KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A bright start to the day around the region! The chilly air is moderating ahead of a cold front that will bring a sharp but seasonably cold air mass through the region quickly tonight and tomorrow. So while we are going to be above average today, we’ll be below average tonight and tomorrow followed by a rapid warmup over the weekend into Monday as highs on Monday may push near 60 degrees.
We may not get much rain from another front due in on Monday night. Hopefully we get something.
And hey, the groundhog says we’re going to get six more weeks of winter… for the 120th time, believe it or not. So we have that going for us snow wanters.
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Kansas City Forecast:
Today: Sunny and mild. Turning a bit blustery later this afternoon as the front comes through. Highs 45-50 degrees from north to south through the metro.
Tonight: Windy for a a few hours and turning sharply colder. Lows near 10 degrees with partly cloudy skies.
Tomorrow: Partly cloudy and cold with highs in the low to mid-30s.
Saturday: Warming up and windier with highs in the low to mid-50s.
Sunday: Milder with highs well into the 50s.
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Discussion:
So the groundhog sees its shadow and we have six more weeks of winter. Around here, we’re still waiting on winter weather in 2023. We’ve had a few days of colder weather: Only four days in January with temperatures below average, with 26 days of temperatures above average. Only 3 inches of snow for the month, a couple of inches below average. So January wasn’t exactly that cold. December had it’s five-day run of cold weather near Christmas, and that’s been about it really.
So six more weeks of winter huh…
Well, here is a look at the EURO model for the next 15 days:
And the GFS:
Just about every day, except for tomorrow and a day here and there are above average into the middle of February.
We’re running out of winter to have six more weeks of winter.
Weather around the U.S.
Clearly winter wasn’t that much of a “thing” in January. Here are the rankings from the warmest winter: 1s especially in the northeast U.S. down the line we go to cooler Januarys.
Look at the northeast part of the country… wow.
Interestingly, they’re going to get a sharp shot of arctic air briefly, with a couple of record lows possible in parts of New England Saturday, perhaps even down towards New York City. It will be brief though, as warmer air will quickly return to finish the weekend.
Just a strange winter indeed, not only here but elsewhere. The cold can only last for a matter of 3-5 days, not even that in the northeast U.S.
Next system in KC
So around here we go up and down, but the downs are very transient as we’ve seen. The arctic air connection for us has been limited to non existent for over a month and that won’t be changing anytime soon either it appears.
The model data is actually trying to sniff out a rain/snow system next Wednesday or Thursday. This is connected to a system that’s off the coast of Alaska today, and you can see it more clearly up around 18,000 feet up or so.
We’ll see. There’s going to be a lot of warm air ahead of it and some data chills the atmosphere down with the storm in the vicinity, but I’ll hold out for a few more days regarding this one.
So six more weeks of winter huh?
Some questions about the comet viewing. It’s tough to make out, nearly impossible with the naked eye. Binoculars and/or telescopes would be better for this.
So there’s that.
Hey it could be worse. Let’s check in with Mt Washington in New Hampshire.
So it goes. The feature photo comes from @kcdroneshow.
Joe
