NORMAN, Oklahoma — April showers won't bring May flowers to parts of Oklahoma this week. Instead, forecasters say some areas could see sleet and snow over the next few days.
After high temperatures in the 80s and 90s on Tuesday and Wednesday, temperatures were expected to plummet to near or below freezing by Thursday morning. A handful of severe thunderstorms popped up Wednesday in southwestern Oklahoma ahead of a strong cold front.
A freeze watch was posted for Thursday night through Friday morning for north-central and western Oklahoma, including the Oklahoma City area. The weather service says the coldest temperatures will be in northwestern Oklahoma.
The temperature is expected to hover around freezing early Thursday along and west of Interstate 35 and along and north of Interstate 40.
A number of locations saw drastic temperature drops: Gage was at 90 degrees Tuesday afternoon but 24 hours later was at 44 degrees with a chance of snow posted for Thursday morning. Clinton saw its temperature drop from 77 to 54 in a two-hour period Wednesday afternoon. At Watonga, the temperature fell from 76 to 61 in 20 minutes and was predicted to keep falling until it hit 36 overnight.
Northerly winds gusting above 40 mph were expected to make it feel particularly cold, especially for May.
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