Warmer Today

Today will be the warmest day of the week with highs in the mid to upper 50s with a few lower 60s possible across far southern and western OK.  The gusty south wind combined with dry vegetation will create a high fire danger today, so please use caution.  Weather conditions would promote rapid fire growth today. 

A weak boundary will enter northern OK Friday and cloud cover will develop along and behind the boundary.  Friday evening, probably after midnight, some shower activity will be possible across eastern OK and western Arkansas but this remains a very slight probability.   Saturday the big arctic front rolls over the region with falling temperatures and gusty north wind.  This air mass will be the coldest air of the season to date.  The timing of the arctic air is always a headache as computer model data typically can't handle the shallow air masses very well.  The actual frontal passage is depicted around noon to 3pm on the data with the colder air lagging behind the boundary for a few hours.  This would result in slightly warmer temperatures Saturday afternoon than our current set of numbers.  But I'm leaning toward keeping our 49 for Saturday's highs instead of a 54 and will base this projection on a faster frontal passage around noon.  The main story will be bitter cold air by Saturday night along with gusty north wind.  

Sunday into Monday appears cold but the air mass will modify rapidly next week and move eastward. Warmer air will be likely Tuesday and Wednesday but another front will plow into the area around Thursday with more cold air into the next weekend.