Cooler Weather is Here...For Awhile

The passage of a cold front yesterday evening brought high temperatures today that were some 10 to 15 degrees cooler.  As with yesterday, northern Oklahoma remained colder than central and southern Oklahoma.  This will not be the case tomorrow, as much of the state will be seeing highs in the 50s.  However, on Tuesday, a stronger cold front will sweep through the state, bringing the return of a couple of days with highs in the 40s across Oklahoma.

Tonight and Monday
Expect mostly clear to partly cloudy skies tonight.  Lows will dip down into the low-to-mid-20s for central and northern Oklahoma and the upper-20s to low-30s for southern Oklahoma.  On Monday, we will see mostly clear skies across northern Oklahoma, partly cloudy skies across central Oklahoma, and mostly cloudy skies across southern Oklahoma.  South central Oklahoma near the Red River may see a slight chance of an afternoon shower.  Except for the panhandle, highs will be in the low-to-mid-50s across the state (the panhandle will see highs in the low-to-mid-60s).

Monday Night and Tuesday
Partly to mostly cloudy skies can be expected for northern Oklahoma.  Across central and southern Oklahoma, expect generally cloudy skies with a 20 to 40 percent chance of showers and possibly a rumble of thunder, mainly after midnight.  Due to the variance in cloud cover, lows will range from the mid-to-upper-20s in the panhandle and low-30s for northern Oklahoma, to the low-to-mid-40s across central and southern Oklahoma.

On Tuesday, highs will be much colder due to the strong cold front passing through.  The panhandle will see highs as cold as the mid-to-upper-30s, while northern, central, and southwest Oklahoma see highs in the low-to-mid-40s.  Across far south central and southeast Oklahoma, highs will be in the upper-40s and low-50s.  A 30 to 50 percent chance for showers can be expected, mainly before noon, with the greatest chances near the Red River.  Skies will otherwise be partly to mostly cloudy across the state throughout the day.

Tuesday Night and Wednesday
Lingering showers are possible across the southernmost counties of Oklahoma before midnight, with skies elsewhere remaining mostly cloudy early and slowly clearing throughout the night into Wednesday morning.  The clearing of skies will cause low temperatures Wednesday morning to drop well into the mid-to-upper-teens for the panhandle and northern Oklahoma and the low-to-mid-20s elsewhere.  Wednesday will be left with sunny skies and continued cold afternoon highs.  Expect the afternoon temperatures to be in the mid-to-upper-40s across the state, except for north central and northeast Oklahoma, where highs may struggle to get out of the 30s.

Future

Temperatures will warm back to near-normal on Thursday, but then another cold front will come through and bring with it the chance for wintry precipitation for northern Oklahoma.  As this is still a few days away, the forecast is not yet certain.  However, if you live in northern Oklahoma, be prepared for the chance of rain, freezing rain, and snow on Thursday night and Friday.  The wintry precipitation at this time is only expected to affect northern Oklahoma.  The rest of the state will see precipitation in the form of liquid rain as temperatures will remain above freezing.

AC

Sources: NWS, Mesonet