What a Difference a Day Can Make!

What a difference a day can make. Notice the 24 hour temperature change map on the right as of early this afternoon and courtesy of the OK Mesonet. The cold front actually arrived in Tulsa between 2-3 AM when the temperature went from 65 at 2AM to 45 at 3AM and continued to drop through the morning finally bottoming out at 25 by 8 AM.

For tonight, clear skies and subsiding winds should result in a very cold start to Wednesday morning with most locations in the teens or lower 20s. Lots of sunshine during the day along with a return to light southerly winds will moderate temperatures back into the mid 40s for the most part. As Alan mentioned in his excellent morning discussion, this is just a glancing blow of the really cold air and temperatures will continue to moderate going into the weekend.

Having said that, there will be a few bumps along the road as another weak boundary will shift our winds back to northerly on Thursday which will keep temperatures in the 40s to near 50 and yet another boundary may arrive early Saturday. However, temperatures will still be above normal by Friday and through the weekend and quite likely into early next week. In fact, it may turn out to be downright balmy by Sunday and Monday with daytime temperatures well into the 60s again.

We can certainly use some moisture; in fact, much of the state is still in a serious drought situation and burn bans are starting to be issued by the individual counties. I mention that because the pattern aloft is trending towards a more unsettled pattern which should bring with it better chances of precipitation. That would certainly be a blessing and we could see our first decent chance of a more widespread moisture event early next week.

In the meantime, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot