FORT SMITH'S EAST WIND

The Arkansas River Valley is many miles wide in eastern Oklahoma, though becomes narrow to almost a point 100 miles east of Fort Smith. Air, cooling across the Ozark and Boston Mountains to the North as well as Ouachita Mountains to the South, especially at night, funnels into the valley and travels westward, flowing towards the wider opening in the valley and thus creates an easterly wind.

In fact, Fort Smith has an easterly wind direction some 41% of the year and at night it is easterly 50% of the time. Precipitation maximum in a 24 hour period over the calendar year peaks at 10:00 PM, correlating well with the nocturnal easterly wind, which lifts warm moisture -laden air as it flows westward towards Oklahoma. One other unique feature of the easterly wind is that often Fort Smith will drop lower temperature-wise than Fayetteville. This type of a set-up is almost always accompanied by a warm southerly wind aloft which downslopes and warms into Drake field. Such was the case last night with Fort Smith dropping to 38 F and Fayetteville only to 45 F.

Posted by Ted Zarras at 3:47 PM