NWS forecast: State could see freezing rain
Forecasters with the National Weather Service in Norman said Friday that temperatures will plummet this weekend across Oklahoma and that they are keeping watch as other storm systems approach the state.
While each storm potentially could bring badly needed moisture to the state, forecasts for frigid temperatures close to the ground suggests that moisture could arrive as freezing rain.
Forrest Mitchell, observations program leader at the National Weather Service in Norman, said Oklahomans can expect warm and breezy weather on Saturday before an artic front sweeps across the state overnight.
“We should be around 60 degrees Saturday, but just barely above freezing on Sunday. The important thing is, we expect temperatures will stay at or below freezing until Wednesday afternoon while these other systems come through.”
Mitchell said the first of those other disturbances will move across Oklahoma on Monday night. A second is expected Tuesday, while a third could cross the state Thursday.
Mitchell said computer models offered uncertainties about what Oklahomans can expect to see with next week’s storms.
“Right now, probabilities for precipitation are not that high — 30 to 40% — but what falls will be freezing rain, once it nears the ground,” he said.
He said Friday’s models predicted ice accumulations through Tuesday wouldn’t exceed a tenth of an inch across the Oklahoma City area — enough to make navigating overpasses and bridges tricky for motorists, but not enough to cause widespread power outages.
Mitchell said Oklahomans need to pay attention as the storms edge closer.
“As we get closer to next week, especially once the systems are on shore where we can take direct measurements using weather balloons to carry instruments into the storms, then we can better forecast how much ice there will be.”