Here we go again & hurricane season is here

Severe risk heading into Wednesday evening/night

Ready for some more rain?? Well, we really don't have a choice and just because much of central and southern Kansas doesn't need any more, that doesn't mean we still couldn't use more rain for parts of Kansas. Western Kansas has had some rainfall recently, but that area of the state would welcome more moisture. The new drought map for this week will be out tomorrow and will look quite a bit different after the heavy rains from Monday.

The next round of storms will begin in western Kansas late this evening (probably around dark - 9 p.m.) and then those storms should be headed east into the overnight. Main threats will be gusty winds and very heavy rainfall, especially over the southern half of Kansas. The yellow shaded areas in the severe weather outlook have the highest chance of seeing strong winds.

Forecast for rainfall Wednesday evening - Friday

As far as how much rain could fall, it looks like another 1-2 inches for a lot of locations in central and southern Kansas. This on top of what fell at the start of the week could mean more road closures and flooded creeks/rivers/streams. It's still amazing to me just how fast we have turned things around from needing rain to needing a few weeks of dry weather to get caught up on some things.

Water temperatures across the ocean. The pink areas indicate water temperatures of 82F or warmer

By the way, hurricane season is now here. It actually started back on June 1 and while we've had some activity in the Pacific, there hasn't been much to talk about in the Atlantic. It's forecast to be another slow season, but only time will tell how active things get. A satellite image taken recently shows the water temperatures across the hurricane hotbed are beginning to warm up enough to support tropical storm and hurricane formation. Water temperatures over 80 degrees is necessary for tropical development as that's where the storms get their energy from. I don't see anything developing in the immediate future, but the first storm that requires a name, it will be Arthur in the Atlantic.