100s are behind us - now what about the drought

It appears that widespread 100s are now over with for the rest of the summer. While we didn't set any records for "most 100s in a season", we did have about twice as many as you might expect in a summer. Here's the latest count:

This is the most 100s in a season since the brutal summer of 2012 - another year with widespread drought and very hot weather. Some of you will recall summer of 2011 and we had 40-50 100s that summer too. Safe to call this one of the hottest summers in the last 10 years for the Plains states.

New drought map just out Thursday morning - getting worse in many areas:

Here's the pattern going into next week (our last full week of August) - and it's NOT encouraging at all for rain. 

Kansas will be sandwiched between very cool air just off to our east and much warmer weather west in the Rockies and back to the southwest. In this kind of setup, we won't have major heat for the Plains, but we also won't have unseasonably cool weather either. Average high right now is near 90, and that's roughly where we will be for much of the week.

Look at the rainfall forecast from Sunday - Friday: not good. It appears that ALL of the rain will find a way around us. Biggest moisture may end up in Texas as a front stalls through that area. 

There isn't a clear signal yet on when we break free of this unrelenting dry stretch, but we could be looking at some chances for rain across the entire area coming up at the end of next week (Friday - Sunday Aug. 26-28). It appears a storm will track across the central and northern Rockies, helping to drag some moisture this way. Here's a sneak peek at some early projections on how much (and it's not blockbuster at all):

One of the biggest factors right now - La Niña:

It still holds firm out in the Pacific Ocean (this is the cooler than average water near the equator). Water temperatures continue to be about 1°C below average, and this will be our 3rd winter in a row where this phenomenon has been in place. What this may mean for Kansas winter will come at a later time, but La Niña summers are notorious for being hot and dry. This La Nina probably won't weaken or go away completely until after this winter is behind us. 

Thanks for spending a few minutes here. Have a great day.