Pleasant New Year's Eve, Cold Front Tomorrow

The temperatures around here sure don't want to stay warm, do they?  The trend of cold fronts will continue on into the new year.  We'll have calm conditions for this evening and tonight, with a cold front moving through the state tomorrow afternoon and evening, bringing much colder temperatures and the chance for some wintry precipitation across parts of northern and central Oklahoma.

For tonight, expect mostly clear to partly cloudy skies across the entire state, with winds generally from the south blowing between 5 and 15 mph.  Temperatures will be coldest in the panhandle as they drop down to the low-30s around midnight and then to the low-20s by Wednesday morning.  Across western Oklahoma, we will have temperatures in the upper-30s around midnight, with those temperatures dropping to the upper-20s by the early morning.  Across north central Oklahoma, temperatures will be in the mid-30s around midnight and the upper-20s in the morning.  For central and south central Oklahoma, temperatures in the upper-30s around midnight will fall to the low-to-mid-30s by the morning.  Eastern Oklahoma will see temperatures in the mid-30s around midnight, which will fall to the upper-20s to low-30s on Wednesday morning.

On New Year's Day, cloud cover will increase across the northernmost parts of the state, while skies remain generally sunny elsewhere.  The panhandle will see a slight chance for showers in the afternoon with afternoon temperatures in the mid-40s.  Northwestern Oklahoma will only see afternoon temperatures in the low-40s.  North central, central, and northeast Oklahoma will see afternoon temperatures in the upper-40s.  The rest of the state, namely the southern half, will see afternoon highs in the low-to-mid-50s. 

For Wednesday night, the cold front will have pushed through a majority of the state.  Lows will be quite cold Thursday morning, but additionally, some wintry precipitation is possible.  The greatest chance for wintry precipitation will occur in north central and northeast Oklahoma after midnight Thursday.  In these regions, a 60 percent chance for snow showers is currently being forecast.  Across the panhandle and northwest Oklahoma, expect a 20 to 30 percent chance for snow.  For central and parts of southeast Oklahoma, expect a 20 percent chance of rain showers in the evening transitioning to snow showers overnight.  All other areas of the state will not see precipitation.  However, as previously stated, lows will be quite cold.  The panhandle and north central Oklahoma will see lows in the mid-to-upper-teens.  Northwest, southwest, central, and northeast Oklahoma will see lows in the low-20s.  The rest of the state (south central and southeast Oklahoma) will see lows in the mid-to-upper-20s.

For Thursday, skies clear, but the cold weather sticks around as highs do not break the 30s for the core of the state.  In north central and northeast Oklahoma, highs may not even get above freezing on Thursday. The panhandle will be a different story, however, as highs rapidly warm back to the upper-40s on Thursday.

From all of us here at the Oklahoma Weather Lab, have a Happy New Year!

AC

Sources: NWS, HOOT, Google Images (photo)