Winter Weather Advisory In Effect For Northeastern Oklahoma

Welcome to winter. 

A winter weather advisory is up and running until 6 p.m. for the metro region and northeast Oklahoma. With temps dropping and rain-sleet-mix coming down, watch for slick spots on elevated surfaces, bridges and overpasses.

The strong arctic front is plowing through the area this morning with falling temperatures, increasing north winds and pockets of light rain and drizzle developing across eastern OK.  There will be a chance for some rain-sleet-snow mixture today before the dry air cuts off the precipitation this afternoon. 

WARN Interactive Radar

It appears that our best chance for any small measurable snowfall will occur across either far northeastern OK or northwestern Arkansas by this afternoon.  The Tulsa metro will more than likely experience periods of light rain or drizzle that will mix with sleet before ending with a few snow flurries this afternoon. 

Our main impacts with this system will be the bitterly cold air and strong north winds creating low wind chill values later this afternoon and continuing into Tuesday morning when record low temperatures may occur for some locations across Eastern OK.  Tuesday morning lows will reach the mid-teens with morning wind chills in the single digits.  This cold snap will continue for most of the week with slowly moderating temps Wednesday afternoon into Friday.  Another system nears Thursday with no precipitation chances and then again Sunday with a low chance of showers.  The early outlook for the weekend includes morning lows in the 30s with daytime highs in the mid-50s.

The upper level features of interest this morning include a short-wave trough moving rapidly across the northern U.S. which is embedded in the main long-wave pattern that will eventually move quickly across the plains later this evening into Tuesday morning. A weakening southern stream system is once again located near the Baja but will have little impact on our sensible weather as it moves eastward across south Texas Wednesday into Thursday. 

As the short wave well north has already moved into the upper Midwest, this has opened the gate for the arctic air to spill southward across the nation and is underway now across our portion of the state.  Strong pressure rises behind the front will cause the north winds to crank from 25 to 45 mph later today and a wind advisory has been issued for locations from Tulsa westward.  There will be windy conditions today across far eastern and southeastern OK as well, but top-end wind speeds may not reach criteria levels.  These strong winds will gradually subside later this evening along with mostly clear sky.  The cold air advection process will continue overnight with north winds near 10 to 15 mph allowing Tuesday morning temps dropping into the teens to lower 20s in eastern OK.  The Tulsa metro will be near record lows along with bitterly cold single digit wind chills for a hours Tuesday morning. 

Thanks for reading the Monday morning weather discussion and blog.

Have a great day.  And bundle up!

Alan Crone