Weekend cold & snow - and look what is down the road

It's hard to believe there will be a snow chance this weekend, but as we mentioned earlier this week, it has happened before in April and on Easter nonetheless. New models coming in Friday morning are suggesting the majority of the snow will be in Nebraska (lucky for them) with Kansas getting just light amounts. There will also be some scattered storms later Saturday evening. Main threat would be some some small hail, but severe chances are very low.

This will be a remarkable change for April as much colder, Arctic air plunges south to cover the central and northern Plains. If there is one positive to it for Kansas, it takes away the threat of severe storms around here. We do have a good chance of getting some snow into the area. It's not unheard of to have snow in April, but I don't think it's very popular with anyone.

Sunday Temperatures will drop fast:
It won't take long for temperatures to plummet during the day. At 1 p.m. in the afternoon, much of the state will be back in the cold air with temperatures looking like January or February. This is an Arctic blast coming in, and we need to be ready. Disconnect those garden hoses if you have already started getting that stuff out for spring.

More snow next week:
It's not a big storm, but a system coming through around Wednesday night/Thursday could have a rain/snow mix with it. There is expected to be a reinforcing shot of some chilly air coming down at some point next week, so it will be awhile before we turn the corner on this cold snap in April. Hang in there... this too will pass.

2020 dry spells:

Since we haven't had any precipitation around here lately, I went looking to see if this is the longest dry spell of the year. While it isn't the longest (yet), we are close. I'm referring to  consecutive days without measurable rain (so trace amounts don't count) Central and south central Kansas have had some pretty wet stretches in 2020, so going more than a week without moisture has been a big deal. I remember hearing back at the end of February, some farmers were asking for dry weather because they couldn't get any work done. We've moved to a drier stretch lately, and this could be a sign of what the next 30 days will bring.

The map below shows precipitation compared to normal, and it has much of the Plains below average to finish off April and the beginning of May. I guess if you are needing to do some field work, this may be good news.