Perseids facts and a dry pattern ahead

The Perseids meteor shower will peak tonight/early Thursday morning. Here are some frequently asked questions before one of these events:
1) When is the best time to look? - Between midnight and 4 a.m.
2) How many will we be able to see? - If you are lucky, one might see one meteor per minute
3) Is there a particular direction to look? - For a meteor shower, just look straight up
4) Will the weather cooperate? - Our forecast is calling for mostly clear skies (except in the southwest where more clouds are expected)

Meteor showers are just simply dust sized particles that are expelled from a comet and they burn up as they enter the Earth's atmosphere. The first recorded observation of the Perseids was taken by a Chinese astronomer in 36 A.D. Meteors are said to hit the upper atmosphere at 37 miles per second.

It's not what I would consider a dramatic shift in the weather pattern, but the high pressure system at roughly 40,000 feet is on the move. It is pushing back to the west, which will trap most of the monsoon moisture over the Southwest and west of the Continental Divide. A few showers may show up in western Kansas through Wednesday night, but 99% of Kansas is expected to be dry. Take a look at the forecast for rainfall through Monday (August 17th). It shows a limited amount of moisture for far western Kansas, with central and eastern Kansas likely dry.

It's beginning to look like some of us have had our last 100 degree day that we will see for the rest of the summer. The jet stream is beginning to strengthen. As we move into the second half of August, the dome of high pressure may shift back over Kansas, but forecast models indicate that we should stay out of the triple digits.