Severe Weather Continues...

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Severe weather across the Plains states continues today and is expected to continue tomorrow as well. Yesterday's event were well documented and have been all over nearly every national news station and even local news stations last night and today. Tornadoes threatening two well populated areas, Wichita and Oklahoma City, and unfortunately impacting one (Oklahoma City) causing 5 deaths and numerous other injuries. Tornadoes continued across other parts of southern Kansas and throughout Oklahoma, even as far south of the Red River Valley. I'm not going to spend too much time to rehash all of these details as I'm sure everyone has read all about them by now...

Today's storm threat was fairly condition despite having great instability and shear present, due to the strong elevated mixed layer that capped all attempts at convection until ~8PM. Since then we have a few thunderstorms along the warm front in Illinois and into eastern Missouri, as well as a severe/tornadic thunderstorm in northwest Oklahoma. Additional storms should continue to fire and the current areas of thunderstorms expand through the evening and early overnight as a strong low level jet creates good lift across the frontal boundary. For this reason the SPC has issued a new tornado watch that covers areas of Oklahoma and Kansas, with additional watches (likely severe) being needed later tonight. The main threat with storms beyond the 10pm time-frame will be large hail given the steep lapse rates and good elevated instability. These storms will likely move out of Kansas during just before sunrise, and exiting western Missouri by mid-morning. This will likely set the stage for another severe weather event across portions of Kansas and Missouri as well as some adjacent areas (to a lesser extent).

By late afternoon tomorrow a warm front should be situated from near the KS/MO border across northern Missouri and through central Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Dew point values in the mid to upper 60s can be expected to the south of this boundary and to the southeast of a cold front that should be positioned from Manhattan, KS southwest through Enid, OK and into north-central Texas. Surface profiles suggest widespread 2000+ J/kg of surface based instability with areas of 3000 J/kg likely occurring in areas where moisture can pool along/near boundaries. A fairly stout elevated mixed layer should keep any initiation at bay until late afternoon and evening hours with northern Missouri likely seeing convection before areas of eastern Kansas due to slightly cooler temperatures aloft. Bulk shear values of 45-65 kts will easily support supercells capable of very large hail throughout the warm sector. Southerly winds at the surface through much of eastern Kansas/Oklahoma will likely limit tornado potential somewhat through those areas, although isolated tornadoes will likely not be ruled out. A higher likelihood of tornadic supercells will exist in areas where surface winds can back (become southeast), likely east of a developing low near the KS/MO/NE intersections. Stronger low level turning of the hodographs will exist here and likely promote a higher risk of tornadoes over northern Missouri and perhaps into northeast Kansas as well. Convection will likely continue to expand into the early overnight hours, into perhaps line segments as the low level jet increases the forward motion and provides more unidirectional shear. This will provide more of a focus for large hail and perhaps damaging winds into the overnight hours for parts of eastern Kansas and areas of northern/central Missouri. Another concern with convection tomorrow evening/overnight will be the potential for flooding given some likelihood for the training of these thunderstorms along/just ahead of the cold front and near the frontal intersection for parts of Kansas and Missouri.

A few more rounds of showers and thunderstorms look to be possible through the end of the week. However, nothing prominently severe looks to occur at this time...

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April 29 Severe Weather Forecast #1

A nice and cool day today with temperatures only into the low to mid 60s over the region. A few showers were able to develop thanks to the abundant sunshine and cool temperatures aloft, however nothing widespread or too significant. We'll see the winds turn to the south during the overnight tonight, beginning to bring back the warm and moist air that was shunted southeast with the cold front this past weekend. This will set the stage for a severe weather event Thursday evening and overnight as a large trough moves eastward onto the Plains.

Details are still sketchy despite being only 2 1/2 days out, with the GFS still playing catch-up with the NAM and especially the ECMWF/GEM models. Strong southerly flow at the surface and above the surface should yield sufficient moisture return with ~60 surface dew points to the Central Plains by Thursday evening. This southerly flow will continue into the evening hours, and combined with strong flow in the mid-levels from the west-southwest will yield strong shear values over the area of interest. The combination of instability and shear does yield 0-3km EHI values of 3-4 which given a surface based storm would likely be more than sufficient for rotation in the lowest portions of the storm. Other parameters to note would be mixed layer CAPE of 1000-1500 J/kg, deep layer (0-6km) shear of 45-55 knots with a vector more normal than not to the boundary over south-central Kansas and Oklahoma. Such strong wind fields throughout all of the levels will end up giving fairly quick storm motions of 30-40 mph to the northeast, which would be favorable for any storms moving off of the dryline and into an even higher dew point environment.

All of the above parameters would be more than sufficient for strong rotating supercells likely capable of tornadoes given the strong deep layer and storm-relative shear. However, there are definitely some negatives at this point with the setup on Thursday. Moisture return will be sufficient for thunderstorms, however given surface temperatures of 80+ degrees F will give way to ~20 degree F dew point depressions and LCL heights of 1500 meters or higher. This decreases the tornado potential initially, but with storm modification of the surrounding environment could definitely still yield tornadoes. A pronounced warm nose in the lower levels will also give way to some substantial inhibition for surface based parcels to initially develop. There are of course many other details which will hopefully become better defined by tomorrow night, but for now it does appear that the positives outweigh the negatives on this setup for severe weather.

