Seasonal Weather on Tap Before Early Week Cool-Down

Happy Friday, and welcome to the weekend!  We hope that you survived the gusty winds today. If traveling tonight on area roads, especially in the east-west directions, make sure you keep two hands on the wheel as the brisk southerly winds will make travels hazardous. Gradually the winds will begin to subside later on tonight, but be careful while driving.

Residents across the Sooner State are in for a wonderful weekend of warmer temperatures and sunny skies, so get out there and enjoy it! Tonight's mercury should drop to the low 40s for most of the state and upper 30s in the far west panhandle. Throughout the day tomorrow winds will return but fear not---they should be nothing like the winds out there today.

With the persistent south winds this weekend, it will come no surprise that temperatures will inch up on Sunday as well. Below is a map with forecasted high temperatures for Sunday.

Don't be fooled however, as colder weather is on its way! Many forecasting models have been picking up a very strong surge of colder Arctic air approaching the areas late into Monday. Residents in the north central parts of Oklahoma will most likely be the first to experience the cold blast, but overnight and into Tuesday, folks across the entire state will definitely notice a change in the air when they step outside. The following is a graphic of the North American Model shows the cold surge approaching the northern state line around 6pm on Monday night.

 

Another trustworthy model used in forecasting is the GFS model, and the following is the GFS

Being so far out, models are still in slight disagreement on the timing of the cold front, but what they do agree on is that temperatures next week should definitely feel MUCH colder than what they will be this weekend. With the fall foliage in full bloom, get outside this weekend and enjoy the seasonal fall weather.


On the other side of the globe, there's another story that's making headlines worldwide--Super Typhoon Haiyan. "The strongest typhoon in the world this year and possibly the most powerful ever to hit land smashed into the Philippines on Friday" causing an untold amount damage. With winds gusting to 170 mph meteorologists are considering Haiyan to be one of THE most powerful typhoon ever recorded. From one of the latest satellite images, it is not hard to find the well-defined center of Haiyan along with near perfect symmetry around it.

To put this in perspective, the below graphic is a super-imposed image of Typhoon Haiyan onto the western Atlantic ocean. If this storm was hypothetically approaching the Outer Banks, NC. residents all along the Eastern Seaboard would have to be on alert. This is a massive storm...let's hope it shows some mercy on the 25 million people who live in its path.

MS

 

Sources:

Oklahoma Mesonet

http://weather.cod.edu/forecast/

irishamericanmom.com

cimss.ssec.wisc.edu

washingtonpost.com

cnn.com