Winter Weather Advisory Declared For Northeast Oklahoma

A winter weather travel advisory has been expanded to parts of east central and northeast Oklahoma. It's in effect until 6 p.m. Tuesday. Periods of freezing rain is expected to cause travel difficulties especially on elevated surfaces.

The National Weather Service includes Washington, Nowata, Craig Tulsa, Rogers, Creek, Okfuskee, Osage and Pawnee counties in the expanded advisory. Light icing is expected as a shallow arctic air mass moves into northeast Oklahoma. 

The freezing line is expected to lie from near Vinita to Bixby to Prague by late Tuesday afternoon.

Active weather will be underway across northern Oklahoma this morning with a strong cold front moving southward into the region.  Thunderstorms will continue to develop with a heavy rainfall threat unfolding across the eastern third of the state through midday to afternoon.  Additionally, warm weather this morning will rapidly be replaced with colder weather during the day as north winds bring temps back down into the 30s by the afternoon. 

A few strong storms may still be possible this morning in a few spots, but widespread severe weather is unlikely. 

Later this afternoon, the race will be between freezing temps and the end of the rainfall.  Do we hit freezing this afternoon before the rainfall ends?  We may deal with a small window for some freezing precip issues across northeastern Oklahoma for a very small window this afternoon or early evening.  But the odds will remain low.  Locations to the northwest of the metro will have a slightly better chance.  A winter weather advisory has been posted for Osage and Pawnee counties today through the afternoon for this potential. 

Weather Alerts

The front made fast progress yesterday afternoon and entered the northwestern region of the I-44 corridor region with temps dropping into the 30s-40s while metro temps southward remained in the 60s.  This boundary is(will) now (be)moving southeast this morning while a surface dry line has moved into central Oklahoma and will continue moving eastward this morning.  Pockets of moderate to heavy rainfall will be possible across far eastern OK where a flash flood watch remains today into the early evening hours.

Temps this morning will remain mild and mostly in the 60s.  But as the front moves southeast, readings will fall quickly into the 30s.  The metro will be in the upper 30s by noon and nearing freezing by 3 p.m. this afternoon.   Locations to the southeast will be slightly warmer but not much.   Basically, colder air will be invading the region today and tonight.  Grab the big coat and the rain gear this morning.  

WARN Interactive Radar

Most of the moisture will be exiting the state later this evening to the east but there will be another wave approaching from the southwest Wednesday that will bring moisture up and over the shallow dome of cold air.  We’ll have a small window for some light freezing rain or sleet near the metro early Wednesday morning but data has trended more southwest and west ( for Oklahoma) regarding the potential for significant wintry mix issues.   After remaining near or below freezing Wednesday morning for a few hours we’ll be back into the mid-30s by the afternoon with clouds and north winds. Thursday morning we’ll briefly be near freezing with some moisture confined slightly to the west during the morning hours before moving closer to northeastern Oklahoma Thursday afternoon and evening.  But Thursday afternoon highs should be moving back into the mid or upper 40s later in the day.

NewsOn6.com Weather Apps

 Again, to be clear, we have three very small windows for freezing precip.  The first will be later this afternoon and the second early tomorrow morning. The third is Thursday morning across the far northeastern sections of the area.  These windows of time are generally less than 2 to 3 hours in duration. 

Thursday night into Friday a lead wave will eject across the plains with additional showers and storms developing across the state.   Temps will remain well above freezing with highs Friday afternoon in the 50s or lower 60s. 

Friday night into Saturday as strong surface low will quickly develop and should bring a quick surge of warmer air and rich low-level moisture into southeastern OK late Friday into Saturday morning.  Additional showers and storms will be likely along with the threat of some heavy rainfall and possibly a few strong to severe storms Saturday.  The positioning of the surface low has changed in some of the data this morning regarding Saturday.   

Thanks for reading the Tuesday morning weather discussion and blog.