KSHB: Weather: Action Weather Blog: Brrrrr!

KCI: 18
DOWNTOWN: 20
OLATHE NEW CENTURY: 16
OLATHE JO CO EXEC: 18
LEES SUMMIT: 18
KIRKSVILLE: 11
SEDALIA: 17
CHILLICOTHE: 14
NWS PLEASANT HILL MO: 15

The reason temperatures were able to dip so low, is because a large area of high pressure is over us, and helped to keep the skies clear overnight:

And I will refer to our handy raditational cooling graphic to explain why clear skies mean cooler overnight lows:

Now the flow aloft is from the Northwest... as you can see on our 700mb chart below:

Notice, also, that there is a green area shaded in right over Kansas City. This is actually a higher amount of relative humidity... which is moving in thanks to a weak disturbance moving through the northwest flow. I do not think we will see any precipitation with this feature (as we are dry at the surface... dew points are in the teens!)... but we are seeing cloud cover. The clouds will hamper any big warm up today, and we'll see highs near 40 degrees.

The clouds help us tonight, though, see radiational cooling graphic above. We will have a nice "blanket" to help keep us warmer. So instead of the teens, we will be in the 20s tonight! :)

Now let's talk more about WINTER WEATHER AWARENESS. I have gotten a couple of emails and blog comments about TYPES of winter precipitation. One thing we look at to forecast what type of precip we will see, is a temperature profile of the atmosphere. Here is a look at the set up for each event:

In a RAIN event... most of the atmosphere is warm, so frozen precipitation melts and falls as rain.

In FREEZING RAIN event... frozen precipitation melts in a warm layer of air... and then re-freezes once it reaches below-freezing temperatures at the surface. This type of event can produce sheets of ice on roads, cars, trees, etc.

In a SLEET event, frozen precipitation melts in a shallow warm layer... and then refreezes in the air before hitting the ground.

In a SNOW event, there is no warm air in any layer of the atmosphere... and the frozen precipitation stays frozen all the way to the ground!

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It is time for my Annual Thaksgiving day Forecast. I pledge that this Forecast will be 100 % Accurate. Here it is

Thanksgiving day will Start off Quiet and Tranquill.As the Morning wears on, Systems of food processing will begin stiring thing up. This action will cause disturbances in Kitchens everywere. Fronts of Family and friends will cause raising of warm feelings.
Waves of hot mashed potates will result in the melting of butter and sour cream.
As we look around the Country. In Cranberry Hill New Jersey a massive flood of cranberry sauce will result. Looking to the southeast The day in NorthCarolina the day will turn out to be a real Turkey. In Jot coffee Alabama the Coffee will Warm up to piping Hot. In the Deep south Storms of Sweet Potato pie will flow through dinning rooms. California will have high winds of rasins and dates producing many wonderful delights. The midwest will have snow storms of many sugary treats. Now in the northwest Yam Hill County Oregon has been placed under a Sweet Potato warning.After Dinner many Showers of Praise for the cook will come raining down. At the end of the day all the Dynamics of feasting will begin breaking down resulting in Quiet , peaceful, sleepy conditions.

HAPPY THANKSGING EVERYONE

Steve Newport
DeSoto Kansas