Tuesday, February 28, 2017

February records - some rain/snow - calming pattern

Anybody else feel like February just zoomed by us? This was such a warm month and we've talk a lot about the records that have been set around the state. Much of the state ends up with one of the top 10 warmest February months on records. But that's probably not a huge surprise when you consider how springlike it has been around here. Look at how much of the United States had warmer than normal weather this month.


But what I'm hearing from some of you is that the lack of snow and moisture is disheartening. Just think, the last big storm we had in Kansas was January 13-15 when we had major ice accumulation across central and western Kansas. That was a very wet storm, but since then, we've been missed by many recent storms. 


I don't expect any record high temperatures today, but Wichita getting to 70 would be significant because it would be the most 70° days in February ever recorded. 

We will get a chance for some rain AND snow heading into the evening hours tonight (Tuesday). Although it won't be much (and not enough to erase fire danger in the days to come), it will be nice to see something on radar once again. Amounts will most likely be under .10" (if you get anything at all), and everything that develops will have a tendency to push east through the evening. 


Pattern Change: I try to update you on anything I see developing in the longer range patterns and what is likely to come next for Kansas. March can be a very stormy month with everything from blizzards to tornadoes. The first half of the month is looking rather benign with mainly warmer than normal temperatures (so basically, picking up where February left off) The jet stream is going to retreat north once again. This means:
A) warmer than normal weather will likely continue
B) dry conditions will likely continue too

I do think there is a pretty good chance the pattern will get active and temperatures will cool later in the month. So although March may come in like a lamb, it might not be that way for the entire month. 

1 comment:

Tracy said...

Any idea when our next chance of precipitation might be? I'm not seeing anything at all on the long-range or long-long-long range forecasts online for rain any time soon for our area of Kansas.

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