KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A chilly start to the day will evolve into a very nice afternoon around the region as we finally see some more typical and dare I say average highs for a change in the region this afternoon. The sunshine will become more abundant this afternoon on the north side where there are some clouds this morning.

The next feature of note is a significant storm affecting the western U.S. I mentioned several times on the air yesterday that it was meteorological eye candy off the western coast on yesterday’s shows. That will be impacting us on Friday with rain chances and stronger storms east of the metro.

Overall, a spring feel to the air will be the main thing for the next week or so. Saturday will be chillier, but we’re looking much better overall compared to the way most of March has gone.

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Kansas City Forecast:

Today: Mostly sunny skies, especially this afternoon. Highs approaching 60 degrees.

Tonight: Fair and seasonable with lows 35-40 degrees.

Tomorrow: Sunshine in the morning followed by mostly cloudy skies in the afternoon. Windy and warmer with highs well into the 60s. Winds may gust to 40-plus mph at times in the afternoon.

Friday: Occasional rain and storms. Windy and warm with falling late afternoon temperatures. Highs in the low to mid-70s.

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Discussion:

I was geeking out a bit yesterday showing this satellite image/loop off the western U.S.

It’s an impressive looking storm, and once again it was creating heavy mountain snows and moderate rains into central California.

Here is a view of the loop this morning.

That storm will come ashore, move through the central Rockies tomorrow, and then sort of intensify into the Plains on Friday. Ahead of it, warmth and moisture will be brought up from the southern U.S. and Gulf region. This will be accompanied by strong south winds.

There isn’t any pronounced gulf moisture ashore quite yet in Texas, but by later today dew points will be increasing along the Gulf Coast.

You can see some 60-degree dew points towards Corpus Christi, Texas:

Then by later tomorrow, that moisture is flowing northwards rapidly.

Then by Friday morning, those higher dew points have moved up through the State Line region.

Notice to the west how dew points are tanking into the central and western parts of Kansas.

By Friday morning, the main surface storm will be up into Iowa. The best instability locally will be later in the morning and early afternoon before it’s swept eastwards (rapidly) into central and eastern Missouri. It’s not the greatest setup for powerful storms in the metro area, but it’s more favorable well east of Kansas City.

The newest Storm Prediction Center severe weather outlook sort of shows this idea with the State Line on the western edge of any severe weather risk for Friday.

With such fast winds aloft, whatever does form will be flying towards the east-northeast and northeast at close to 60-plus mph. The main risks east of the metro would be stronger winds with this. The risks for tornadoes would be higher towards northeast Missouri and southeast Iowa as well as towards the Interstate 44 corridor region south of St. Louis it appears.

We should get some fleeting rains with this, but because of the fast movement of the rain it likely won’t add up too much. Somewhere in the 1/10 to 1/2-inch range perhaps.

The storm will then wrap in chillier weather on Friday night into Saturday before a warmup happens on Sunday. Another powerful storm is due next Tuesday, perhaps even stronger than the one on Friday. Depending on timing for that, severe weather would be on the table.

So we’re definitely leaping into spring around the Plains. Typically severe weather does ramp up in early April, usually not targeting us. But it’s always something to watch for now that spring is moving along.

The feature photo comes from Matthew Smith out towards Whiteman Air Force Base.

Joe