Sunday storm - look at this potential rain

The very active weather pattern continues this weekend with yet another system targeting our area Sunday. It feels like we've had one storm right after another and the drought, which has been widespread in western Kansas, continues. There has been some improvement on the eastern fringe of the areas in western Kansas.

Sunday storm: rain will already be falling on parts of Kansas by the time most of us wake up. This is a storm encountering warmer weather, so 98% of the state will be getting rain and not snow.

Sunday afternoon: rain continues to soak much of the Plains with some thunder possible. It's actually a pretty impressive system and if temperatures were colder, this would be a HUGE snow producer. In fact, we'd be close to a foot of snow given how the storm is tracking across northern Oklahoma.

How much rain? This is big for late February. Many areas will be close to an inch across central and southern Kansas. Farther north and west, the rain totals will drop, but even if we get a third of an inch in western Kansas, that will be very helpful.

The timing of the rain looks like a Sunday afternoon/evening event. I'm expecting the track of the low to go right across northern Oklahoma and into south central Kansas. That will put much of the state in the running for some decent rainfall in late February, but also raises the question about where the snowfall will be. While I think the snow will be limited, I'm expecting at least some to move across the northwest. 

Planet trifecta:

This weekend (Saturday anyway) if you get up early, the three planets you are seeing in the southeast are Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars (respectively from the horizon)

This weekend looks to have milder weather and many areas will be roughly 10° above normal. Our average high goes to 51° this weekend, so getting above normal again feels good and VERY springlike. 

Next week will flip around to the other side of things. A stronger cold front is expected to arrive Tuesday, sending us back to winter weather. A BIG storm is not in the works for next week, but we could see a few hours of flurries or light snow Tuesday or Tuesday night. It might lead to a dusting, but that should be about it.