It's very easy to be frustrated with the overall lack of moisture for Kansas in recent weeks and months, but we aren't the only ones left out. This lack of rain is something that is fairly widespread across the Plains states, given how the drought map looks here at the start of the month.
I've said over the past several weeks that early April holds promise of being wetter for much of the area, and I still stand by those predictions. The persistent high pressure that was a problem in March is gone for now, so look for more active weather out of the West between now and mid-April. We may not get the amounts of rain you're hoping for, but at least there's something on the horizon to consider.
Beyond mid-April, it will likely dry out again, so the second half of the month may not be very helpful for Kansas. Most of the data suggests high pressure may reassert itself into the Plains, which will make generating good rain near impossible. Below is the rainfall projection for late month:
Since March was one of the warmest ones on record, we have been fielding a lot of questions about what this means for the summer months. It's natural to think the summer will be ridiculously hot, but everything I keep looking at suggest the opposite. That would be consistent with rapid onset of El Nino, potentially increasing the potential of rains for the Plains and helping to keep the heat in check.
And if you're interested, this is what we see on the rainfall maps for summer (remember this is a three-month period squeezed into one map).
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