Today is forecast to be Much Cooler than yesterday.
Nowcast as of 7:39 am CST on November 16, 2009
Now
At 7:35 am...National Weather Service Doppler radar indicated scattered light rain showers across portions of northeast Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas. These showers were located along and east of a line from northern Osage County to Winslow...Arkansas. All of this activity was moving to the northeast at 30 mph. Through 8:45 am...scattered light rain showers will continue to move across portions of northeastern Oklahoma and northwest Arkansas. Locations to be affected will be those along and north of Interstate 40. Rainfall amounts will generally be light with a few hundredths of an inch or less possible.
There are currently no warnings or advisories for this location.
Public Information Statement
Statement as of 6:00 am CST on November 16, 2009
... Winter weather awareness in Arkansas...
Governor mike Beebe has proclaimed November 16th through 20th as winter weather awareness week in Arkansas. Sponsors of the awareness week are the National Weather Service... the Arkansas department of emergency management... entergy Arkansas... the electric cooperatives of Arkansas... the Arkansas National guard... the Arkansas State Police... and the American Red Cross.
People are asked to take some time and prepare for the upcoming winter season.
Todays topic is the outlook for the upcoming winter.
Last winter... temperatures were slightly above normal and precipitation averaged close to normal across northwestern Arkansas. Episodes of wintry precipitation were infrequent... though a winter storm at the end of January brought one half to near two inches of ice accumulation to northwest Arkansas.
The official outlook issued by the National Weather Service for the upcoming winter indicates an equal chance for above... near... and below normal temperatures and precipitataion across the northwestern Arkansas. Although an El Nino is expected to be ongoing this winter... there is not a clear trend for temperatures or precipitation across this portion of Arkansas.
The Table below shows wintertime normals for some locations in northwestern Arkansas...
City high low precipitation seasonal snow Bentonville 47.0 24.7 8.25 12.1 Eureka Springs 49.0 28.3 8.60 13.2 Fayetteville 47.5 27.0 7.75 6.3 Fort Smith 51.3 30.5 8.35 6.7 Ozark 51.3 28.0 9.59 5.2 Siloam Springs 48.3 24.7 7.47 11.8
An important thing to note regarding the outlook for the coming winter is that variability can be expected in the temperature patterns. There are usually some periods of noticeably cold weather interspersed with milder periods.
Seasonal outlooks cannot be specific regarding ice and snow storms but as is usually the case... several bouts of wintry precipitation can be expected across northwestern Arkansas.
For additional information... contact the National Weather Service office in Tulsa at 918-838-7838 or visit our website at www.Weather.Gov/Tulsa