You might not want to do if this weekend, but the rest of the week it is certainly possible. Andrew Gehl from Tulsa reads a book while sitting on a bench in Woodward Park on Saturday during a mild, sunny day. JAMES GIBBARD/Tulsa World
I have good news.
The official start of spring is now three weeks away. Three weeks! That’s not too far!
But, walking around outside and looking at the spring-like storms about to roll across the plains (we’ll get back to that), you’d think spring had sprung three weeks ago.
On today, the last NORMAL day of February, the average temperature for the month so far has been 44.4 degrees in Tulsa. That’s 2.3 degrees above normal for the month. Last month, the average was 44.2 degrees, which is 6.5 degrees above normal. “What about December,” you ask. I’m glad you did. The average was 42.4, or 2.9 degrees above normal.
So, the winter of 2011-2012 was non-existent. No snow worth mentioning, sunshine and 60-degree days. We went straight from fall to spring.
And I’m fine with that, I guess. I mean, it’s not like we all have a lot of say in the matter, but it would have been nice to have to break out the ice spikes, snow boots, snow pants and snow jacket I got after last year’s blizzard (when I realized that jeans aren’t good for walking through a foot of snow) at least more than half of one day.
Anyway, I never liked you anyway, winter. I guess if we have to break up, you would be all cold about it, avoiding us and running away up north to be with your friends.
But spring is still our friend. And the best characteristic of springtime in Oklahoma? Thunderstorms. Hold on to your butts, kids. Like I said earlier, spring has sprung.
For Tulsa, the chances of monster dramatic storms destroying all of eastern Oklahoma are slim tonight. Right now, it’s a 40 percent chance of showers for the rest of the day and a 50 percent chance of storms tonight.
The storms tonight will pop up along the cool front as it sweeps across the area, taking with it the moisture associated with the storms and showers today. It should all be out of here by midnight.
However, our clearing will be unfortunate for most of Arkansas. The
Storm Prediction Center has expanded the area of slight risk for severe storms. Yesterday, the area was quite small. Today, it includes a good chunk of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Tennessee.
Breaking down that probability more, the highest tornado chances are mostly in Missouri and Arkansas, but it includes the far northeast corner of Oklahoma. Those chances are small though, only 5 percent right now.
But still, looking at the way things are shaping up, watches are likely this afternoon/evening. So, be careful out there.
Also, if things start to get real hairy out there today, I'll be updating this with the latest information.
--Jerry Wofford
