KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Good Thursday bloggers,
A strong storm system will affect the middle then eastern USA Friday into the weekend. The storm is as strong as the storm last week, except it is tracking to our north putting us in the warm sector. opening the door to severe weather. The storm last week tracked to our south, putting us in the cold sector, hence the Blizzard Warning.
Let's go through this.
Before the big storm we have great weather today and great weather to view the total lunar eclipse tonight.
TODAY:
Highs will be near 80° with 100% sunshine and a light wind.
TONIGHT:
It will be clear with an increasing breeze from the southeast at 15-25 mph. Lows will be 55°-60°. It will be great weather to view the total lunar eclipse.
FRIDAY:
This is going to be an active weather day as we are in High Wind and Fire Weather Watches.
HIGH WIND WATCH:
KC is in the High Wind Watch with a Wind Advisory to the north. High Wind Watches are in effect from Chicago to most of the Plains. It would not surprise me if we are upgraded to a High Wind Warning. The wind will gust from the south & southwest at 40-60 mph regardless of thunderstorms. This opens the door to power outages.
FIRE WEATHER WATCH:
We are in a Fire Weather Watch with Fire Weather Warnings all through the Plains. We will likely go to a Fire Weather Warning. This means fires can start easily and if they start they can spread quickly. This is not because we need rain. It is because we still have the winter brush which is dry as opposed to the new, moisture laden, green leaves.
SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FRIDAY:
And there is more. The northeast part of the viewing area is in a 2, 3 of 5 severe weather risk. The eastern part of Missouri is in a level 4 of 5 risk. The highest tornado threat is in the level 3,4 of 5 areas. The southwest part of the viewing area is in a 0 of 5 risk. We will show you why below.
FRIDAY MORNING:
The strong storm will be entering the Plains with a surface low central pressure around 28.91". This is a low-end category 2 hurricane. We do not get 100 mph winds because the friction of the land slows the wind as opposed to the much less friction surface of the ocean. Now, we will see 50-60 mph wind gusts approaching from the west. There will be no precipitation with the storm east of the Rockies, yet.
FRIDAY (3 PM):
This is when we will see the first thunderstorms form near the state line. It will take about one hour for them to become severe as they move northeast at 60 mph. So, this is why the higher severe threat is just to the east and northeast of KC. Our wind will be from the S-SW at 20-30 gust to 40-60 mph. The only good about tomorrow is that we will see highs around 75°.
FRIDAY (5 PM):
In just two hours ,the thunderstorms have increased quite a bit, becoming severe, as they exit the viewing area. Damaging wind and tornadoes are a threat. The main tornado threat is in the level 3 and 4 of 5 areas.
FRIDAY (10 PM):
The line of severe thunderstorms is approaching Milwaukee and Chicago. We will be partly cloudy and very windy with temperatures dropping to the 40s. The 50-60 mph wind gusts will be shifting north with the storm. We will see gusts 30-50 mph at 10 PM.
SATURDAY:
We will see a decreasing wind under a mostly cloudy sky. Highs will be in the low 50s with a west-northwest wind decreasing from 20-40 mph to 10-20 mph. A blizzard will form Friday night in the eastern Dakotas to Minnesota. Saturday it will track north into Canada with the high winds.
A new area of severe thunderstorms will occur from the southeast USA to eastern Midwest.
SEVERE OUTLOOK SATURDAY:
There is a level 3, 4 of 5 risk in the southeast USA to Tennessee Valley.
RAINFALL FORECAST FRIDAY-SUNDAY:
We are not going to see much rain, a trace to .25", if any at all. The heaviest rain will occur east of the Mississippi River and north of Omaha before there is a change to snow.
SNOWFALL FORECAST FRIDAY-SUNDAY:
Speaking of snowfall. 3"-6" of snow is likely from around Sioux City, Iowa, and points north.
Whew, that is a lot of weather in a short amount of time.
Have a great weekend
Stay healthy
