Drought update - flooding possible tonight

After some pockets of soaking rains, here's how the new drought map looks today. Remember, the weekly drought map takes into consideration several factors. Just because we've had some rain lately, factors like subsoil moisture, lake and stream levels, farm ponds, etc. all have to be considered too. Any rainfall that fell after Tuesday morning will be factored in on next weeks drought map.

And as you can see, there are still many, many dry areas in central and eastern Kansas.

Strong storms possible this evening:
We will be watching areas east of I-135 for some gusty winds and heavy rains. I'm a little bit concerned about heavy rains causing localized flooding. Eastern Kansas is so dang dry that a good amount of runoff would likely be welcome. Storms will move southeast once they develop.

Weekend Storm Setup:
Looking back to the west, another storm is churning this way. This one will come right over the Rockies and into the Plains. It should run into ample humidity and the amount of water that we can squeeze out of the air will be quite sufficient for heavy rains.

One of the pieces of data we look at in the storm center is "precipitable water" ... or how much water can be squeezed from a column of air. Typically, when values climb above 1", there's a good chance for some heavy rain. When you see them get up close to 2", that's a tropical atmosphere and can lead to some big rainfall amounts. Computer models for the weekend are showing some of those 2" values.

Rain will begin in the west Saturday night. There'll be some threat of strong storms in the yellow shaded area.

The rain will then be in central and eastern Kansas for Sunday. When it's over, it's looking like much of the state could be close to 1", but as we normally see with rain, some will get more with others coming in under 1". I don't expect storms on Sunday to be severe, but watch out for some localized areas of heavy rains.