Brief Warm-up Before ANOTHER Cold Front

Snow flurries and light snow showers deposited a thin layer of white on the ground across parts of central and northern Oklahoma Tuesday morning.  This brief round of snow brought a slight relief in the precipitation "drought" Oklahoma has been experiencing so far this month, but has since ended, giving way to sunny skies for the afternoon.  For much of the state, no further precipitation is expected until next week.  However, parts of northeastern Oklahoma may see some wintry weather on Friday and Friday night, with parts of southeastern Oklahoma seeing some rain showers.  We will have more details on this below.

Under mostly to partly sunny skies, temperatures will be on a steady rise through the end of the week until another cold front pushes through over the weekend.  (Yes, contrary to the past few weekends, this upcoming weekend does not look to have temperatures in the 60s and 70s.) Wednesday will have highs in the mid-to-upper-40s, even the low-50s in the panhandle.  On Wednesday night, we'll have lows in the mid-to-upper-20s across the state.  Thursday will be a warm day across southwestern Oklahoma, with highs reaching the mid-to-upper-60s.  In contrast, the rest of the state will see highs reaching the mid-to-upper-50s.  Thursday night will provide for a large temperature range across Oklahoma as lows drop only to the low-40s across south central and southeastern Oklahoma but to the low-to-mid-30s elsewhere.  Increased cloud cover in southeastern and south central Oklahoma will be the reason for the warmer lows.

Then comes Friday - a day of a tale of two seasons across the Sooner State.  For the panhandle and northern Oklahoma, expect highs reaching the low-to-mid-40s.  Across central Oklahoma, highs will range from the low-to-mid-50s.  In southwestern Oklahoma, highs will reach the upper-50s.  In south central and southeastern Oklahoma, highs may reach the low-to-mid-60s.  Additionally, eastern Oklahoma could see some precipitation from Friday afternoon into Saturday.  Rain, and perhaps a thunderstorm, will be possible across southeastern Oklahoma while freezing rain is possible across northeastern Oklahoma.  So - it will be like winter in some places and spring in others.  Friday night's lows will remain above freezing across south central and southeastern Oklahoma but fall below freezing to the 20s and low-30s elsewhere.

On Saturday, freezing rain is possible in northeastern Oklahoma and rain is possible across southeastern Oklahoma in the morning.  Temperatures across the entire state will be noticeably colder on Saturday afternoon, reaching the low-to-mid-40s.  Highs in the upper-40s will be possible only in southwestern Oklahoma.

Southeastern United States Radar
Courtesy of Intellicast

We are monitoring the potential for a more significant chance of winter weather across the state on Tuesday of next week.  However, with this being over a week away, details are not yet complete.  We will have additional blog posts in the future to inform you of the latest.  However, speaking of winter weather, a major winter storm has taken place across the southeastern United States as cold, arctic air and plenty of moisture came together.  Snow, sleet, and freezing rain has fallen from Texas to Virginia and is pushing eastward.  Even parts of the Florida panhandle will be picking up on some of the wintry precipitation, mainly in the form of sleet and freezing rain.  Numerous Winter Storm Warnings are in effect across these southeastern states.  Accumulations will be gathered later as the precipitation ends.

AC

Sources: NWS, HOOT, Intellicast