Pattern may shift soon

Happy Friday the 13th. It's great to be back from vacation, although where I was vacationing had highs in the 50s. It was like having outdoor air conditioning and getting me ready for fall. But now, it's back to reality and realizing that fall is still two months away.

This will be a hot weekend around Kansas with most of us seeing more highs in the 90s (and that's WITH a front hanging over the area) Storm chances will be around this weekend, but it's going to be on a very limited scale. We are talking one storm here and one there, but given the right conditions, if you're caught under one of the storms, you will probably get dumped on. And of course temperatures will drop in and around some of the storms.

I'm expecting the pattern will shift for next week. What that means is the "H" (high pressure) that's been parked over the Plains will move back to the west. This happened a few weeks ago and temperatures dropped, which is what I expect will happen next week. It's not a major drop, but we stand a chance of seeing some 80° highs. As that happens, rain chances will pick up too.

Let's keep an eye on Monday and Tuesday. We could be looking at a setup where storms form in eastern Colorado and Wyoming, then roll to the southeast. This kind of setup would favor nighttime storms and maybe some strong wind gusts too. We'll see. But it's encouraging to be in the middle of July and not looking at a major heat wave.