Good Memorial Day bloggers,
We finally have a day with no chance of thunderstorms. This will last at least through Wednesday.
The thunderstorm streak continued Sunday as we had isolated severe thunderstorms last night.
These thunderstorms moved through between 9 p.m. and midnight. 10:30 p.m. saw a severe thunderstorm bring ping pong ball sized hail in western Olathe.
There was other large hail as well. Coal, Missouri, southeast of Clinton, Missouri, was the leader with baseball sized hail Sunday afternoon.
There was the damaging wind Saturday night south of the river from a "collapsing thunderstorm."
Basically a "collapsing thunderstorm" is a rapidly dissipating thunderstorm, so there is no updraft, just a downdraft.
This downdraft includes rain and air that heads straight down from 40,000 feet. Some of the rain evaporates on the way down which cools the air. The cooler air becomes heavier and accelerates down. This creates a micro burst.
60-70 mph wind gusts were common. Some locations had 80+ mph winds. Lenexa, Kansas, recorded a 84 mph wind gust!
Today we are not in a severe threat. There is a level 1 of 5 that clips northeast Missouri. A few thunderstorms up there may produce hail. The main severe threat today is along the east coast.
Even though we have seen thunderstorms every 1-2 days this month, we have not see widespread heavy rain.
So, most locations are around or a bit below average rainfall for the month.
Officially for Kansas City, which is recorded at KCI airport, we are about .50 inches above average for the year. Olathe and Lee's Summit are a bit below average.
The bottom line is the drought is over, and we don't need rain for now and we get a break.
Keep in mind it does take 1-2 inches of rain per week to keep the yard green as the higher sun angle and warm temperatures this time of year dry things out fast.
Let's go day by through our thunderstorm break and into the next chances.
Memorial Day
We are at day one of a three to four day break in the thunderstorm chances. Highs today will be around 80 degrees with low humidity and a northwest breeze 10-20 mph.
Tuesday
We will see more sunshine with highs around 80 degrees, marking day two of the dry spell. The wind will be NW at 5-15 mph. Thunderstorms will be numerous from western Kansas to Texas, but they will track southeast, staying to our west.
Wednesday:
We should reach three days without rain. There may be a few showers and thunderstorms across eastern Kansas.
But, it should be a dry day in our area with highs again around 80 degrees. The wind will be east-northeast at 10-15 mph and this will keep the humidity low.
Thursday:
Rain and thunderstorms will increase from the Dakotas to Texas. They will begin to edge into our area.
So, we may get a half day of dry weather. This will bring our dry spell to 3.5 days. Then, here come the thunderstorms. Highs will be in the 70s.
Friday-Saturday:
It is looking more likely that we will be in a north-south zone of thunderstorms. The severe threat with this set up looks rather low at this time.
But, we could see quite a bit of rain. Highs will be 75-80 degrees with lows in the 60s.
We will have more on this through the week.
Have a great and meaningful Memorial Day and week ahead.
Stay healthy.
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