Little bit of rain & cooler weather, then signs of a heat wave

If you get rain in July, consider yourself lucky because stubborn high pressure usually squashes our hopes of getting the much-needed moisture. Our chances are fading once we get into the weekend, but not for too long. 

Next best chance for statewide rain: 

Coming Monday evening/night with a strong front coming through the Plains. If all goes according to plan, much of the state will have a chance at seeing some storms. This front (for July anyway) looks strong and will drop our temperatures by 10-15. Difficult to say how much rain, but I think there's a chance we could end up with some .50-1" amounts. 

Upper pattern shifting around: 

The heat dome is going to shift westward for next week, so its safe to say our 2nd full week of July looks near to below normal on temperatures. Sometimes, this kind of setup can be notorious for round after round of storms, but I don't see that happening for Kansas. It looks like (after Monday night anyway) much of the week will be storm-free.

Potential heat wave: 

The 3rd full week of July could be hot for several days in a row. If the big "high" comes back over Colorado and Kansas (as models are hinting at) we will likely have a long spell of hot weather. For planning purposes, I'd expect mainly dry weather and sunshine with highs near 100. 

Smoky sky fills Alaska:

It's not uncommon to see smoke from satellites and it's not uncommon for Alaska to have summer fires, but there are over 400 active ones right now making for a very hazy sky. Drought conditions started developing in late May and have reached "moderate-severe" in some spots. Lightning strikes have started some of the fires too. This satellite image from July 1st shows just how widespread the smoke has been. That area is expected to get some rain later next week, which should help to slow the fires and improve some of the air quality.