Friday, February 17, 2017

Next storm for Kansas & cold air back on the map

Finally Friday and this weird, warm February rolls on into the weekend with no sign of an end.... yet! We had at least 6 record highs set yesterday because we are 25-30° above average. I don't want to be pessimistic about this sunny, calm weather, but with temperatures staying so warm for so long, trees are budding and before we know it, our plants and crops will break dormancy. This is WAY too early for that.

Next Storm:
This will be pushing closer to Kansas by Sunday. Clouds will likely take over, but even if we don't get much sunshine, I still think we will top 60 in the afternoon. Again, this is so bizarre for February.


Rainfall amounts won't add up to very much. I would expect less than .25" - this is not a very organized storm and the moisture is limited. Hearing thunder in February might be more impressive than the rain.

Cold air on the maps:
There should be some much chillier air coming around the end of the month. Mother Nature sometimes has a way of leveling things out, so after a very warm spell this month, I do look for temperatures to trend back to normal or below here soon.


If you take a look at one of the computer models out to February 25/26, you can see the gates are opening up to Canada, which will likely mean a return to winter temperatures. Some of the computer data shows some snow too, but we will have to wait and see on that one. This just hasn't been the winter for snow around here. There will likely be some snow off to the north of Kansas late next week (even blizzard conditions possible in Nebraska and the Dakotas)

Interesting snow statistic (courtesy Dodge City National Weather Service):
We know some big snows can come late in the winter season. In fact, 40% of major snowstorms come after the middle of February. So there's still plenty of time for snow lovers to hope for a big storm. However, as we get into March, it's less likely for it to hang around very long.




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ross,

Could you explain what could happen to trees and plants if they do bud and we get a good hard freeze again?

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