KSHB: Weather: Action Weather Blog: Still Baking

The heat will continue for us today! On Friday, we made it to 95 at KCI... so we should do that or a few degrees hotter today. We are so hot, thanks to a big upper ridge that has been building in. You can see it on the map below, encompassing the Western part of the country:

That ridge will begin to break down, or flatten, as we go into the beginning of this week. Here is the upper flow, valid for Monday:

As the ridge flattens out, you can see waves moving towards Kansas City. There will also be a surface front nearby on Monday. That front will sag into our area Monday night/Tuesday... bringing us the chance of some much-needed rain! Hopefully Platte, Leavenworth, Wyandotte and Jackson counties will get in on it this time, as you all really missed out last time around. And KCI needs the rain, as it is where our "official" records come from. So while many of you have seen a few good soakings... KCI is actually one of the drier places around these parts! Here are the numbers as we continue to dry out:

We'll get a better feel for rainfall coverage and timing as we go into Sunday night/Monday! Stay tuned, and try to stay cool...
Jamie

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Good Afternoon, Jamie & Gary

I just returned from vacation in Nebraska (Omaha) and i can tell you our quirky dry/wet pattern runs north of us as well. There are areas driving north that are green and streams and rivers running well and then 10 miles up the road..dry fields and drought conditions. It continues to hold to this micro wet/dry coverage of rain and storms and lack of, and incompasses more than KC when you actually drive through out of the area. In general southeast Nebraska is in dire need of rainfall as well. I really enjoyed Gary's indepth analysis of his cycle theory, It's strongly accountable and it will prove very interesting to see if September and going into the fall completely changes this frustrating miserable pattern. As for the short term..the heat is on..July looks scortching and hopefully that breakdown in the ridge mon-tues brings some rainfall. The desert southwest monsoon season has indications it's starting early this year and that should help stir things up a bit.

Robert

ROBERT:
Thanks for posting your interesting account of how we are not alone in the rain-free black hole! :) I have followed Gary's weather pattern theory through 2 years, and it truly amazes me. I really hope the new weather pattern that sets up in the fall brings more moisture to KC! We are thinking there is a pretty good shot of rain Monday/Tuesday... but who gets the most is still in question.
Jamie