It’s Christmas Sweater Weather!

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope the snowflakes flying around last night only magnified your holiday spirit. There was really no accumulation to speak of, but it was a nice sight to see while I was delivering Christmas treats to family and friends around Tulsa. The snow has left town, but the cold is staying through the holiday. It may be an uninvited guest to some, but it's no surprise here in Oklahoma in December.

While it was a cold start to Friday in Green Country, the Panhandle was stricken with frigid air. In fact, wind chill values there dipped to as low as -15°! Yikes! Our wind chill values were in the teens, and that was cold enough for me… even after wearing one of many LeAnne Taylor's outrageous Christmas sweaters (see picture above).

The cold air will moderate some after a big chill Christmas Eve morning. We'll start a steady march to well-above normal temperatures by the middle of next week. Even so, you'll want to bundle up for Christmas outings with overnight lows in the 20s and highs in the upper 40s. These are the average lows and highs for this point in the season. For warm weather lovers like myself, we'll have to hold out for next week when temperatures just might climb into the 60s for a day or two!

Our forecast was rather tranquil (or dull from many meteorologists' views) until the computer models started to hint at another upper-level low that might barrel into Oklahoma Christmas night. Now, this low pressure system is not the surprise since it was responsible for feet of snow in portions of Colorado. However, it was being modeled to scrape by Oklahoma in a rather benign fashion. Now there are hints that it may become cut-off further from the flow of the jet stream, consolidate, and allow for some organized "lift" to occur. This means, even in a dry environment, the atmosphere may support precipitation. Long story, short, I've added a slight chance of rain OR snow showers to Christmas night and the following day. The system still could easily pass by unnoticed, but there's a chance for a few sprinkles or snowflakes on Christmas Day itself.

There's no need to worry about travel issues at this point. Even if we some snowflakes in the sky again, the amount would be meager and temperatures will likely be at or above freezing most of the time. As far as Christmas Eve is concerned, dry and chilly weather will be the story. There won't be any complaints from Santa and his entourage as they pay a visit to the state that night ;)

Have a wonderful holiday season! I'll be back in action Monday evening to deliver the forecast for the remainder of 2011. Merry Christmas!

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