Warmth for the Weekend

I hope you enjoyed our brief taste of winter weather! Much of Green Country turned white with a quick dusting to an inch of snow left in the wake of an Arctic cold front. It was the kind of snow that most everyone could enjoy. It came after rush hour, didn't really stick to the roadways, and gave a nice coating to the otherwise brown landscape. Sorry kids, no Snow Days quite yet.

Even with a relatively frigid air mass in place, much of the snow melted with a good amount of solar radiation (sunshine). Temperatures hit rock bottom this morning with some places as cold as 11°! The map above gives you a taste of those morning readings. Now, the warm-up begins!

Today's highs will approach the normal values for this time of year. The weekend boasts even warmer temperatures! South-westerly flow, combined with ample sunshine and dry conditions will allow for warmth to build rather quickly. We'll be talking 50s for highs on Saturday, 60s on Sunday, and possibly near 70° by Monday! Needless to say, this cold spell will be a distant memory in the not-too-distant future.

The drought situation is a growing concern once again. After a fairly wet last few months in 2011, moisture, outside of our quick snowfall the other night, has eluded northeastern Oklahoma. The southern portion of the state had a good soaking rain earlier in the week that just couldn't work far enough to the north. As a result, drought improvement has occurred in southeast Oklahoma while conditions have remained the same or even worsened in northern portions of the state. In fact, much of Osage County has retreated back to extreme drought conditions. This is the second worst drought category, which is still prevalent in western Oklahoma. Little improvement is expected in the coming week with little or no moisture return from the Gulf of Mexico. Here's a link to the latest Drought Monitor.

The dry and warm conditions also enhance our fire danger into the weekend… especially by Sunday when winds could gust as high as 30 mph. As of Friday afternoon, there were no Burn Bans in effect for Oklahoma, but it would be wise to avoid outdoor fires in these conditions if at all possible.

Have a great weekend everyone! Be sure to follow me on Twitter: @GroganontheGO and "like" me on Facebook!