Fire Danger Continues in Oklahoma, Severe Storms Possible Friday

By Gary England, NEWS 9 Director of Meteorology

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The strong upper storm system approaching the west coast is continuing to help cause strong winds across Oklahoma. The windy conditions along with the dry air is resulting in a high fire danger for the state through Thursday.

Surface winds will decrease a little on Friday as the upper storm, surface storm and increased moisture arrive. There will be a chance of thunderstorms Friday (say 1 AM Friday through the daytime into Friday night) and some of the storms will be severe.

The risk of severe weather will mainly be east of a line drawn from Alva to Hobart. This does include the Oklahoma City region. On occasion in the spring, a storm system like the one moving toward the state now will move quickly eastward and shove the low level moisture well east of Oklahoma City. However, at least at this point, we should expect severe weather on Friday.

Damaging straight line winds, a few tornadoes, hail and lightning should be expected with active spring storms.

When we have the threat of severe weather, the standard storm sequence presents with severe weather "watches" then severe weather "warnings."

The "watch" describes a large area where severe weather "may" occur. A "warning" means severe weather has been "observed" or is indicated on radar. Warnings usually cover small areas from part of a county to a few counties.