Very active pattern setting up next week

Thanks for spending a few minutes here on the blog as we get ready for a very warm stretch of weather heading into our last weekend of winter (not much of a winter this year). Our cold blasts were short and what little snow we had didn't ever amount to all that much. Just look at the numbers:

• Goodland - (this year: 9.4" - normal is 26.9")
• Topeka - (this year: 6.6" - normal is 16.9")
• Dodge City - (this year: 5" - normal is 17.5)
• Wichita - (this year: 2" - normal 13.7")

The official start to spring is coming up on Monday at 5:29 A.M. Daytime and nighttime are almost at equal lengths.

Our weather pattern has been really uneventful lately. After dealing with extreme wildfires last week, most of us know how bad we need some precipitation to get things greening up. 

The weather pattern is about to turn active, and it could be a stormy couple of weeks for the central Plains. Are we about to see some snow or severe storms?

Storm #1:

This system will arrive around Thursday (March 23) and I don't expect it to produce any snow (surprise surprise). There is a possibility we could have some thunderstorms as the system rolls through. Chances for severe storms could be returning to the area too. I'm not that optimistic about rain in western Kansas (with this storm), but there's plenty of time for the models to change their output.

Storm #2:

We will have to keep our eyes to the west late in the week as yet another system comes our way. This one should be stronger than the first and we could be looking at a much better chance for rain once we hit the weekend. Granted, this is still more than a week away, but several models continue to show stormy weather into the middle of the country by March 26/27.

Caution: These storms have to dive farther south in order to get rain to fall in western Kansas. If they don't, the Gulf of Mexico moisture will go east and it will be a disappointing outcome across the western half of Kansas.