The winds of October are certainly blowing again out there, as wind gusts are closing in on 30+ MPH today, however those south winds continue to pump up the highs...we're close to 80 now and should tack on another 5 degrees this afternoon. So another 85ish day is on the way...our temps for the month are now closing in on some 7 degrees above average...very impressive thus far. The longer rang certainly shows some cooler weather, but really nothing unusual for this time of the year, and there does appear to be more warm weather down the road again so while we'll have the AM lows drop back into the 40s, the highs should be in the 60s to 70s for most of the week and into next weekend.

Rainfall today is, as expected out to the west of here...parts of W KS have picked up a very welcome 4" of rainfall. Look at this wall of drought relieving rainfall...it's impressive for sure. Notice though I said "relieving" and not "busting"...rainfall deficits out there are close to 20" in spots,, It's a great start but they need many more of these systems. It's also ironic that there are actually Flash Flood Watches/Warnings for this whole mess out in W KS (Warnings) and Texas (Watches).

That rain is only making slow progress towards the east. As it gets closer to KC on Monday it will weaken substantially. One look at radar now from Topeka shows the eastern edge of the rainfall slowing and falling apart as it does progress to the east. Some of it though should make it into the region on Monday, however how much remains in question and while I'm not expecting that much rainfall it may be sort of a nuisance. Another chance moves in with a surge of jet stream energy later Tuesday into Wednesday AM. This would promise our most substantial shot of rain. Again I still think between the 2 systems, anything more than .33" is going to be a push out of this and some areas may see much less than that potential. So while this would help...it's not going to be that much of a help.

Today marks the 20th day of our current dry spell. Today ranks as the 91st longest dry spell that we've had...not very extreme at all.  The record as I've talked about in the past is 41 days back in 2002...that ended on Christmas Day in 2002. My colleagues from the NWS were kind enough to pass this information along to me...concerning the top 15 longest dry spells in our recorded history.

 Kansas City Area  (ThreadEx Station)
Consecutive Days
Precipitation <= 0.0 inches
Years: 1888-2011

Rank  # Days   End Date
  1           41        12/25/2002
  2           40         1/25/1923
  3           37         1/16/1956
  4           36        12/ 5/1989
  5           36         6/28/1988
  6           36        12/23/1890
  7           35        1/30/1981
  8           32       10/15/1989
  9           32       10/ 8/1979
 10          31       11/ 7/1958
 11          31       12/ 3/1936
 12          31       12/ 4/1901
 13          30        2/25/1996
 14          30        11/19/1910
 15          30        11/ 5/1895

Now let's break it down just since 2000...


Kansas City Area  (ThreadEx Station)
Consecutive Days
Precipitation <= 0.0 inches
Years: 2001-2011

Rank  # Days   End Date
  1            41       2/25/2002
  2            25      11/20/2007
  3            24       12/31/2004
  4            24       11/17/2001
  5            23       12/10/2010
  6           20        12/19/2006
  7           20         9/12/2002
  8           19        10/ 7/2011
  9           19         1/15/2009
 10          19         1/14/2003
So it reality this really isn't anything THAT noteworthy in the scheme of weather records...interesting yes...but not that extreme for us.


Tomorrow will make 21 straight and then we'll see if we bust it on Monday...that is chance #1 to end it...let's just say that if it's not busted by WED PM...it may not bust for awhile.

That's about it for today...have a great weekend.


Joe