Cold Blast!!!!

Cold Blast! That is what is coming our way this weekend as a strong cold front will be arriving during the morning hours of Saturday and will be completely through the state by that evening. Southerly winds and temperatures in the 40s are expected ahead of the front to start the day Saturday, but gusty northerly winds and much colder air will be moving in behind it. The real deal cold air will probably lag the wind shift by several hours, so we may get lucky and have a pleasant first half of the day Saturday.

But, by Saturday afternoon and evening the cold air will be arriving on the heels of northerly winds of 20-25 mph with higher gusts. That means temperatures will be falling during the afternoon hours and if you are headed to the Tulsa Christmas Parade we expect the air temperature to be in the low-mid 30s with wind chill values in the 20s. Also, those downtown canyons often will funnel the air creating locally much stronger winds and correspondingly lower wind chill values. In other words, bundle up.

At least Friday is looking pretty nice. We do expect mostly cloudy skies for much of the day, but despite the cloud cover, the deeper moisture will actually be further east of us. So, we are currently only expecting a slight chance of light rain for Friday night and into the day Saturday. Since the moisture will be moving out as the coldest air moves in, any precipitation is expected to remain liquid on Saturday. Also, a S to SE wind of 10-12 mph and temperatures in the 50s will make for a decent Friday.

Sunday and Monday will struggle to get above freezing during the day, and temperatures at night will generally be in the teens to near 20. Look for a moderating trend though as the week wears on. Also, it is looking like we may have a pattern change taking place later next week. More about that in future blogs.

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

Dick Faurot