High Fire Danger!

The only thing that will keep Sunday from being an extremely high fire danger day is that the humidity levels should only drop into the upper 40% range during the heat of the day. Also, with much cooler temperatures returning for Monday, the humidity levels will be even higher. But, don't let that fool you as very strong, gusty southerly winds on Sunday and strong, gusty northerly winds on Monday will still create a high fire danger situation. In fact, the winds will be a problem pretty much all week long as the winds will quickly return to a southerly direction on Tuesday and be rather gusty for the rest of the week.

As you can see from the image on the right, a serious drought situation continues to affect much of Oklahoma and we see nothing that will relieve that anytime soon. There will be a chance of showers and storms with the cold front late Sunday night and into the morning hours of Monday, but they will be quick moving and not a lot of rain is expected nor will it fall where it is needed most. There may also be a few severe storms with winds and hail the primary threats.

After the cool-down on Monday, Tuesday morning looks to be clear and cold with potentially some frost in the colder valleys. That will be followed by a quick rebound as gusty southerly winds return and persist for the rest of the week. There will also be enough moisture for a chance of a few showers or storms on just about any given day starting on Thursday, but still not the widespread, drought breaking rains that are needed.

The longer range outlook through the middle of April is also calling for below normal precipitation and above normal temperatures.

As always, stay tuned and check back for updates.

Dick Faurot