A stormy trend ahead

So many areas in Kansas are still in dire need of rain and we have reason to hope that Mother Nature may help us out soon. On the air, we have been showing a potential storm arriving early next week, which would fit in with our November outlook I posted last week.

The setup:

This storm should organize across the western US over the weekend, resulting in STRONG wind gusts for the Plains Saturday and Sunday. Just look at some of the gusts Saturday and again Sunday.

 

 

I am expecting this western storm to break into two different parts, with the first part racing north into the northern Plains by Sunday evening. This leaves Kansas without any good rain chance through much of the weekend. However, where we start to run into questions (and maybe getting our hopes up for some rain) is the second piece that kicks out across the area on Monday and Tuesday. 

 

That's the part of the storm that may help to increase rain chances (and perhaps snow for western Kansas) at the beginning of next week. 

 

Confidence is still low on how this storm will play out, so I hesitate to put up any potential rainfall amounts yet, but there's a chance areas that were missed in the last go around may get a shot at some rain early in the week. It hasn't been looking all that promising for northwest Kansas to get some soaking moisture, but it is still early and so much can change yet.

Even if we don't get much rain, we WILL be much cooler early next week throughout the Plains and the Rockies.

If the storm doesn't do what we need it to do, there could be other chances looming.

I'm looking at another system that could swing through the Plains at the end of next week. It's strength and potential is unknown, but it's part of a pattern that looks very busy leading up to Thanksgiving week. You can see the brighter colors off the west coast. That indicates very strong upper level winds (the jet stream) and with it pointing into the southwest US, we may see more storm systems approaching that MIGHT help to bring some rain. Let's see how this plays out, but we do expect things to be more interesting in the weeks ahead.