Wednesday, September 23, 2020

We are waiting... and waiting...

Boring weather in Kansas is usually a rarity, but lately, it just hasn't been that exciting around here. Last week, we dealt with a blocking pattern that lead to several days of "no change" in the weather. This week, the blocking pattern is gone, but the tropical system Beta trapped all of the moisture near the Gulf coast and prevented us from getting any rain.

Temperatures WILL be changing. It looks hot to wrap up the week and our first weekend in fall will feel a tad more like summer. Much of the central and northern Plains will be above average (with normal highs in the upper 70s)

Next week temperatures (AFTER Monday) will look like this (normal goes to 78/79):


This kind of pattern (where upper level winds come from the northwest) shuts down the moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. So the only substantial rain to speak of will be up around the Great Lakes. 

How soon will this dry pattern change? At this time, it probably won't happen until mid October. That's when the upper level winds may begin turning back to the west or southwest, but longer range models have REALLY struggled lately with the cool spells and rain chances (down the stretch), so stay tuned.

This year has been really strange. Lately, we've had a ton of smoke coming across our skies and there have been more than enough tropical systems too. Its been a clash of storms and smoke (as indicated by this satellite image from the past few weeks). 

Tropical systems have been wrapping in smoke from thousands of miles away and carrying it farther north and east. Smoke hasn't necessarily made the tropical storms stronger or weaker, but it sure does make for some interesting pictures from space (and on the ground as evidenced by the weird looking sunrise and sunsets from the past week)

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