Warm New Year’s Eve For Green Country Before Storms, Arctic Air And Winter Weather Arrive New Year’s Day

The end of the year is here! And we’ve got some drastic weather changes to ring in the new year across Green Country.

Our New Year’s Eve will be following the same pattern we’ve had the large majority of December with another day of well above normal temperatures. We’ll turn mostly cloudy Friday afternoon but highs will still climb to the upper 60s to near 70 degrees with breezy southwest winds.

Temperatures will still be in the upper 50s in Tulsa at the midnight hour as we say hello to 2022! A few showers are possible around midnight, so keep the umbrella ready to go.

Rain and storms will become much more widespread across all of eastern Oklahoma after midnight into pre-dawn New Year’s Day. In the overnight and early morning hours, severe storms will be possible across far southeastern Oklahoma with damaging wind and hail threats. By sunrise New Year’s Day, our long-awaited Arctic cold front will be surging into our northern counties north of Tulsa with temperatures starting to plummet. That’s where things get tricky!

As that front surges south New Year’s morning, a changeover to brief freezing rain or a light wintry mix is expected north of Tulsa. Some light icing will likely occur on elevated surfaces and bridges and overpasses from northern Osage and Washington Counties into southeastern Kansas. The cold front looks to reach Tulsa by the mid-morning hours Saturday, with temperatures falling from the 50s in the morning to the 20s in the afternoon with stiff north winds.

Precipitation will be much lighter New Year’s afternoon, though some freezing drizzle could lead to a slick spot or two across northeastern Oklahoma.

A secondary round of light to moderate snow will then move across eastern Oklahoma Saturday night. Any snow accumulations will likely be light, but there could be a few spots that see more than a dusting of snow Saturday night.

By Sunday, it will be dangerously cold with lows in the lower teens but wind chill values below zero! We’ll stay cold into Monday before temperatures briefly warm back up next week.

I hope you have a great New Year’s, Green Country! We’ll be keeping you updated all day New Year’s as cold air arrives. You can follow me on Twitter @StephenNehrenz as well as my Facebook page Meteorologist Stephen Nehrenz to stay up to date with the very latest.