Smoky skies, a lunar eclipse, and is summer here to stay

You may be noticing extra haze in the air, perhaps even the extra orange and red in our sunrise and sunsets across the Plains. Wildfires burning in New Mexico are the issue. Due to our close proximity to the fires, we will probably have this quite often in the coming weeks until they can get some containment on those fires. 

At last check, here are the stats from the fires:

• Hermits Peak - 197,000+ acres burned (43% contained)
• Cerro Pelado - 41,000 acres burned (11% contained)

Wednesday evening:

Friday morning:

Safe to say that more smoke will be coming through our sky even at the end of the week, so the enhanced sunrise and sunsets aren't going to end anytime soon with that big fire ongoing in the Southwest. 

Lunar Eclipse:

This will be our first one in more than a year. The last lunar eclipses were either not visible in our area or were only partial ones that weren't really worth checking out. We do have two of them this year - both visible across North America. The next one comes up in November, BUT it will happen in the early morning hours and might require you to set the alarm extra early (it happens in the 4-5am hour). Plus, in November it could be quite chilly and chances of having clouds to block the view do increase at that time of year. 

The weather looks like it will cooperate for this celestial event. Here's a map of where the clouds may be lining up Sunday night at 10PM. We will probably have some higher-level clouds coming across the sky, but it shouldn't totally block our view. 

Storm chances:

Thursday night we have a cold front sweeping through, which will increase the potential of some storms around parts of the state. All but far western Kansas will have chances. Future Track is developing storms into central Kansas after 7pm:

And by Friday morning, the leftover showers will be farther east:

Rainfall Forecast - through next week:

Chances are going to be a bit better next week - but not for all areas of the state. We will have some chances on Sunday, Tue/Wed, and then again late in the week. While western Kansas is not likely to be in a favorable spot, central and northern Kansas may be in the running for some more rain. Farther east, rain looks likely. I think we will see a pretty decent pattern shift at the end of next week, and that may trigger some widespread rains as we approach the weekend. In fact, some of the best may be holding off until the end of the week (May 19/20).

As for temperatures, we will likely be cooling things down with highs near normal from May 18-25. That would mean more high temperatures closer to 80° rather than the 90+ that so many have seen this week.

Have a great day and thanks for spending a few minutes here.