Good Saturday bloggers,
The heat around here will get more intense, but heat relief will get rather close. Also, this is, on average, one of the wettest months of the year. Where is the rain?
We are in the middle of an upper level ridge. These features make the air sink, which suppresses cloud development and hence rain chances. You can get small disturbances inside the ridge. These can bring some clouds and a few showers and thunderstorms. Also, these ridges usually mean warmer than average temperatures. During the later spring and summer months these ridges can become "heat wave creating machines." Let's go through the forecast.
SATURDAY: We will see highs around 90 with highs getting close to 100 across central and western Kansas. Take a look at Des Moines and Chicago. Highs of 79 and 62 respectively! The cooling in Chicago is enhanced by the wind coming off of Lake Michigan. A "backdoor" cold front will be moving south, east of our area. "Backdoor" means it is coming in from the northeast. If this front passes your location it will become comfortable. If it does not, you are stuck in the heat.
SUNDAY MORNING: We will be around 70 while it is 55-60 across northern Missouri to the Great Lakes.
SUNDAY AFTERNOON: It will be 100 in Salina, KS, 90-95 in KC, 82 at St. Louis and 63 in Chicago. That front is being stubborn and will likely get close, but stay away from KC. We will have higher humidity this day and a bit more of a breeze.
MONDAY: It's the same song and dance. Highs will be near 100 across Kansas 90-95 in KC and 66 in Chicago. The cooler air will still be as close as central and eastern Missouri where highs will be in the low 80s.
We will come close to a heat wave. It takes three straight days with highs 95 or higher to have a heat wave. Monday-Wednesday will come rather close. So our first heat wave of 2020 is not out of the question next week.
What about rain? A weak disturbance may wander through the ridge Sunday morning. This may bring more clouds Sunday morning and perhaps a shower, but overall we are looking at not much rain. Showers and thunderstorms will be aligned from Minnesota to Kentucky as disturbances drop south, east of the ridge.
Another disturbance may bring some decent rain and thunderstorms across eastern Missouri. These will moves south missing our location. It looks like our next chance for organized rain and thunderstorms will not arrive until next Thursday or Friday. We will have more on this tomorrow.
You need 1"-2" of rain per week to keep the yard green. So, a sprinkler will come in handy.
Have a great weekend. Stay cool and healthy.
