over the region with nothing more than a wind shift and a small focus for showers.

What does this add up to over this Mother's Day weekend, you may ask? Well, it means showers are a pretty good bet through Saturday morning. Nothing heavy or severe is expected in northeastern Oklahoma. Heavier rainfall may occur south of I-40 (where they most need it right now). The Hydrometeorological Prediction Center paints a broad area of 0.5" to 1.0" of rain through Saturday afternoon across Green Country as you can see above. That may be a little more than I anticipate, but most of that rain should occur late tonight and early Saturday. The rest of the weekend might keep you on edge given the cloudy skies, but it will be more bark than bite. Only a few showers are expected in the area Saturday afternoon through Mother's Day. Those lingering clouds will actually help keep our temperatures in a comfortable range.

So, keep an umbrella on hand for your Mother's Day outings, but don't worry about the weekend being an entire washout. Sunday in particular might be rather nice. As remarkable as this sounds for the middle of Severe Weather Season, the extended outlook remains rather quiet. Beyond the weekend showers, no rain or storms are forecasted through much of next week.

I'm personally hoping that trend holds up through a week from Sunday when we could be witness to a partial solar eclipse at sunset! I'll be sure to keep you updated on your chances of seeing that spectacle. In the meantime, have a wonderful Mother's Day Weekend! Be sure to follow me on Twitter: @GroganontheGO and "like" me on Facebook!