November and Rainfall

If you are like me, you are wondering what happened to October. Seems like the Kansas State Fair just ended, and in 3 weeks, it will be time for Thanksgiving. We are getting desperate for rainfall and if we don't get something soon, the 2011 Kansas Wheat Crop will be in serious trouble. Most areas had less than .50" in the month of October, and we don't typically see much moisture in November. So what should we be expecting in the near future?


The pattern will continue to support big swings in the temperatures, with most of the state seeing a hard freeze by Saturday. Next week will start to get interesting with a storm system diving into the western part of the US. If we are going to get some meaningful rainfall in Kansas, we're going to need some Gulf of Mexico moisture. The next system coming in early next week will have a chance of tapping into the Gulf, but everything has to come together just right in order for us to get some decent rainfall. Usually at this time of the year, cold fronts zip through the area so fast they just don't have much time to produce rain. At any rate, the waiting game for rainfall continues and we'll hope that something changes soon.