An additional update is likely by tomorrow night, with the final details regarding my chasing opportunities with this setup. A quick glance beyond Thursday doesn't give much model consensus, but it would appear that a continued threat of showers and thunderstorms would appear likely.

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A Few Nice Days Ahead

A few showers remained in the area today with the upper level low still hanging around over Iowa. These showers pivoted around the low this evening and will continue to do so overnight, giving areas a few hundredths to a tenth of an inch of rain in the heavier bands. A nice scene this evening in Kansas City with the showers moving through as the sun was lowering, created both some high contrast dark clouds and a nice sunset scene (including a brief rainbow). We'll dry out tomorrow and continue to remain dry with warming temperatures for Wednesday and Thursday.

The next chance for rain and severe weather for that matter will come on Thursday for the Central Plains. A deepening trough in the west will eject several waves of energy for late this week and through the weekend. Model forecasts have been very inconsistent in what the system will do in regards to a cold front Thursday night. This will have dramatic affects on both precipitation and especially severe weather chances for Friday and the weekend. A quick look at the potential on Thursday shows a great chance of thunderstorms given the strength of the forcing along the cold front that will likely be sweeping southeast across the Plains. A lot of questions still need to be answered regarding the specifics, but it would appear likely that at least a strong line of thunderstorms would sweep over parts of the Northern and Central Plains Thursday evening and overnight. Additional details regarding the severe weather potential on Thursday and the remainder of the week will be addressed in later updates. Finally have a few days off with what looks to be an active pattern, so may finally get a chase day in as well!

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First of Many Chances...

Scattered showers and even a thunderstorms every once in a while have continued over parts of Central Nebraska through much of the day in response to a shortwave that is slowly progressing southeast. These showers should continue to move southeast through the overnight, reaching the Kansas and Missouri borders during the early morning hours. Fairly dry conditions in the lower levels along with an increasingly unfavorable conditions for the shortwave should limit the potential for any widespread rain across much of Kansas/Missouri. However, recent models trends have stuck to a more localized area of 'energy' which may lead to an area of showers that could persist through much of the day tomorrow as it progresses across parts of Missouri. Even with this scenario, do not expect any significant rainfall and the day certainly does not look like a wash-out.

That wave is the first of many that will likely move through the Central Plains for this week, with an impressive trough and numerous shortwaves yielding plenty of rainfall and severe weather potential for Thursday through Saturday. Latest model trends continue to push back the timing of the event, leading to a more southerly positioning of the warm front and a more westerly positioning of the dryline. While this isn't that unexpected it was kind of a surprise as to the magnitude of the 'jump' south and west in a run-to-run basis.

Thursday in my mind continues to be the more favorable for photogenic tornadoes in my opinion. Surface based instability should be nearing 2000 J/kg over extreme southwest Kansas and the panhandles of Oklahoma/Texas; 75/60 surface parcels should yield low LCL's and sufficient moisture given higher elevations; and a favorable location along a jet maxima should yield sufficient upper level support. All of the aforementioned in conjunction with largely southeast flow at the surface should allow for supercells with 15-25kt storm motion capable of producing tornadoes.

Friday still holds the potential for tornadic supercells, and more than likely the more widespread severe weather event given a more pronounced warm front and dryline. Bulk shear values are more sufficient on Friday throughout the warm sector, however with slightly more unidirectional flow. Nonetheless, expect widespread severe weather along the dryline from central Kansas into north-central Texas with the potential for additional thunderstorms along the warm front given strong surface convergence.

More details regarding both Thursday and Friday, along with some potential on Saturday will be discussed in later updates...

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A Week of Potential...

A fairly cool and calm weekend under northwest flow aloft, with highs in the 60s and overnight lows into the lower 40s. This 'chilly' weather is coming to an end already with a return of southerly winds at the surface by tomorrow. Temperatures rose into the upper 60s and a few 70s across much of the area today, with a few 50s still prevalent over the High Plains regions where down-slope hasn't aided their warm-up yet. A few small impulses of energy under northwest flow will bring the chance of showers and thunderstorms to the Central Plains on Tuesday into Wednesday. And beyond that we'll turn the attention to our next big trough that will come onto the Plains Thursday/Friday and likely become a vertically stacked low by the weekend. This trough and associated thermodynamic features will likely create the potential for a significant severe weather event, perhaps one of the first more prolific tornado producing events of the year.


Have to take at least a quick look at the northwest flow event for Tuesday into Wednesday as that will at least bring the chance of rain. A decent shortwave impulse currently along the Montana/Wyoming border will continue southeast, likely located in southern Nebraska by Tuesday afternoon. This should be enough to create the potential for showers and thunderstorms over south-central Nebraska into north-central Kansas by Tuesday evening. There is at least some elevated instability present, and while not likely being enough for anything severe it will at least bring in the chance of rumbles. Another location of interest will fall along the High Plains where at least modest moisture of upper 40s to near 50 surface dew points combined with ~70 degree temperatures should yield 500-1000 J/kg of surface based instability. This in conjunction with sufficient shear values and lifted indicies, and little inhibition, should warrant the potential for at least strong thunderstorms along western Kansas and the Kansas/Colorado borders tomorrow late afternoon and evening. While these thunderstorms may fade after dark, the low level jet should continue to support more organized showers/thunderstorms over central Kansas, and given upper level support at least showers over eastern Kansas as well. A few lingering showers can be expected Wednesday morning along the Kansas/Missouri borders, otherwise a dry day for the Plains on Wednesday.

This dry day on Wednesday with southerly flow will continue the moisture return to the Plains, aiding in the potential for at least a High Plains thunderstorm event on Thursday. A potent trough will be nearing the four-corners region by Thursday evening, promoting height falls across the High Plains and likely at least the initialization of a surface low along the Lee of the Rockies. Potential exists for both a dryline and warm front becoming pronounced by Thursday evening, promoting convective development along the Panhandles of Texas/Oklahoma and further north into southwest Kansas and adjacent areas of Colorado. Sufficient shear should be in place given southeast flow at the surface and increasing 500hPa flow from the southwest. At least elevated supercells would appear likely, with any surface based convection definitely yielding severe potential...

Friday is shaping up to be the day of interest as the trough ejects onto the Plains, centered along the eastern Colorado border. A surface low somewhere near/along the Kansas/Nebraska border should also set the stage for both a warm front and dryline intersection. A pronounced dryline should surge eastward during the day Friday, making it well into central Kansas/Oklahoma. Strong moisture return both at the surface and aloft, at least according to models, should yield surface-based instability of at least 1500 J/kg. While shear is expected to be strong given fairly significant wind speeds in both the mid and lower levels, there is some concern based on recent model runs of too much uni-directional flow leading to fast storm motions and the potential for broken lines of convection. Nonetheless, the potential for severe weather is definitely there and likely warrant at least a higher-end slight risk by the SPC. A lot of details will need to be worked out, such as the arrival of a shortwave disturbance and any morning convection and cloud cover. These such details will be discussed later as the event nears and the short-term models can have their opinions voiced on the matter.

Onto the weekend, it would appear that our vertically stacked low pressure system will meander across the Central Plains on both Saturday and Sunday. Given the cold air aloft, thunderstorms do appear possible on Saturday for areas of Kansas/Missouri and perhaps areas just north. Sunday appears to be a day of cloud cover and showers at this moment, which doesn't bode well for my Royals/Twins baseball game that I plan to attend. I'll continue to watch and hope for the push of the low to the east for Sunday and next week. Well into the future, expect the low to move out early next week and lead to at least some short-term ridging of the Plains, promoting a return of warm and moist air. Our next round of thunderstorms and perhaps severe weather will come with the next trough, currently slated by the GFS and ECMWF to come in for the first few days of May.

More details regarding any thunderstorms tomorrow evening will be posted tomorrow along with another look at the potential for the late week severe weather episode.

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Rain & Return of Seasonable Weather

A cold front has pushed through a majority of the Central Plains over the past 24 hours, leaving us with more of a normal air mass for early April. Rainfall during the overnight was fairly heavy across parts of northeast Kansas and northwest Missouri, but decreased dramatically as it entered the Kansas City Metro. The 24-hour precipitation totals show this quite well:

St. Joseph - 0.59"
Kansas City Intl - 0.36"
Johnson Co. Exec - 0.06"
Olathe Airport - 0.04"
Lee's Summitt - 0.03"


We've cleared the skies out this evening, and with light northerly winds across the area will likely see some very crisp overnight lows tonight and for the next few nights as a high pressure system settles over the region. High temperatures over the weekend will be more typical for this time of the year, in the mid 60s for the Kansas City Metro. Into next week expect to see the high temperatures slowly moderate into the lower 70s, and lows should increase with the slow but sure increase in moisture and the exit of the high pressure center.

The next storm system for the Central Plains will likely come late next week as a cutoff low pressure system is forecast to finally push onto the Plains. There will likely be a limited severe weather threat as the system makes its' way across the Plains states given its' dynamic qualities. However, moisture return is a large question at this point and thus the quality of thermodynamics that this system has to work with will likely be its' limiting factor. Nonetheless it's the next thing in sight and will be watched as it comes onshore early next week and stalls along the West Coast.

Enjoy the sunny and more seasonable weekend!

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A Round of Rain...

Several days of warm and sunny weather has most people spoiled into thinking summer is almost here already!  But, don't think winter has gone too far as there is plenty of winter weather still ongoing in some areas of the Rockies, including Montana and Wyoming where up to a foot of snow was falling yesterday on the backside of a strong dynamic upper level system that was also responsible for strong and even severe thunderstorms in the western Dakotas, western Nebraska and along the Colorado/Kansas border.  This upper level system was also the culprit to some severe thunderstorms on Monday across northern Iowa and southern Minnesota.  The upper level low will be pushed eastward over the next couple of days, allowing a cold front to push southward through the Plains states on Thursday and Friday.  With the meager moisture in place and the lack of dynamics aloft, any thunderstorms along the cold front should be general thunderstorms with perhaps a few marginal severe hail reports.

Today's showers and thunderstorm chances along the front extend from northern Minnesota/Wisconsin southwestward through Iowa, Nebraska and into western Kansas.  Showers and thunderstorms will move into southern Wisconsin and continue through Iowa/Nebraska and Kansas on Thursday as the cold front beings its' push south.  Finally we'll see the showers and thunderstorms make their way into the Midwest and areas of Missouri through the day on Friday.  Additional showers and thunderstorms are expected along western Oklahoma and Texas both today and tomorrow as a weak dryline will continue to focus for some additional development.  Some cooler continental air will follow the front, with high temperatures being knocked back down into the 60s here in Kansas City and more seasonable temperatures for most of the Plains.

For the long range we'll see a brief ridge build into the central US, that will continue into early next week.  Long range models have made a fairly drastic change in the past few runs compared to what was earlier depicted as a fairly quiet weather pattern now indicates that a strong storm system may move through the Plains states for mid-to-late week next week.  While this system may have the strong dynamics, there will likely be a question of how much moisture is in place even by then thanks to the ridge that will also affect the Gulf and its' attempt to return moisture to the Plains.  Of course this potential system is quite a ways out and there won't be much more thoughts on this until it nears a bit closer.

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Warming Weekend...

Temperatures today got a few degrees above forecast thanks to absolutely clear skies and a bit more mixing than expected.  Similar trends should continue through the weekend and into much of early next week with highs ranging in the mid to upper 70s for the Kansas City area.  A weak front will stall along the KS/NE and MO/IA borders on Saturday night, and continue to hold for Sunday afternoon. This front may provide some precipitation for portions of the Plains on Sunday as it stalls out.  Steady southerly flow will allow for enough lift to provide some showers and thunderstorms Sunday afternoon over northern parts of Kansas/Missouri and perhaps adjacent areas of Nebraska and Iowa.  Given marginal dew points and sufficient heating there will be instability present, and enough shear to likely warrant at least the mention of strong thunderstorms.  I will be watching the potential on Sunday for parts of Kansas, given enough shear we could see a decent thunderstorm or two, especially after sunset.  This could provide a chance for some lightning photography if it is close enough and the storm motion isn't too fast, current forecast of east motion at 25 mph would be sufficient.

Besides these small chances of showers/thunderstorms during the evening/overnight on Sunday the weekend and early next week should be very nice.  Even with some clouds in the sky the temperatures will still rise into the 70s!  Wind speeds shouldn't be too gusty during the afternoon, leaving us with a very nice day to spend outside...  I may post a quick update on the chance of thunderstorms over the weekend, otherwise enjoy the sun!

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Warm Temperatures... Thunderstorms by Friday!

There has been much discussion in the chase community about the upcoming trough and its' associated features and its' severe weather potential. This discussion has been ongoing since the trough was a gleam in the GFS way back at 300+ hours. This would appear to be the first trough in perhaps many that is signaling the idea of switching out of winter and into a spring pattern. This pattern change is welcomed in such a year that thus far has been terribly slow in severe weather per SPC yearly climatology. Many questions remain about this first trough and still being 3.5 days as of this mornings (12z) model run this isn't necessarily unusual. I do hope that by tomorrow evening the models were at least begin to agree upon the more synoptic features of the event. Many questions have been brought forth regarding this Friday and while a few of them will likely not be answered until the morning of, we can at least speculate to what the results will be given certain conditions.

Moisture was an initial concern, and while the moisture is not expected to be significant there would still appear to be sufficient surface and mixed-layer moisture available for severe weather given the strong dynamics. Wind shear was a concern and still is a large concern given model forecasts of south-southwest winds from 850hPa through 500hPa. Latest trends have at least backed surface winds to a southeast direction during the afternoon Friday, which is dramatically helping the 0-1km shear values. However, given the highly uniform wind speeds without some additional turning in the 850-700hPa layer the surface winds may not be much of a factor. Instability has become somewhat of an issue given such dynamic cooling takes place ahead of the trough that there will not be a sufficient cap to allow for clear skies into the afternoon. A resulting precipitation/cloud shield in conjunction with warm temperatures ~800hPa would appear to be limiting the overall instability. This last detail is a question that may not be answered until the morning of, given the highly questionable model forecast cloud cover and precipitation. Nonetheless with all of the questions abound it would still appear that a severe weather event may likely unfold across the Southern Plains and perhaps even parts of the Central Plains. There is no doubt that with such a slow season ongoing and the location of the setup that many chasers will be out regardless.

In the meantime it is time to enjoy some very warm weather! High temperatures today ranged from the lower 70s along the Mississippi to the mid 80s along the western High Plains. Warm air and moisture will continue to stream northward as south winds continue to be sustained 10-20 mph with gusts to 30 mph both Wednesday and Thursday. Expect temperatures tomorrow to be a few degrees warmer than today, and Thursday's high once again be well above normal for most areas.

Additional updates will be likely tomorrow and through the remainder of the week in regards to the upcoming potential for severe weather.

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Warming Quickly!! Late-Week Potential...

As we enter the work week we can look forward to seeing bright sunny skies and knowing that temperatures will be above to well above average for this last week of March and beginning of April. A weak upper level ridge will be placed over the Plains states for much of the week, leading to clear skies and fairly strong southerly winds. High temperatures will be in the 50s and 60s from east to west over the Central Plains tomorrow with a steady increase expected through Wednesday. Tuesday's highs will range from the mid 60s to ~80 from east to west, and even a few more degrees warmer on Wednesday (from 70 to mid 80s). Highs on Thursday will likely be fairly close to those on Wednesday, but our upper level ridge will no longer be centered across the Plains. We'll be in the process of ushering in a fairly robust trough and potentially closed upper level low onto the Plains on Thursday.


This will be the main focus of the rest of the updates this week, as the potent trough given the right set of features may be one of the first widespread severe weather events of the year.  Currently the mid-range models are having problems deciding what to do with the trough late this week, differing as to either keeping it as a progressive wave across the Plains or to bring it into Texas as a cut-off low.  Additional updates this week will keep track as to the latest model trends with this system and a quick review of the warm temperatures outside.

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Severe Weather Threat - Mar. 27

 An upper level low will become closed for a short period of time today, and in conjunction with a surface low will create the potential for thunderstorms and a few severe thunderstorms this afternoon/evening over the Central Plains.  The area of interest for severe weather will be over extreme southeast Kansas, extreme southern Missouri, extreme eastern Oklahoma, and Arkansas.  Surface moisture will be meager over the area of interest, with dew points only reaching near 50F by this evening. However, the low level temperature profile will be sufficient given the cooling mid-levels associated with the closed upper low.  This will result in low level instability sufficient for numerous thunderstorms across the area, with a low level wind field especially favorable for low level wind shear.  The best mid-level and upper-level wind shear will be offset from this best low-level wind shear, thus limiting the overall tornado potential.  However, there will be enough to uphold a marginal tornado threat across mainly extreme southern Missouri and northern Arkansas.  Large hail and damaging winds will of course also be a threat with any strong/severe thunderstorms that occur this afternoon as well...

The threat is marginal enough and in an unfavorable chase terrain to not warrant a chase day for me.  There will be several chasers out taking the chance however, and will likely have their live video available on ChaserTV this afternoon/evening.  For the Kansas City area, expect showers/thunderstorms to continue off/on through much of the afternoon, becoming widespread by evening.  The severe weather threat is very low, but thunderstorms are expected.

Beyond this storm system we can look forward to one of the first good upper level ridges across the Plains for much of the week ahead.  This will bring temperatures warming dramatically to the highest we've seen yet this year, likely into the 70s and 80s across the Central Plains.  This will hopefully increase the moisture content across the Plains as well, setting us up for the potential for one of the first significant severe weather events of the year...  More details on the warming weather and the round of severe weather that may be in the forecast tomorrow!

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A Rainy Period...

Another storm system is impacting the Rockies already this evening, likely to bring snowfall amounts greater than a foot in many areas along the foothills in Colorado. A low pressure system will also be created that will quickly move out onto the Plains states and establish itself by tomorrow morning. A stationary front will be draped from southwest Oklahoma to the northeast across Oklahoma, Kansas and into northern Missouri by tomorrow morning. We'll see widespread rain showers by tomorrow morning over central Kansas into southeast Nebraska and southwest Iowa with these areas being just north of the stationary boundary. As the low pressure system continues slowly eastward and the upper level low dig onto the Plains this stationary boundary will slide to the south. Leaving much of Kansas, northern Missouri, southern Iowa and parts of southeast Nebraska in a favorable location for widespread rain showers through the day on Wednesday. This feature will slide eastward during the overnight hours, with additional rain showers and thunderstorms occurring over parts of Oklahoma and Texas. These thunderstorms will work northeast along with the surface low pressure system, making their way into southern Missouri for Wednesday night. Despite the strengthening system at all levels, the storm system will be picked up by an upper level jet streak which will thankfully move this system out of the Plains by Thursday night. Although much of Missouri and adjacent areas will be left under frequent showers and cloud cover through Thursday, the Plains will be dry by dawn on Friday.

We won't have too long to dry out though, as the next storm system will make its' way off of the Rockies and into the Plains by Saturday. This will travel across the Plains over the weekend, and unfortunately with some northern stream energy to work with it will likely feature a decent cold front that will sweep across the area. This will likely lead to a couple of days of below average temperatures, which really is nothing new for the way this year has gone. Luckily the upper level ridge looks to build quickly which will allow the temperatures to rise quickly back to normal and potentially above normal levels for much of next week.

So to recap, two low pressure systems coming off of the Rockies look to affect the Plains states. The first of which for Wednesday and Thursday will bring steady rains and isolated thunderstorms. Perhaps some severe weather with a marginal setup over parts of Texas and Oklahoma. We'll take a day to dry off on Friday before the next system brings more steady rain, becoming a cold rain late, for the weekend. Despite a day or two of chilly temperatures, we'll be quick to warm back up come next week...

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Where's the Sun?!?

We've been going the past several days with mornings' filled with low level clouds and high moisture values leading to sprinkles and mist. Today is no exception, and it looks to continue tomorrow morning as well.  Yesterday during the late afternoon hours we were able to see the sunshine in Kansas City as the low level stratus finally cleared out, but the clouds made their return during the overnight.

A disturbance is going to slide north to south across the Northern Plains today, and over along the Missouri/Kansas border overnight tonight arriving into the Southern Plains by Wednesday morning. This disturbance does not have much for dynamics, and even less in regards to moisture to use for precipitation. This means we'll mainly see the cloud cover continuing, with a few rounds of sprinkles or light showers across  western Iowa, and Western Missouri. This will be out of the area by Wednesday morning, and we should dry out and clear out by Wednesday evening.  The clear skies will continue into Thursday and through most of Friday before out next storm system will bring in the next round of clouds and definitely a round of heaviest precipitation for the Central Plains.

This storm system for Friday and into the weekend is something to keep an eye on, as of yesterday morning it was the operational GFS that was the outlier showing a decent storm system. However, several models by the afternoon hours were showing a trend towards the operational GFS solution and the last 4 runs of the operational GFS have all continued with a similar solution. The surprising and questionable solution at this point is the amounts of snowfall that is forecasted with the operational GFS on the cold side of the system. Just for humor, last nights 00z operational GFS showed a surface low tracking along southern Kansas/Missouri leading to a swath of snow across western and central Kansas, into northeast Kansas and into northwest Missouri. With ~18" of snow in Russell as the maximum, but a solid swath of 6-10" across the remainder of the locations named above. For the Kansas City Metro this meant a gradient of 1-8" from south-to-north across the metro area.  Now keep in mind that I am not saying that this is going to be correct, as there is a lot of questions regarding the track and amount of cold air that can influx into the region. Also the ground temperatures are going to be quite warm after seeing temperatures near the 60 degree mark on Friday, thus if snow did fall how much of it would melt trying to get the surface temperature down to the freezing mark.  I'll continue to update this week as we near this storm system, the first one of Spring that has the potential to give us snow!!

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Thunderstorms to Snow?!?

Numerous clusters of thunderstorms continue across portions of the Central and Southern Plains tonight, with a continued risk of a few severe/tornadic storms through the early overnight. The tornadic threat today across much of the risk area in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri was hindered by shallow moisture layer. Which when subjected to continued mixing during the afternoon led to marginal dew points in the 40s for most areas, and even meager dew point depressions. With the addition of early showers and cloud cover to areas just ahead of the low pressure system, little instability, especially in the lower levels, was present to aid in the development of strong convection. Nonetheless convection was able to fire, especially just ahead of the scattered showers/sprinkles in extreme northeast Oklahoma into southwest Missouri during the evening. Marginally severe hail and some rotation was noted on the stronger cells, and although tornadoes were reported thus far no damage reports have been received.

This current storm system is sliding to the north and will become vertically stacked over Iowa. Leading to continued wrap-around moisture and thus ongoing scattered showers through the day on Friday. Cold air advection will also be present to the west and southwest of the vertically stacked low, thus conditions may become favorable for at least a wintery mix of precipitation during the overnight Thursday into Friday for parts of northern Kansas and Missouri. Areas including the Kansas City Metro may see a few hours of a rain/snow mix early Friday, although with current surface temperatures there will not likely be any accumulation. Areas of northeast Kansas, northwest Missouri and southeast Nebraska and adjacent areas of extreme southwest Iowa may not be quite as lucky with snowfall becoming heavy enough for accumulations at least on grassy surfaces. Models are having a hard time depicting the magnitude of cold air and its' association with any lift to aid in snowflake development, in addition to warm surface temperatures will lead to models likely overestimating the accumulated snowfall.

Temperatures a little below average through the weekend, but we'll at least start to dry off after a decent amount of spring rainfall. The other story to watch through the weekend will by the flooding on several rivers in the Northern and Central Plains. Making matters worse in a high number of ice jams that are also occurring thanks to rapid melting. These ice jams can create rapidly rising waters and are very hard to forecast, thus anyone in flood prone areas should pay close attention to water levels through the weekend and beyond.

Got to hear a few rumbles of thunder in Kansas City, nothing overly impressive but it was a nice sound to hear. Wait and see about a few snowflakes and then hopefully get back on track towards spring!!

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Ahhh... Sunshine!!

Another bright and sunshine filled day today, with surface winds becoming southerly in the afternoon to aid in our warming temperatures. Highs today were widely in the 50s for areas without snow cover, even well into the 40s for those on the southern portions of the snowpack. Areas further north across Iowa were still held into the 30s due to the large snow pack in their area, plus the surrounding. Nonetheless the warm air temperature and unabated sun did allow for melting which showed up as some dense fog during the morning hours. We'll look for another day of warming temperatures and clear skies for a majority of the Central Plains tomorrow, just ahead of a disturbance that will be developing in the lee of the Rockies.

This upper level system is a fairly compact, but strong system that will bring a good chance of rain and even isolated thunderstorms to portions of the central Plains. Latest model tracks have continued the trend of a cut-off low pressure system moving east/northeast from eastern Colorado into central Nebraska Friday night, then slowly meandering eastward across Iowa through Saturday night. This will lead to a good chance of rain showers for areas north of I70 in both Kansas and Missouri and as far north as the Dakota borders and central Minnesota. Most of this precipitation should fall as rain, however, as the upper level low continues to deepend and cool areas north of Highway 30 in northeast Nebraska and Iowa as well as adjacent areas of southeast South Dakota and southern Minnesota may be able to see some mixed precipitation and snowfall. The wintery precipitation will have its' best chance late Saturday through early Sunday with accumulations remaining minimal for most areas. Decent amounts of rain are possible for the remainder of the area, including those that have several inches of water frozen in their snowpacks. This will amount to some rapid rises in rivers over the weekend and may in turn cause flooding concerns for areas of Iowa and places downstream.

Many people are still watching the stronger system for early next week, with many eyes on it for the first severe weather event for the Plains states. Moisture return is weak thus far, but there is still several days of warming and moistening to go for many areas of the southern Plains. The latest GFS and its' ensembles have taken the further south track today with the center of the 500hPa low tracking along the Oklahoma/Kansas border into Arkansas on Tuesday. This is seemingly becoming the favorite solution of the models, at least until the disturbance comes ashore and the models actually get a good look at its' dynamics. Nonetheless, expect rain to dominate the forecast for the southern and central Plains for early next week. With the best chance of thunder coming for areas of Texas and Oklahoma, however areas of Kansas/Missouri can't rule out the thunder given intense lapse rates under the closed low aloft. One of the best highlights with this southern track is that there is really no cold air to be advected south, thus we'll keep temperatures near normal for most of next week. Could we be looking at a sign that spring may actually be arriving?!?

An additional update is possible tomorrow, however a 3-day weekend and continued warm weather will hopefully keep me busy with other things!

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Quiet Weather Continues...

Mainly sunny skies and slowly warming temperatures have been the story thus far this week. And this looks to continue through the remainder of the week given current forecasts. A disturbance is expected to develop in the lee of the Rockies on Friday, leaving areas of Kansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota with a chance of showers through the day on Friday. This low will push off into the Plains on Saturday, continuing the chance of showers for areas of Kansas, Missouri, and southern portions of Nebraska and Iowa. There will be enough cold air to see more wintery precipitation for areas of northern Nebraska and northern Iowa, along with adjacent areas of the Dakotas and Minnesota.

As this system exits to the Great Lakes, our next wave of energy will moving across the Rockies and likely resulting in a new low pressure along the front range in Colorado. With the previous low sliding well north compared to previous storms, ample southerly flow is expected across the southern and central Plains. This means warm temperatures and increasing moisture across much of the Plains. Temperatures may reach above normal levels for the first time in several months for areas of the central Plains, with 50s and 60s likely on Sunday and Monday. These above average temperatures may be short-lived as the low pressure will begin to enter the Plains and bring widespread precipitation chances. The timing and exact track of the surface low, along with the strength of the upper-level features continue to be in question. The latest GFS runs have actually began to decrease the intensity of the closed low aloft.  Nonetheless, discussion continues about the potential for the first good severe weather event for the Plains states which at this time would appear to occur over portions of western Texas/Oklahoma, and perhaps Kansas depending upon the surface low track. The talk also continues about the potential for a strong winter storm, with ample moisture if the low can bring down enough cold air we could see a strong deformation zone filled with snowfall across parts of the northern Plains. Given a forecasted strong pressure gradient, wind speeds would also be in the 20+ mph range and likely result in widespread blowing snow. Many questions remain for this storm system, and as mentioned previously is the main talk as we enjoy sunny skies and warm temperatures.

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Quiet Weather... For Now

Quiet weather continued through the weekend, with clear skies dominating the forecast. These clear skies allowed temperatures to moderate well over the weekend, with high temperatures into the 40s across the areas with little to no snow-pack and into the upper 20s and near 30 for those that do. The clear skies also gave way to cool overnight temperatures given ample variational cooling with the light winds. Conditions like this will continue for much of the week with a high pressure system centered over the Northern Plains.

A storm system will pass through the Southern Plains on Monday, and continue into the Gulf Coast on Tuesday. Behind this we will see a large scale ridge build into the Plains for midweek, allowing for another warm-up with temperatures likely reaching normal or perhaps even a few readings of above normal temperatures for Thursday/Friday! A quick wave will move across the Rockies on Friday and begin to flatten this ridge for the beginning of the weekend. This quick moving system will have enough energy that it may bring with it the chance of precipitation for areas of the Plains. At this time there is significant differences in the track and speed of the associated vorticity maximum and thus confidence is not very high to mention any areas or times for precipitation.

Behind this initial wave comes a system that has been well advertised by both the GFS and ECMWF for the past several days. A very strong upper level wave associated with great dynamics throughout its' lifetime as it crosses over the Plains and moves into the Great Lakes region. Details regarding position and exact timing are of course in question, given the near 60 hour difference in timing the GFS and ECMWF currently have. The track is a little more agreeable between the two models, given a low developing over the lee of the Rockies in Colorado and tracking eastward into KS/NE seems probable, with a quick ejection northwest into the Great Lakes region once reaching the Missouri River thanks to a strong jet maximum in the upper levels. This system has the potential to be one of the first severe weather producers given its' good dynamics and likely thermodynamics (50s for temperatures & dew points). Although the best bet would be a cold core situation close to the low pressure system. Other than the potential for severe weather, conditions to the northwest of the low center would likely endure blizzard conditions for at least a period of time. Moisture will be ample in addition to strong dynamics and deepening surface low, thus a strong deformation zone is likely. Given the tight pressure gradient, surface winds sustained above 30 mph would also appear likely with even higher gusts. Once again the exact location and timing are definite questions, but it does appear favorable for a significant storm system for the Plains in the March 8-11 time frame. Additional updates through the week will likely reference this storm for a majority of the discussion.

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Cold Air...

Just a short update tonight as the weather is extremely quiet for a majority of the Plains through the remainder of the week. Cold temperatures was the story this morning, with a record low set at St. Joseph, MO (-2) and a record low tied at Kansas City International (2). Single digits were prominent over much of the Northern Plains, with teens over the Central Plains this morning. Below zero lows were common, with teens below zero for areas of Iowa, Minnesota, and the Dakotas. The lows tonight won't be too much warmer, with many single digits and below zero readings expected.

Feb. 24 Morning Low Temperatures

Looking ahead through the rest of the week, we'll slowly begin to warm-up through the weekend, although temperatures will remain below normal to well below normal for many areas of the Plains. A storm system will intensify on Thursday over the southern Plains, leading to areas of snow for southern Kansas and Oklahoma. The low pressure system associated with the snowfall will quickly move southeast on Thursday night and Friday, leaving areas of the southern Plains and perhaps even the lower Mississippi Valley under a blanket of snow.

With all of the precipitation remaining south, we'll continue to see fairly clear skies. The sun is beginning to feel pretty warm though, which is hopefully a sign that if we can begin to get rid of some of the snow that is currently covering the Plains that we can at least begin to see normal temperatures! Next update is expected on Saturday for a look at next week!

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Feb. 21/22 Recap & A Look Ahead

The storm system this past weekend brought a mix of precipitation types to parts of the central Plains. Areas of flooding occurred and are ongoing due to substantial rainfall amounts across central Missouri this past weekend. An area from south-central Kansas into the Kansas City Metro saw ice accumulations of a few tenths to nearly a half-inch in a few isolated areas. Sleet was also a common precipitation type over the weekend, with several roadways in eastern Kansas and western Missouri becoming hazardous with slush accumulations of a half-inch or greater. And lastly there was snow, varying from around an inch on the south side of the Kansas City Metro and across I70 in Missouri to just an inch or so over parts of southern Iowa. In between however, a swath of 6-10 inches covered areas of northern Missouri with isolated amounts nearing 12 inches. Strong northwest winds allowed for blowing and drifting of the snow as well, creating large drifts in open areas and making travel impossible in some areas through the day on Sunday. To view all of the reports that came in from the region, check out the link posted below:

http://www.severeplains.com/snowfall_022210.html


To view other reports from the region, check your local NWS office homepage. The NWS in Kansas City has also provided a brief summary of the events that occurred in the metro area in regards to precipitation types. This includes a vertical cross-section image that shows the warm layer just above the surface that was responsible for the freezing rain over the southern metro area. The ongoing snow continues to make its' way into the record books, with a record daily snowfall at Kansas City International. With rounds of snowfall in Des Moines on Friday, they continued to increase their snow depth and continue to break records for the most consecutive and non-consecutive days with specific snow depth amounts. Plenty of other records are out there being broken as well, with plenty more likely to fall as the winter isn't about to give in to Spring.

Looking ahead for the remainder of the week, a cold front will sweep through the Plains tomorrow bringing with it the chance of flurries and some light snow mainly Iowa and eastern Missouri. Accumulations are expected to be little to none across the region due to limited moisture and meager lift along the boundary. The cold front passage will bring a reinforcement of cold air that will keep us well below normal for Wednesday and Thursday. Another storm system on Friday will bring the chance of precipitation to areas of the southern Plains, will have to watch and see how far north the precip chances can make it for Friday.

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A Few Disturbances...

A few different blobs of information today, the first of which will be about a weak disturbance that is making its' way through the Plains tonight and tomorrow. The next about a disturbance currently over the southern Plains, giving areas of northern Texas over a half-foot of snow and still going. And finally we'll get to the next large storm system for the Plains states that will come across on Valentine's weekend.

So for the first disturbance to discuss, an upper level wave associated with a weak surface low pressure system is colocated across the Iowa/Nebraska borders at this time. These two features will continue to rotate down into Missouri during the overnight hours, and push eastward during the day tomorrow. At this time the system is going to lack moisture and sufficient large scale lift to give areas anything more than an inch or so of snowfall. These areas of snow are going to be pretty small in terms of coverage as well. Portions of northern Missouri and southern Iowa may see ~1" of snow during the overnight tonight, with the typical flurries for many other adjacent areas including Kansas City. This 'snowfall' will continue into areas of central and eastern Missouri during the afternoon tomorrow before exiting into the midwest and Ohio Valley by tomorrow night. This may be able to create some slick conditions for a few areas overnight, but does not appear to be a widespread event.

Our next discussion wil be about the upper level disturbance over the Southern Plains today that will continue to push eastward along the Gulf Coast tomorrow, developing an area of low pressure just off shore later this evening. With cold air already entrenched well south, this low pressure system will aid in pulling the cold air even further along the Gulf Coast and resulting in snowfall for many areas of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and even the Florida Panhandle! Accumulations along the shorelines are not expected to be significant, however areas not too far inland may see accumulations greater than 4". Winter Storm Warnings have been issued for many of these areas expecting to see snow through Friday.

Finally our discussion on the next significant storm for the Plains. As we head into the weekend, the next storm system to affect the northern and central Plains will begin to take shape. Diving nearly straight south out of Canada will come an upper level low and associated disturbances. Currently, models depict the upper level low traveling through eastern portions of the Dakotas and Nebraska before closing off at 500hPa and beginning its' turn eastward over Missouri. This is a path that would likely give areas of western/central Minnesota, western/central Iowa, and northeast Missouri the heaviest snows. Generally 3-6" will be a good estimate for these areas, with heavier amounts coming as the storm rotates eastward. Meaning areas of northeast Missouri and into central Illinois may see the heaviest amounts nearing ~8" as of current model runs. This system will enter/exit the Plains on the weekend, leaving us with cold and flurries by the start of next week. One thing to note for those watching the east coast get burried, this storm system also looks to take a track to give most of those areas at least a few more additional inches of snow for early next week!

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