This is a surface map showing the shallow nature of the cold air. Temperatures northwest of Tulsa remain in the 20's where a dangerous zone of freezing rain and drizzle is occurring. Freezing rain is precipitation that falls through the atmosphere and freezes to objects at or below freezing at the surface. The key to the freezing rain is the shallow cold air at the surface, and the warm overrunning air aloft! When I say shallow I mean the cold air is less than 1,000 ft deep.




These are temperatures at 850 mb or 5,000 ft aloft. Notice how warm this level is. This picture shows the warm air aloft "overrunning" the cold air at the surface.



I have drawn in the position of a surface low pressure area across SE OK. Temperatures to the east of the low are very mild in the 60s and 70s. Fortunately, this surface low will track northeast during the day, keeping most of the freezing temperatures across NE OK.

The best chance for freezing rain and drizzle today will remain across Delaware, Cherokee, McDonald, and Western Benton County. Use caution especially over slick bridges and overpasses.