Oklahoma Braces For Post Thanksgiving Arctic Plunge

I don't have to convince you of this truth, but this has been one of the best Oklahoma falls we've had in a few years. It's like the weather has forgotten what month it is... Warm afternoons, cool mornings, sunshine for days. Nobody is sweating through their shirt, and we haven't been reaching for jackets yet either. Just that perfect middle ground we only seem to get every once in a while, before the north wind remembers the Sooner State is supposed to have wild and unpredictable weather.

Oklahoma’s Fall Has Been Perfect

Every time I step outside lately, I keep thinking this is the kind of weather we all swear we would move somewhere else to get. Then Oklahoma goes and hands it to us for free in November. Kids are outside riding bikes. My neighborhood still smells like grilled meat every evening. Even the trees seem confused because most of them are holding onto leaves they should have let go by now.

But, of course, if you have lived here longer than ten minutes, you know this peace never lasts. And right on cue, the forecast for the week after Thanksgiving is already showing its teeth. Not a full-blown ice storm or anything wild like that, at least not yet, but the first real hint that winter has its bags packed and the keys in the ignition.

At some point next week, our wonderful mid-70s weather is taking a permanent dip into daily highs in the 50s, overnight lows in the 30s... but that's not the big weather change headed to Oklahoma. Meteorologists are talking about a brutal week-long cold snap shaping up after Thanksgiving.

News9’s David Payne has been dropping little hints about it, the kind where he smiles but also looks like he knows something he probably is not supposed to say out loud yet. He's eyeing a deep dive of arctic air into our region. Highs below freezing, even colder at night. Classic Oklahoma fashion, the forecast is still a solid week out, which means it could change ten times before we get there, but the trend is definitely leaning toward that first brutal cold slap of the season.

David Payne’s Early Read On The Arctic Air

@tornadopayne♬ original sound - David Payne

That's not completely out of the ordinary. I've spent many Thanksgiving mornings freezing my tail off in a deer blind in Southwest Oklahoma. Temps in the teens, HotHands in the boots... but it's more normally a camo hoodie, if you need one at all. With the prediction of a big arctic blast, we're all on a sit-and-wait status to see if it actually happens.

And honestly, it kind of fits the holiday mood. Christmas lights feel more like Christmas when you have to warm up your hands with a cup of hot chocolate. The shift into winter is part of the seasonal rhythm around here, even if it usually shows up suddenly and rudely, like your cousin who only calls when he needs to borrow a trailer.

So enjoy these last few warm afternoons while they are still hanging around. Because if David Payne is right, and he usually is when he gets that look in his eye, winter is about to knock on Oklahoma’s door a little earlier than most of us planned.