KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It’s a sultry and warm start to the day around these parts as overnight lows never dropped below 80 degrees up at KCI after a high yesterday of 100 degrees. It was our second 100-degree day of the year and that’s the first time we’ve done that since the drought summer of 2012.
Today a weak front will be moving through the region. It’s already creating showers and storms this morning and radar today at times will be colorful for parts of the area. The good news is that between the rain and the clouds, temperatures will not be as hot for areas from Kansas City northwestwards it appears. Areas where the clouds and rain are slowest to arrive, will see another nasty hot and humid day.
This front isn’t that big of a deal, basically returning us back to average tomorrow, before the hotter air returns.
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Kansas City Forecast:
Today: Clouds/showers/storms. Not as hot with highs in the upper 80s to upper 90s from north to south through the region.
Tonight: Evening storms which may be strong in some areas especially on the south side and southwards. Lows in the lower 70s.
Tomorrow: Partly cloudy and seasonably warm with highs in the upper 80s. It will be very steamy tomorrow.
Friday: Hotter with highs in the lower 90s.
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Discussion:
The main story today is radar.
These storms aren’t severe this morning and are weakening a bit (I type this as they approach the State Line). The remnant clouds and other showers/storms that may fire up this morning should bring relief to areas, especially from the metro north and westwards.
The front itself is still well west of the area. At 9 a.m.:
At 9 a.m.:
At least it shouldn’t be as hot today, but still very muggy. The heat index at one point yesterday was near 110 degrees.
The front won’t really clear the area until later this afternoon and then spread southwards from there. The issue for later today will be additional storms that may form as the front comes into whatever heating and instability we can recover today. So there is still more opportunities for storms later this afternoon as well.
Another chance may come overnight since the front “aloft” about 3-5,000 feet above the ground will be weakly converging near the Intestate 70 corridor. So some additional activity is possible from I-70 and southwards later tonight.
Tomorrow will be more seasonable and still pretty humid overall. The front will bring in more moisture, to some extent, from the corn fields and the growing corn, to the north of the region. So the dew points will be rather high even behind the front. During this time of the year, with the corn crop going to town, it actually puts out moisture into the lower part of the atmosphere. This is through the process called transpiration. As a matter of fact one acre of corn can release 4,000 gallons of water/day. Enough to fill a residential swimming pool in less than a week.
So it will be a steamy and sultry night again tonight.
The minor heat relief should be short-lived, as I expect hotter weather to start its journey back to Kansas City Friday. Saturday has the potential to be another nasty hot day with mid-90s (upside) ahead of another front coming later on Sunday. That should be another rain chance to finish the weekend.
We’ll see how much cooler air can be brought down with that.
The hope is that the upper-level high (hot air generator) will be shoved back west and place our region in sort of a weak west-northwest or northwest flow aloft. That should give us some relief from the oppressive heat.
Some other tidbits:
There is also some talk about the slow start to the tropical season. This isn’t unusual, although there has been a lot of dust that has been apparent in the satellite pictures over the last few weeks. That is a sign of dry African air migrating across the Atlantic and typically reduces the risk of any development.
OK that’s it today. Hope you get some needed rain. No promises though for totals.
Our feature photo comes from Keith Thornton up towards KCI with a nice rainbow this morning.
Joe
