Late spring-like weather this afternoon with fire danger out west | 3/22 AM

LAWTON, Okla. (KSWO) -

Good morning! Mostly cloudy skies have built back in last night, and combined with yet-again breezy winds out of the south at 10-15 mph this morning, has lead to temperatures starting out this morning nearly 20 degrees above-average for this time of year in the low 60s. Above-average temperatures will be the story today as highs will climb into the low/mid 80s for most, if not all, of Texoma this afternoon. Partly cloudy skies are expected after midday, as how much cloud coverage we actually end up seeing will influence how warm we end up getting. Winds will pick up out of the southwest later today at 10-20 mph, with wind gusts ranging up to 25-30 mph.

A dryline will move in to Texoma from the west this afternoon, allowing for drier air to funnel in behind it. This combined with the breezy wind gusts and 80-degree weather will lead to a near-critical fire weather danger in northwestern counties, with elevated fire weather conditions everywhere else.

Cloud coverage remains partly-to-mostly cloudy tonight with winds in the evening gusting up out of the south at 15-25 mph, but eventually decrease to 10-15 mph after midnight. Low temperatures will once again bottom out in the upper 50s and low 60s.

The dryline will become a factor with the development of isolated showers and storms during the late morning and early afternoon, before it gets taken over by a cold front that will increase coverage of showers and storms heading later into the afternoon and evening. Recent data has shown that the cold front will be moving slower than originally indicated, meaning that the rain and storm coverage will last longer into the night, potentially until sunrise on Friday. Short-range models are showing some differences in timing, coverage, and intensity of the storms, but general consensus indicates that strong-to-severe storms will be possible from just after midday on Thursday until the early morning hours on Friday.

All severe threats are on the table, with highest concerns being large hail up to the size of golf balls (and potentially even larger!) and damaging winds between 60-80 mph. The tornado risk will be on the low end, but can’t entirely be ruled out. And because of the long time period in which storms will be in the forecast, heavy rainfall amounts that can total up to multiple inches in eastern counties could lead to a localized flooding risk.

Since this will be an all afternoon/evening and all night event, make sure to download the 7News Weather App to keep informed with the current/future forecast, track storms on radar, any get updated with developing strong-to-severe weather.

Mostly sunny skies return on Friday once the rain clears out as temperatures will only top out in the upper 60s behind the cold front. Despite the cool-down, this is actually considered average for this time of year, meaning a pretty enjoyable end to the week and start to the weekend. Mostly sunny skies will stick around on Saturday and Sunday with afternoon highs on both days in the upper 60s and low 70s. Our next cold front will arrive sometime on Sunday, bringing with it an isolated chance for a few rain showers. Behind the front, temperatures on Monday and Tuesday will fall down to the low 60s.

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