We've had our fair share of wind this month of March. Living in the Plains, we are accustomed to some wind, but gusts over 65 and 70 mph pushes the threshold of what most of us consider acceptable. Take a look at these March calendars of wind gusts:
Hays:
Dodge City:
The reason why it's been so dang windy is just how intense the low pressure systems have been coming out of the West. They are reaching their peak strength here in the Plains, with atmospheric pressure dropping almost as low as what you'd find in hurricanes. It's a little unusual to see a barometer reading get down to around 28" of mercury in Kansas, but when you do, you can guarantee the wind will be quite intense.
Are we done with the cold?
I still think another stretch of chilly weather may be coming in the first half of April. Why? Well, we again look to the Arctic Oscillation and it has gone negative. This time of the year, a cold snap would likely be highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s, but I would be prepared for the second week in April to trend cooler than average.
This doesn't always mean it will get colder, but it's something we'll be watching, and early spring gardeners should be on the lookout. This is what the temperature map looks like for mid April (compared to average):
April rainfall isn't looking spectacular at this point. I think will be some rain at the beginning of the month, and then again late in the month, but mid-April looks dry. Of course, we could get lucky and end up under a slow moving thunderstorm that drops some beneficial rain, but that wouldn't show up in our data right now.
Tornado count in Kansas remains at zero right now, but nationally it has been increasing rapidly. It doesn't indicate one way or the other how the upcoming storm season will go in the Plains. Look back at the last 10 years of data and see that the first three months of the year tend to be very quiet with respect to tornadoes. Even in 2017 when we had just over 10 tornadoes, that spring would go on to have 63 tornadoes overall, which is fewer than average.
In 2008, that year started off very, very slow, but would go on to have over 200 by the end of June. There's just no way to draw conclusions between what's happened so far and what's to come.
