Good Monday bloggers,
We are not alone in the freezing weather. A Freeze Watch is in effect all the way to the gulf coast for tomorrow night. That is very early for them. Sometimes, they go all winter without a freeze.
One reason the temperatures are dropping so much, besides this simply being a cold air mass, is the fact that the air is very, very dry. This is a result of the widespread drought conditions. It is acting like a desert. Deserts have warm days and cold nights due to the dry air.
Dewpoints Monday afternoon were as low as 6° in KC. This means the temperature would have to drop to 6° to see a humidity of 100%. The temperature was 51° with a dewpoint of 6°. This makes the humidity 16%. Water can hold more heat, some more water vapor in the air prevents temperatures from tanking. So, the very dry air will allow temperatures to drop even more than they would if we were not in this drought.
How low will we go?
Lows tonight will drop to the low 20s. Some locations may see lows in the upper teens. Other locations may see lows in the mid 20s. Downtown KC may see lows in the mid to upper 20s as the concrete holds some heat.
The record low for tonight is 28° set in 1972. We should easily break that.
Lows Tuesday night will be similar. This will end the growing season, but it will also end the allergy season.
The record low for Wednesday morning is 21° set in 1972. We may break that.
Highs Wednesday will reach the low to mid 40s. Keep in mind the average low for Wednesday is 45°.
If all of this cold air has you thinking about winter, perhaps snow, this is a good time to enter our Snowflake contest.
Go to KSHB.com/contests and enter to win a $1400 Gold Watch. The deadline to enter is November 12th.
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Now, if you think it is too early to be this cold and want some warmer weather, you are in luck. A huge warming trend begins Wednesday.
Highs Wednesday will warm to 55°-60° with 70s in the western Plains.
Highs Thursday will warm to 65°-70° with near 80° in the western Plains.
Highs Friday will warm to 80°-85° with possibly near 90° in southern Kansas. Wow!
The other issue is the drought. We are seeing some hope, emphasis on "some" at this point, to see increasing rain chances early next week.
The main reason we have been so dry is a very persistent blocking upper level ridge in the western USA. This is blocking Pacific storm systems from entering the western USA and/or dropping into the western USA from the Gulf of Alaska.
This is the upper level flow for today, Monday 10/17. You can see the upper level ridge is in place over the western USA. A huge trough, upper level low, is over the Great Lakes. This storm is bringing down the cold airmass.
Whoa! What is this? It is a trough in the western USA with the blocking ridge history. This is an upper level flow map for next Sunday, 10/23.
This will open the door for rain. We will have more on this during the week.
Have a great week ahead, stay healthy.
