Saharan Dust part 2 - what July might have in store for Kansas

I've had several questions after my last post on Saharan dust coming up into the United State. I've seen some media outlets (not ours) calling it "Godzilla Dust" .... (insert eye roll here)

Here's a satellite image showing where the dust was located as of 1 a.m. Saturday.

It does cover many areas along the Gulf coast, but it is not quite as thick as it was when it was over the Caribbean. As we look at a wider view, there is even more dust coming across the Atlantic, but as I mention in the last entry, THIS ISN'T UNUSUAL at all. It is very common to see coming off the coast of Africa. And thicker dust can inhibit hurricane formation.

Forecast of dust:There will be a chance for it to move into south central Kansas Sunday. It can and probably will lead to an extra red sunrise or sunset, but causing health problems seems unlikely given that the dust will be even more dispersed and high enough up in the air that it won't be a huge problem. The upper level winds come from the south at the end of the weekend, and that's how it gets transported this far north.

Heading into early July:
This isn't going to surprise you, but it will be hot and relief looks somewhat minimal for the Plains states. Afternoon temperatures (most days) will likely stay above normal, which will mean plenty of 90s coming up. A major heat wave is NOT expected, but that doesn't mean it won't be hot.

We could see the summer high pressure system shift back westward as we approach mid-July. It's something I've seen on multiple model runs and if it does slide west, we could see the setup for storms to come off the higher elevations in Colorado.

 

Rainfall in July - might be hard to come by like it was in June. I don't think drought conditions will improve or worsen significantly. If anything, we will probably just maintain our current drought status. Normal rain in July is somewhere between 3 and 5 inches for much of the Plains. What the image below shows us is that Kansas should be near normal.