Big rainfall last night; crazy July weather is coming!

We've made it to Thursday. Did the storms wake you up last night (or early this morning)? Things were relatively calm at the start of the 10 p.m. newscast last night, but about 11 p.m., there were storms popping up all over the place. We had some half dollar size hail reported in Hutch just after 1 in the morning. This is how the radar looked as I was heading home for the night. Nighttime storms can always be a bit spooky just because you can't really see what the clouds look like and how bad the wind is blowing. The lightning was pretty intense too. We had some storms in Barton and Ellis counties that just wouldn't move. Look at the rainfall amounts below. Seems like you either had a lot of rain or very little.

Doppler Radar estimated rainfall amounts

Doppler Radar estimated rainfall amounts

Rainfall totals from across the area through 7 a.m.:
Great Bend: 3.84"
Smith Center: 1.82"
North Hays: 1.70"
Pratt: 1.59"
Wichita: 1.46"
Medicine Lodge: 1.37"
Russell: 1.20"
Hutch: 1.14"
Winfield: 0.86"
Jabara Airport: 0.75"
Hill City: 0.66"
Newton: 0.45"
Concordia: 0.36"
Salina: 0.09"

The last several summers have been quite hot across Kansas. Look at the triple digit count for Wichita and Dodge City (from May 1 - July 9) over the last 4 summers. Of course, the summer of 2011 and 2012 are ones we won't soon forget. Most of the state set records during those summers. Hard to believe we had almost 2 dozen 100 degree days at this time 3 years ago. Wichita averages about 12 days with highs at or above 100.

Wichita:                2011: 17 days,      2012: 12 days,     2013: 6 days,     2014: 1 day

Dodge City:          2011: 17 days,     2012: 15 days,      2013: 13 days,    2014: 0 so far

Forecast temperatures at 4 p.m. next Wednesday

We are still on track to have potential record cool weather next week. The models have been showing this now for nearly 4 days! It may feel like summer in Canada with the type of weather we have heading this way. It's also looking like we will get some rain next week too. The timing is a little bit in question right now, but the way things are going, I would expect rain Monday night and widespread cool air by Tuesday. Just look at the forecast temperatures at 4 p.m. next Wednesday. And it goes all the way down to Texas too. It will be just incredible.