Active pattern about to begin

We are in the final stretch of April and about to enter the peak of tornado season soon. Some of the most active days tend to happen in early May. There's another spike of active weather that seems to come in late May too. As it turns out, our weather is about to turn active very soon with several chances for storms on the horizon.

Friday night - This will be first chance for some rain/thunder to move through. It will be scattered at best AND the severe threat is very low. But overnight and into early Saturday, some rain will move from west to east across the state. The number of rain/storms will be pretty sparse.

Sunday night/early Monday - This looks like one of the BEST chances for storms in our area. We will have very rich, Gulf moisture in place and a cold front will be running into it during the night. Much of the area should expect to see some rain during this time frame. The severe threat isn't overly high, but we could see some small hail and wind gusts maybe to 50 or 60 mph. Pockets of heavy rain will also be found in central and southern Kansas into early Monday.

Tuesday - There could be a significant severe weather setup on Tuesday for areas just south of us. Oklahoma could be in the target area for severe storms with hail, high winds, and maybe some tornadoes. We will have to watch the setup for this day. If the front ends up farther north, Kansas could be part of the severe weather. If it stays in Oklahoma, then Kansas will have a cool, cloudy day with some off and on rain.

Potential for more storms next Wednesday - Another front may slide through the area Wednesday night, which will bring some rain chances. It's doubtful that storms during this period would be severe, but something for us to watch as new data comes in.

Over the next week, several areas will get some soaking moisture. Forecasting exact amounts of rain isn't something we can do, but there are strong signals pointing toward widespread 1-2" rains for most of our area.