Showers/Storms Likely Today.

Looks like the coming week will be an unsettled one. As you can see from the QPF map on the right, our state is pretty much in the bulls eye for the heavier precipitation. Now that does not necessarily mean it will rain every day as there will be some days with better chances than others. Also, this particular product only goes through Thursday morning and the pattern that will be developing during the week looks to support a good chance of showers and storms right into the following weekend as well.

First things first though and that is today. Some morning showers and thunder are the left-overs from some storms that fired in the Texas Panhandle late Friday. They are weakening as they move on eastward. A more widespread area of showers and storms will be along and ahead of a cool front that will be pushing through the state early this afternoon and evening. These could potentially be much stronger, although it appears that any severe threat will be confined to along the Red River and points southward. At any rate, your chance of getting wet is about 60% for today.

Tonight, the cool front will push on to near the Red River and stall out. That will give us NE winds for the overnight hours and possibly even some clearing. That should also confine any late night or morning showers/storms to locations well south of I-40 for Easter Sunday morning. That should also provide a pretty nice Easter Sunday for most of us with the extreme southern and western counties the exceptions where there will be a chance of showers or storms redeveloping later in the day. The NE winds to start the day will be shifting to a more E direction as the day wears on. Skies should be partly cloudy and after a morning low in the upper 40s to near 50, look for daytime temperatures to be in the lower 70s. In other words, barring any surprises, Easter Sunday is looking promising at this time.

Monday, Tuesday, and perhaps even Wednesday will see that weak frontal boundary bouncing around the state with a return to southerly winds on Monday, back to the NE on Tuesday, and back to the SE to end the day Wednesday. However, most of what shower or thunderstorm activity occurs should be confined to the extreme western counties. Partly cloudy to at times mostly cloudy skies and temperatures near 50 at night and lower 70s during the day are expected.

A stronger storm system is expected to be approaching from the west later Thursday or perhaps into the day Friday. The timing is still somewhat in question, but it has the potential of producing some significant storms for the latter part of the week. Thus, it appears that the coming week will be quite unsettled for the state and as mentioned, that pattern may well persist right on through the coming weekend as well.

As always, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot