Rain Pushes West With Low

As the upper-level low pushes off to the west, so does the rain.  Central and eastern Oklahoma may see a chance for light rain or a lingering thunderstorm through this afternoon, but otherwise skies will remain partly to mostly cloudy in these regions.  Temperatures will also begin to warm up, especially if the sun is able to come out.  In western Oklahoma and the panhandle, a solid chance for rain continues through the afternoon and evening hours with skies remaining generally cloudy.

The result of this system has been a large swath of rain across mainly central Oklahoma, more specifically, the Oklahoma City metro area.  Below we have listed the current 72-hour rainfall totals from Oklahoma's Automated Surface Observing System (ASOS) stations, found at the municipal, regional, and international airports across the state.

Track the Rain

72-Hour Rainfall Totals
Valid Saturday, July 13 12:00 PM CDT through Tuesday, July 16 12:00 PM CDT

ID	LOCATION	RAINFALL
KBVO	BARTLESVILLE	0.24"
KCSM	CLINTON-SHERMAN	1.01"
KFDR	FREDERICK	1.75"
KGAG	GAGE	0.25"
KGOK	GUTHRIE	1.72"
KGUY	GUYMON	0.15"
KHBR	HOBART	1.45"
KLAW	LAWTON	1.21"
KMLC	MCALESTER	1.03"
KMKO	MUSKOGEE	1.16"
KPWA	OKLAHOMA CITY – WILEY POST	2.93"
KOKC	OKLAHOMA CITY – WILL ROGERS	3.28"
KPNC	PONCA CITY	N/A
KSWO	STILLWATER	1.49"
KRVS	TULSA – RICHARD LLOYD JONES JR	0.53"
KTUL	TULSA INTERNATIONAL	0.38"

The Forecast
For central and eastern Oklahoma, about a 30 - 40% chance of some light rain or a brief thunderstorm can be expected this afternoon.  Otherwise, the rain will have ended and skies will be partly to mostly cloudy.  Across western Oklahoma, rain chances are anywhere between 80 and 100% this afternoon.  The best chances for rainfall will be in the early afternoon, with showers becoming more scattered towards mid-day.

As is the case with the past couple of days, high temperatures will remain coolest in areas seeing rainfall.  With the sun likely to peak out from behind the clouds at points of the day in central and eastern Oklahoma, we should see highs reach the low-to-upper-80s in these areas.  Northeast Oklahoma may even see highs in the low-90s; again, the warmest highs will be concentrated in eastern Oklahoma.  For western Oklahoma, expect cooler highs in the upper-70s to low-80s.

Tonight brings a slight chance of thunderstorms for central and eastern Oklahoma, but chances are no greater than 30%.  In western Oklahoma, the rain will begin to become less frequent, so chances decrease to 50% at most.  Skies will be mostly cloudy across the state, so mild lows can continue to be expected.  We should see our coolest lows in the panhandle, dropping to the low-60s.  Across the rest of the state, lows should be in the mid-60s to low-70s.

On Wednesday, a 20 - 40% chance of showers and thunderstorms is still in the forecast for central and eastern Oklahoma, but any developing storms will be widely scattered in nature.  Across western Oklahoma, rain chances on Wednesday remain as high as 50%.  Skies will remain cloudy in western Oklahoma while they begin to clear across central and eastern Oklahoma.  Across the entire state, highs should begin to be more near normal.  We'll have highs reach the mid-to-upper-80s across central and western Oklahoma and the low-90s across eastern Oklahoma.

By Wednesday night and Thursday, except for far southwestern Oklahoma which will see chances of no greater than 20%, the rain will end for the state, and we will be in a hot and dry period once again.  Highs across the entire state should warm back up to the 90s by Thursday, with lows remaining in the 60s and 70s.  Our next chance for rain comes on Saturday, but this will be only a slight chance.

Sources: NWS, HOOT, Google Images/Tumblr (photo)