Rain Soaks Western Oklahoma, More to Come

 

Much-needed rain has fallen over western Oklahoma and the panhandle this morning and afternoon.  The rain will continue to push eastward later today and tonight.  This will not be our only chance for rain; in fact, rain is in the forecast across the entire state for the next seven days, though chances diminish after mid-week.  Our best chance for rain will be in the latter part of the weekend to the early part of next week.  Unfortunately, this does include Memorial Day, so some of your outdoor holiday plans could be a washout.

For this evening, the best rain chances are in north central Oklahoma and parts of western Oklahoma at 50 to 70 percent.  On Saturday and Saturday night, the best chance for rain moves back to western Oklahoma and the panhandle, where a 50 to 70 percent chance for showers and thunderstorms exists.  Northeastern Oklahoma's rain chances are between 50 and 70 percent as well.  As we have seen in some areas today, the rain may fall heavy at times, leading to some flooding concerns.  Please exercise your flood safety tips, especially if you have travel plans this weekend.  Rain chances on Saturday are lower farther towards the south and east, with lesser chances in south central and southeastern Oklahoma.

For Sunday and Sunday night, all of western Oklahoma will again see a 50 to 70 percent chance for showers and thunderstorms, while central Oklahoma sees a 40 to 50 percent chance for showers and thunderstorms and eastern Oklahoma sees a 40 percent chance for showers and thunderstorms.  Memorial Day's highest rain chances will be in western and central Oklahoma between 50 and 70 percent, with lower rain chances in eastern Oklahoma at 40 percent.  On Tuesday and Tuesday night, rain chances diminish to 20 to 30 percent in western Oklahoma and the panhandle but remain at 50 to 70 percent across central Oklahoma and increase to as high as 70 percent across eastern Oklahoma.  For Wednesday, rain chances diminish across the entire state, but chances up to 30 percent are still in the forecast.

We've been playing the numbers game here by throwing a lot of percentages at you.  To sum things up, western Oklahoma and the panhandle will see the best chance for rain Saturday through Monday night, central Oklahoma will see the best rain chances Monday through Tuesday night, and eastern Oklahoma will see the best rain chances Tuesday and Tuesday night.

We again expect skies to remain partly to mostly cloudy throughout the next seven days.  High temperatures will generally remain in the low-to-mid-80s across the state this weekend then cool to the upper-70s to low-80s by the start of the week.  Eastern Oklahoma will see even cooler temperatures in the mid-to-upper-70s by Tuesday.  At times when the rain is falling, however, you can expect cooler temperatures in the 60s like what we have seen today.  As demonstrated by the Current Air Temperature as of 4:20 PM CDT, a clearly defined temperature gradient is present in western Oklahoma where the rain is and has been falling, with temperatures in the 60s to the west of the gradient and temperatures in the 80s to the east of the gradient.

The map to the right shows the latest rainfall totals expected from this evening through next Friday evening.  For western Oklahoma, these will be additional rainfall amounts to what we have already seen today.  Again, we are still expected a healthy amount of rain across the state as this low pressure system slowly moves eastward over the region.

AC

Sources: NWS, WPC, Mesonet