Active weather begins - get ready

We are wrapping things up in April and heading into May, things are looking quite active and very wet throughout the Plains. Farmers have been busy planting corn and trying to get caught up after such a wet finish to winter.

Highlighting best chances for rain:

Sunday night-early Monday: A cold front advancing through the area will develop storms first in northwest Kansas Sunday evening, close to sunset. A few of these storms might produce some strong winds and hail up to the size of quarters. We will also likely have some areas of heavy rainfall, which might dump an inch of rain in spots.

Tuesday:

Good chances for rain in Kansas, but the possibility of severe is almost non-existent (at least in Kansas). There WILL be a threat of severe storms in Oklahoma and Texas, but it's not looking like those big storms will travel up into Kansas. We will also have some VERY cool temperatures and I think we should be ready for highs in the 40s and 50s. And it could snow in Colorado and western Nebraska too. As crazy as it sounds, snow on April 30th isn't that unheard of farther west.

Wednesday night-Thursday:

More wet weather is likely during this time frame for much of the Plains. Once again, the severe threat is low and hail/high winds seem unlikely given the setup now. We will get more steady rains and maybe some thunder, but soaking moisture looks to be the main feature.

How much rain?

When we look at the period Sunday - Thursday, rainfall amounts of 1-2" seem likely for much of Kansas. I'm certain there will be more the farther east that you go, but predicting exact amounts is almost impossible this far out. And this might be too much rain for some areas in northeast Kansas where flooding was such a big issue just a few months back.

Have a terrific weekend.