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Independence, MO —
That rain last weekend? It didn’t really help much. The stuff expected today and Saturday? We’ll see.
“I think unfortunately Kansas City’s going to miss out on the good rain,” National Weather Service meterologist Chris Bowman said Thursday afternoon.
The Weather Service’s latest drought update lays out the cruel math: Rainfall since April 1 at Kansas City International Airport is 7.02 inches – the lowest for that period in 125 years of record keeping in Kansas City.
That’s 15.22 inches shy of normal, or, put another way, just 32 percent of what normally would have fallen in that period.
Three weeks ago, KCI – home of the area’s official records – was running at 33 percent of normal rainfall, with a 13.07-inch deficit, and that’s been the pattern all summer. Unofficial readings in Lee’s Summit, Johnson County and at the downtown airport are running only slightly higher.
Last weekend’s rain – spotty in places, a decent soaking in others – overall was “not enough to improve the extreme to exceptional drought conditions at all,” the Weather Service said in Thurday’s drought report. The metro area remains at the top of the agency’s five-step drought scale – “exceptional drought.”
Rain is expected in the area today, but the heaviest precipitation in Missouri – coming as the remnants of Hurricane Isaac roll through – is expected east of a line from Unionville to Lexington to Clinton.
Today also is expected to break another four-day string of highs in the 90s.
“The persistence of the heat has also had a significant impact on drought conditions forming in the area,” the Weather Service notes.
Kansas City normally gets 41 days of 90-plus highs in a year. So far in 2012, the area has had 64, including 29 in July alone.
“The number of 100-degree days is even more striking,” the Weather Service says.
That’s happened 20 times – the most since 1988, 1980 and 1954 – and far more than the typical five. The worst, by the way, was 1936, with 30 days of 100 or higher.
The 1930s, remembered at the Dust Bowl years, account for five of the 14 driest years on record in Kansas City, though the driest was 1953, with 20.93 inches. The average since 1888 is 36.88 inches, (though the KCI average from 1980 through 2010 was 38.86). The heaviest rainfall came in 1960 – 60.25 inches.
This year, Kansas City rainfall was sitting at 14.28 inches as of Aug. 22, about half an inch shy of where things stood at the same time in 1953. Then again, at this point in 1936, just 8.44 inches had fallen, and that year ended up at 20.98 inches, still the third driest ever. The Weather Service says its modeling suggests a drier-than-normal period into October.
That rain last weekend? It didn’t really help much. The stuff expected today and Saturday? We’ll see.
“I think unfortunately Kansas City’s going to miss out on the good rain,” National Weather Service meterologist Chris Bowman said Thursday afternoon.
The Weather Service’s latest drought update lays out the cruel math: Rainfall since April 1 at Kansas City International Airport is 7.02 inches – the lowest for that period in 125 years of record keeping in Kansas City.
That’s 15.22 inches shy of normal, or, put another way, just 32 percent of what normally would have fallen in that period.
Three weeks ago, KCI – home of the area’s official records – was running at 33 percent of normal rainfall, with a 13.07-inch deficit, and that’s been the pattern all summer. Unofficial readings in Lee’s Summit, Johnson County and at the downtown airport are running only slightly higher.
Last weekend’s rain – spotty in places, a decent soaking in others – overall was “not enough to improve the extreme to exceptional drought conditions at all,” the Weather Service said in Thurday’s drought report. The metro area remains at the top of the agency’s five-step drought scale – “exceptional drought.”
Rain is expected in the area today, but the heaviest precipitation in Missouri – coming as the remnants of Hurricane Isaac roll through – is expected east of a line from Unionville to Lexington to Clinton.
Today also is expected to break another four-day string of highs in the 90s.
“The persistence of the heat has also had a significant impact on drought conditions forming in the area,” the Weather Service notes.
Kansas City normally gets 41 days of 90-plus highs in a year. So far in 2012, the area has had 64, including 29 in July alone.
“The number of 100-degree days is even more striking,” the Weather Service says.
That’s happened 20 times – the most since 1988, 1980 and 1954 – and far more than the typical five. The worst, by the way, was 1936, with 30 days of 100 or higher.
The 1930s, remembered at the Dust Bowl years, account for five of the 14 driest years on record in Kansas City, though the driest was 1953, with 20.93 inches. The average since 1888 is 36.88 inches, (though the KCI average from 1980 through 2010 was 38.86). The heaviest rainfall came in 1960 – 60.25 inches.
This year, Kansas City rainfall was sitting at 14.28 inches as of Aug. 22, about half an inch shy of where things stood at the same time in 1953. Then again, at this point in 1936, just 8.44 inches had fallen, and that year ended up at 20.98 inches, still the third driest ever. The Weather Service says its modeling suggests a drier-than-normal period into October.
Rain is expected today and Saturday, though severe weather is not.
The chance of rain today is 50 percent, with a high around 85 and 6 to 15 mph winds out of the east and gusts up to 21 mph. There could be three-fourths to an inch of rain. More rain – possibly heavy – is 70 percent likely tonight, with a low of 73. Rainfall could reach 1 to 2 inches.
A 60 percent chance of rain lasts into Saturday, with a quarter-inch to half an inch expected. High around 80. There’a a slight chance of showers in the evening.
Then it clears off and warms up. Sunday high of 88, low of 70. Labor Day 92/71. Tuesday 88/69. The next chance of rain and thundershowers comes Wednesday.
