Travis Meyer's 2024 Winter Weather Forecast

It has been unbelievable—the amount of rain and just a wild November in general. We've had tornadoes, and we've had so much rain, including record rainfall in Tulsa, as we've discussed during our newscasts. In fact, if you take all the months—spring, summer, winter, and fall—2024 ranks as the eighth-highest amount of rainfall at any one time.



As for tornadoes, we’ve more than doubled the average, with 23 officially reported, and they’re still counting. That’s unbelievable.

Looking at the fall, temperatures have also been well above normal for October and November. You might have noticed it hasn't frozen much. There’s still a lot of green grass, and some Bermuda grass that won’t last much longer. What we're looking for now is the jet stream, which has been kind to us, pulling nice Pacific air into our area. But to the north, ice is forming. It took a while for that ice to develop, though, because ice coverage in September was well below normal. The area where ice should have been was missing, and the North Pole was kind of left out. But that’s changed over the past month. Now, the ice cover is spreading across much of the Arctic Circle. Snow cover is also extending into Siberia, the northern parts of the U.S., Canada, and Greenland. So, a lot of changes are taking place.

We’re also looking at the Pacific. Why? Because that’s where we find El Niño and La Niña—both important weather patterns. Right now, conditions are neutral, so there's not a lot of flipping and changing going on. However, if this pattern shifts toward La Niña, we can expect colder air from the north. If that coincides with a storm system coming from the subtropical jet, we’ll see some interesting weather. And, speaking of interesting weather, it's always good to take a look at the winter weather forecast from the Farmer’s Almanac. It’s predicting mild and wet conditions to the east of us, but not too much in Oklahoma.

What about persimmon seeds? Well, if the seed is shaped like a spoon or scoop, it suggests a better chance of heavy precipitation in the form of rain or snow. The official winter forecast for our area calls for near-normal temperatures, slightly warmer than usual, and drier than normal conditions.

Breaking it down for Tulsa: temperatures should be above normal, especially through December, and then tapering off a bit. We will get a couple of cold blasts of Arctic air—one could happen in early December—and another chance in January and February. Precipitation is always a big factor, and we’re expecting better storm chances in December, with those continuing into January and February, though with lesser precipitation associated with them.

So, overall, we’re calling for near-normal precipitation this winter, with slightly below-normal amounts. This means a little ice, and likely less snow than usual. Normally, we get about 8.6 inches of snow, which isn’t a lot, but it still makes for an active winter. As for your Christmas, there’s an added bonus: the chances of a white Christmas. Typically, the odds are around 5%, and that’s about where we expect them to stay this year.