Spring freezes & some serious temperature flip flopping

An early April freeze isn't that unusual in Kansas, and the latest cold snap isn't setting any records. The growing season is just getting started and hopefully the cold weather doesn't have any negative impacts on the wheat crop. People ask me about the frost-free date in Kansas and it does range quite a bit from north to south. Look at the map below:

The latest spring freeze for Salina and Wichita are in May, so we aren't anywhere close to those records. What was a bit surprising to me (after doing some digging) was the latest spring freeze for Goodland. A date that goes all the way into June!

Setup next week (April 6-10):

We are about to see a pretty decent stretch of some drier conditions for the Plains (compared to what we've been getting lately) This could go a whole week without any big storms coming through the area. There's going to be a new storm developing and hanging out in California, which WILL likely become a factor in Kansas. However, it may not reach us until closer to Easter weekend. Right now, I don't see it as being a big severe weather maker for Kansas, but we need to watch it closely. Models are bringing the rain and thunder to the area beginning Friday and it will likely stick around into the weekend.

Another cold snap down the road??

Unfortunately, that looks to be the case. We may see another cold spell coming around Easter weekend. You might recall from the last blog post that I mentioned a "cooler" April as a whole. So this sort of thing was bound to happen, but hopefully it won't be as cold as the latest snap. We will see.

Planet lineup - look southeast early in the morning:

You'll get another trifecta of planets. Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn will all show themselves in the EARLY morning sky. If you have a good pair of binoculars, you might even be able to see the moons near Jupiter. Look to the left and right of the planet.

Take care.