Happy Friday, Weather Blog readers!
The weather this week has been a nice, early taste of summer as temperatures warmed into 80s in the afternoon with some afternoon storms, especially Wednesday as Kansas City International Airport recorded 1.29 inches of rain.
That moved us closer to the middle for historical rainfall totals up to this point in May. When rating from wettest to driest months of May to date, we're at 85 out of 135. We are still on the drier half of the data but much better than a week ago.
Weekend Forecast
The weather this weekend will be influenced by an area of high pressure over the Great Lakes, which will bring an easterly wind to the Kansas City area.
When forecasting weather, we look at the direction the wind is coming from, which in this case, is a drier and cooler part of North America. That means warm, sunny afternoons and clear, cool nights.
That should stay the case for this entire weekend, keeping the rain to our west, where they need it.
The majority of the state of Kansas remains in an extreme or exceptional (red shades) drought.
The 7-day rainfall forecast does call for one to two inches of rain (blue to purple) in western Kansas. Every little bit counts as that part of the state needs six to nine inches of rain to get out of drought.
Don't worry about the light rain (light green) near KC, that's for rain chances later next week.
Lake Forecast
When someone says they're going to "the lake," it could mean a lot of different lakes depending where you live or grew up.
Being from Mid-Missouri, it's the Lake of the Ozarks or Table Rock Lake as those are the most popular lakes in the state of Missouri.
If you're visiting a local lake or just staying in town for the weekend, our weather will be very similar.
The morning weather will compliment the afternoons as we start of each day in the 50s.
Don't forget to apply the sunscreen as the UV Index will be very high and you could get a sunburn in less than 30 minutes on exposed skin!
Next Week
Moisture does eventually come into the Midwest and you will notice it during the afternoons as dew points rise into the 60s and will aid in afternoon pop up storms.
Temperatures will also respond with highs in the middle to upper 80s into next weekend
Please travel with care and be safe on the water this weekend!
