Stuck in a rut - but a change is lining up

Hope you had a terrific Memorial Day weekend. Things are not back to normal yet, but there are some signs we are moving that way for now.

• Memorial Day weekend - unofficial start to summer
• June 1st - start of meteorological summer
• June 20 - official beginning to summer (Summer Solstice) - 4:43 pm

Our month of May has been a cool month. It will not make the top 10 coolest in Kansas, but much of the state has been below average on temperatures. Just look at the map below (updated through the 24th) and much of central and eastern Kansas is running 5-8° below average. 

And consider this for a moment:

The rest of this week:

We are stuck in a rut. There's an upper low pressure "L" swirling around over the central and southern Plains. I am posting the water vapor image to show the plume of Gulf of Mexico moisture that continues to stream up into Kansas. While we are NOT likely to get additional big rain, the chances are still out there for some very hit/miss type showers/storms. This setup is likely to stick around through at least Thursday, then a change is coming.

Pattern shift this weekend:

May is going to end mild - June starts out warm. Our first week of the new month will be spent under high pressure, so chances for moisture end and the heat begins to expand. I don't see record warmth, but in typical June fashion, chances of getting back up to near 90 will increase. 

Early June looks to start off dry. The pattern shown above isn't one that will bring much rain to this area. However, I do think June has a chance of being near to above normal on rain. So harvest may have some interruptions this year as we deal with some chances for storms in the middle of the month.