Winter storm wrap - February outlook

The month of February gets a kickstart from a winter storm with some badly needed moisture. A quick wrap up of the snow totals from around the state: 

I think it's safe to say that if you had 4-6 inches of snow, you probably ended up with about a .30" of moisture. It was a fairly dry snow, so we're not going to see much change in the drought situation, but at least we had something. 

The new drought map coming out this week (which takes into account the BIG snow from western KS last week) looks like this - some minor improvement in the areas just south of Goodland, but still moderate drought continues. 

Next week:

We now shift gears into a northwest wind pattern aloft. And that's unlikely to bring any moisture for our first full week of February. No snow or rain on the way next week - just more of what we've already had this winter. Temperatures will probably average out to near normal when the first week wraps up. Looks like mostly 40s and 50s for highs around the state, but Tuesday and next Friday could have 60s.

February (on average) is one of our snowiest months of the year. See the numbers below, but for Dodge City and Wichita, if no more snow fell this month, we'd be close to our monthly average. Let's hope for something between now and then. 

Next 8-10 days for Kansas and surrounding areas: Dry

The pattern is shifting again and not likely to bring any substantial moisture back to this area for at least the next 8-10 days. This is a result of the northwest wind pattern mentioned above.

Maybe some hopeful signs later in February:

If we are going to have more snow (and or rain), it would most likely show up in the second half of the month. It could be that we see another winter storm coming through the area later in February, but whether it's a glancing blow for Kansas or a direct hit, we will have to wait and see. 

Another turn to bitter cold should happen later in the month too.

Models have been pretty persistent in keeping the cold air train coming - and this may hang on into early March as well. I would expect after a brief warm spell taking us into mid-February, things will take a turn for the colder. At least at that point in time, spring will be less than one month away, right?

Stay warm!