Oklahoma's temperatures have truly been all over the place in the past week. Last weekend, the state enjoyed beautiful fall-like weather with temperatures right around to just above average. On Monday, temperatures warmed up to the 70s for many parts of the state. However, a strong arctic cold front blew through Monday evening through Tuesday morning, dropping those pleasant temperatures down to the 30s and 40s for Tuesday, and then to the teens and 20s on Wednesday morning. Temperatures began to rebound for the rest of the week until this weekend, when southerly winds allowed very warm conditions to occur across all of Oklahoma, especially in the west, where some highs in the 80s were recorded on Saturday. Earlier this afternoon, the warmth "reversed," and much of eastern Oklahoma, mainly the southeast, experienced the warmest highs of the day, with parts of southeast Oklahoma reaching the mid-80s. However, the warmth has not lasted. If you went outside this morning and then have stepped outside recently, you probably noticed a change in the air as temperatures have really started to cool off across the state. This is the result of yet another cold front that has moved through the state this afternoon and evening, bringing the cooler temperatures along with it. This cold front will not be like the arctic front of last week, however. Whereas we are looking at lows Monday morning in the 20s in the panhandle, and 30s to low-40s for the rest of the state, tomorrow's highs will only be about 10 degrees below what they were today, actually putting us to where we should be this time of year.
To put these crazy temperatures in perspective, let us look at the graphic above depicting the temperature trend for Oklahoma City over the past week and examine the forecast trend for the next week. Last Sunday and Monday were pleasantly warm for the city, but the cold front that blew through Monday evening sank temperatures dramatically. Monday's low, which occurred at 11:59 PM CST, was actually Tuesday's high as temperatures continued to fall throughout the night as the front passed through and did not rise high enough on Tuesday afternoon. The 19-degree low that occurred Wednesday morning was certainly below average, but with sunny skies, temperatures were able to warm up to the low-50s in the afternoon. After the cold front, the trend shows that temperatures began to warm up through the weekend, leaving Oklahoma City with an abnormally warm high of 77 degrees on Saturday! Though this is a warm high temperature for the middle of November, it still was not record-breaking. (The record high for Oklahoma City on November 16 stands at 82 degrees, set in 1941 and 1921.)
The forecast trend for the next week shows temperatures cooling down, pretty significantly by the end of the week and weekend. Another significant arctic cold front will be arriving by this time, once again knocking temperatures down to the 30s and 40s for highs. All the details are not currently known, so we will have updates as the week goes on.
In other weather news around the nation: A series of strong, violent thunderstorms barreled through the Midwest and Great Lakes regions today, producing the triple threat: large hail, damaging winds, and tornadoes. Typically, a major severe weather outbreak during this time of year is rare, as temperatures are not as warm to support thunderstorm development. However, with above-average temperatures and strong winds across the region, enough instability was provided to produce a serious, life-threatening situation. The Storm Prediction Center issued a rare "HIGH RISK" today, signifying that the threat for severe weather would be elevated and that the situation should be taken as seriously as possible. Additionally, a Particularly Dangerous Situation (PDS) Tornado Watch was issued across several states, including Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Indiana, and Michigan, with additional tornado watches spanning across Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Some of you may remember this past May, the 31st to be exact, when a Particularly Dangerous Situation Tornado Watch was issued across central Oklahoma for violent, long-tracked tornadoes. Unfortunately, areas in the high risk and PDS-warned areas in the Midwest today sustained quite a bit of damage from the strong storms, with several tornadoes, some violent, being reported, as well as numerous reports of hail and damaging winds. The storm report map to the right shows the latest storm reports recorded as of 8:10 PM CST. You can visit the Storm Prediction Center's homepage here, as the threat will, unfortunately, be continuing through the night as the storms push eastward. The tornado warnings have ended, but the storms formed a squall line, producing damaging winds in its path.
Oklahoma is not expected to get any severe weather in the coming days, but precipitation is on the horizon for some. Expect slight chances for rain Thursday through the weekend as yet another system rolls through. Some computer models have been flirting with the potential for wintry precipitation across northern Oklahoma come the weekend, but this is still a week out. We will have updates on any hazardous weather conditions next week and weekend in future blog posts.
AC
Sources: NWS, SPC
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