0400L-SATURDAY OUTLOOK FROM GARFIELD COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT-01/28/23

GARFIELD COUNTY EM is our notification/preparedness app. You’re not prepared without it.

* PAY CLOSE ATTENTION. Very cold air is headed our way. With the cold air, strong winds will be a major factor with wind chill temperatures. Wind chill temps OVERNIGHT for the next 2 to 3 nights could drop from 0 to 5 degrees while daytime high temps will average in the low to mid 20s. Overnight low temps will be in the mid to upper teens to low 20’s.

* Precipitation-wise: no need to panic today. The front will push in later today with a strong windshift and colder air filtering in. Sunday will be cold. Very low chance for any precip. Monday- chance for freezing drizzle or snow. Tuesday- will be the main event with all winter hazards possible. Wednesday, the third system moves through.

* PER GUIDANCE RIGHT NOW- everything depends of how the atmosphere sets up during this mess. Just because we are cold on the surface, doesn’t mean we are cold aloft. This is hard to explain just typing but if you look at an atmospheric sounding, the info from weather balloon launches, you can see what temps are like as it moves up and you can see moisture content. There are many variables to consider when forecasting any type of winter precip. No need for any panic with these systems coming through. Most of the worst per guidance will be south and east of us. I will send an update out this afternoon after a briefing with the NWS. Make sure you have our GARFIELD COUNTY EM app.

* Here is a link that shows Skew-t examples of atmospheric readings-  https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/skewt_samples

*Overall, we’ll be ok so here is your forecast for today from the NWS/NORMAN;

Saturday- Increasing clouds, with a high near 59. South wind 9 to 18 mph becoming west northwest in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 25 mph.

Saturday Night- Mostly cloudy, with a low around 18. North wind 9 to 14 mph increasing to 17 to 22 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 31 mph.

HAVE A GOOD DAY!