Wintry Mix Tonight.

The map on the right shows the temperature change over the last 3 hours courtesy of the OK Mesonet. Obviously, some colder air is spreading southward and along with the colder air has come some light wintry precipitation. Temperatures will quickly fall below the freezing mark this evening and gusty northerly winds will make it feel even colder. As far as the wintry mix is concerned, any sleet or snow is expected to be light and should not amount to anything more than a dusting on grassy surfaces if even that. With temperatures quickly falling below freezing though, there may be some icy spots on a few roadways, particularly to the west in case you are heading that direction tonight or first thing in the morning.

Friday will be quite chilly with highs only reaching the upper 30s to lower 40s along with brisk northerly winds which will be subsiding by late in the day. However, our skies will also be clearing by early morning and we expect to have lots of sunshine for much of the day. That will at least make it feel a little better.

After that, there are some question marks regarding what will happen to a disturbance aloft that is dropping into the southern Rockies. The consensus of the available solutions keeps it far enough south to produce rain for Texas on Saturday and points eastward from there on Sunday. However, one of the solutions keeps trying to bring more of that moisture further northward into SE OK for Christmas Day. If that does verify, then some showers may make it along the Red River valley and perhaps as far north as I-40….but, that does not appear to be a likely solution at this time.

Right now, the last week of 2011 is look pretty mild. Any fronts that move through will be very week and temperatures will be quite mild for this time of year. In fact, it appears that we will end the year with much above normal temperatures for much of next week.

So, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot