This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

Welcome rains for sure…over 1 1/3″ for KCI…the most since back in June…and the 4th highest total this year. It was needed and welcome. Areawide rains of 1-2″ were common. Areas towards NW MO and NE KS didn’t have as much…but still got something.

There are still areas of rain SE of the Metro this morning but this will mostly affect central and eastern MO as cooler and drier air undercuts the clouds today and should keep the Metro rain free, aside perhaps of a few sprinkles, especially S/E of I-35.

From there though. aside from a couple of systems that I’m tracking for Friday and Sunday…it looks dry again for awhile…although the Sunday system especially bears watching. I don’t have the feeling though we’re going to be looking at weeks again with little to no moisture…the pattern seems active down the road…so there’s hope for more moisture…down the road.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Forecast:

Today: Lots of clouds with some later afternoon clearing. Temperatures will really struggle today and may get into the lower 50s…maybe. Winds increase as well…20-30+ MPH possible in the afternoon.

Tonight: Clearing out. If the winds drop off enough…some fog is possible. Lows in the upper 30s

Tomorrow: Partly cloudy and milder with highs back into the low 60s

Thursday: About the same with highs in the low to mid 60s

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Discussion:

Let’s start with the rain totals…some nice 2+” totals for areas towards the south of the US 50 corridor towards the Lakes region. Elsewhere mainly 1-2″ worth.

Estimated rain totals through 8AM.

Here are some other totals via CoCoRaHS.

Our morning satellite picture still shows a lot of moisture in the region…especially near KC and southwards. You can see the upper level storm spinning towards eastern OK this morning and through moisture northwards

Underneath the clouds…the cold front which passed through our area about 24 hours ago is just now working through St Louis and into SE MO…it’s crawling along.

Behind the front the air is seasonably cool. Upper 20s to lower 30s to start the day in the Plains. We’re in the 40s because of the clouds. Today winds will be increasing from the NNW so it will be a day with a blustery feel to the air. The winds though are transporting dry air into the region so the threat of rain in KC looks extremely low aside from maybe some sprinkles.

Here’s radar.

Soggy start to the day towards Sedalia and Clinton, amongst others SE of KC.

The trick about today is the clearing…and it may take awhile to happen. That will influence temperatures…so with little sunshine…it may struggle to get to 50°. IF we do manage more breaks in the clouds…55° is doable. I’m sort of pessimistic about the chance though of that happening for most of the day.

Today’s focus for the weather is for the risk of severe storms in the SE part of the US…

There is a risk of tornadoes…although somewhat of a small risk in most of central and western AL…worth noting.

So what’s ahead? Basically we’re watching a couple of systems…I want to show you the system that’s still affecting us this morning with clouds…

Notice it towards the MO/AR border region

Now take a look a the next system…on Friday.

Farther south towards north central TX but from there where does it go?

The EURO wants to tug that system northwards…and it too, while considerably less “wrapped up” compared to the system today…gets closer to KC.

This would bring a lot of clouds and maybe some rain or showers from close to I-35 SEwards on Sunday.

Other data, has this farther south…and I’m trending with a more southwards solution at this point keeping us rain free…it’s worth monitoring though.

IF things work out however we should be in good shape for Halloween with the potential for a run towards 70° not out of the question

OK that’s it for today. Have a great Tuesday. Suddenly it really feels like fall out there! The feature photo is from Daniel Williams. He got the drone up the other day and WOW!

Joe