News 9 Weather Team Updates On Storm Chances In Oklahoma This Week

Statewide precipitation chances remain very high for Wednesday and Thursday, as a powerful upper-air low pressure system sweeps across the Central Plains. This system will deliver a wintry wallop to parts of Kansas, Nebraska and the upper Midwest with moderate to heavy accumulations of snow and ice, as well as blizzard-like conditions.

For Oklahoma: a dash of winter and a healthy dose of rain appear likely at this time.

There're two windows of opportunity for wintry precipitation in Oklahoma: Wednesday morning and Thursday morning with the former being the highest chance.

The combination of a shallow layer of near freezing surface temperatures and mid-level cooling may allow a light mix of sleet and snow to develop across much of northern and northeastern OK Wednesday morning. Central OK, including the OKC metro, will be right on the rain-snow line, which could result in a light, brief period of sleet and snow before quickly transitioning to freezing rain and ultimately rain by Thursday afternoon.

Rain will still be the predominate form of precipitation with this storm system. Rain and thunderstorms will gradually increase in coverage and intensity Wednesday evening overnight into Thursday morning. A few storms may be strong, but will mostly be confined to southern OK near the Red River Valley. Widespread rainfall amounts of 0.5" to 1.0" will be possible with higher amounts in areas where thunderstorms move over.

Rain will end from west-to-east Thursday afternoon with light snow possible on the back edge of the precipitation shield across far northwest OK.