Good morning bloggers,
Did we just experience a wide spread rain event? The obvious answer is yes, and look closely to the numbers because there were still spots near the middle of the drought areas that did not have that much:
Rainfall Amounts:
- KCI Airport: 1.66″
- South Overland Park, KS: 1.19″
- Lee’s Summit, MO: 1.06″
- West Overland Park, KS: 0.78″
- Chillicothe, MO: 0.37″
With the low numbers coming in at 0.25″ of rain, this is one of the very rare wide spread rainfall or snowfall events we have experienced in this years LRC. What caused this recent rainfall event? Take a look at this storm spinning around the plains states this morning:
There is a low pressure area, vertically stacked, which means the upper level low is pretty much directly over the surface low that you can see above. Colder air has developed and circulated around this system. It was down to 40° in several locations over Colorado, western Nebraska, and Wyoming. Kansas City will have this cooler air rotating around this storm today and it will be a cooler August day.
Todays system will be spinning over Iowa, Missouri, and Illinois while it drifts east. There will be a few more showers today before this system moves into the Great Lakes states and Canada by Tuesday night. There is another chance of thunderstorms showing up for late Thursday into Friday. Here are some pictures from yesterday and this morning.
I snapped this picture above as the final heavy downpour was moving by around 7 PM, and I wondered if there would be a brilliant rainbow, and there was, right out over the Nicklaus Golf Club:
And, we had enough rain to see my first mushroom of the year. Take a look at Sunny showing it off!
Thank you for spending a few minutes of your day reading the Action Weather Blog featuring the LRC!
Gary
Great shot of the rainbow! I got a little over an inch near me. And as I noted yesterday, it felt like fall.
Yes.
Fantastic storm in the Plains over the weekend and into early this week. A lot of good rains for Oklahoma, KS, MO, and our friends to the north. All the negative vibe here on Saturday couldn’t mess this storm up. I had a lot of rain yesterday west of Liberty, 2.34 inches and add in early in the week rains I totaled 3.02 inches of rain in 6 days.
I would argue that we have had a pattern change for the better, (not necessarily an LRC pattern change) since about July 18th to current. Since then, all areas have averaged below on temps and we have had several rain chances. I have totaled 6.8 inches of rain west of Liberty since July 18th. Prior to that, I totaled 4.37 in 84 days and temps averaged 6.9 degrees above average. Plus, almost full recovery to the color of the landscape around the Northland. When I returned from vacation on the 25th of July, it was very dormant up this way. Now, the green is back in a big way. As most of you know, I’m in the landscape business and I see all areas of the city often. It is certainly better looking now then the May15th through July 15th time frame where we certainly had drought conditions with little rainfall and very hot weather. A total 360 in the last month. Now, I know I caught a few bonus thunderstorms to get such a high total and I’m aware that not everyone has seen the same, but, you all have to agree that the last month has been way better as far as precip. and temps go.
So, saying the same things keep happening is really not true as it was brutal May 15th through July 15th. Might be true for some, but, from what I can see, things look a lot better now.
More rain today and below average temps for 4-5 days, shouldn’t be too much to complain about.
We haven’t had a pattern change, but it is about time we got a wide spread rain or snow event.
Gary
Back to WalMart for you!
Choke on that drought!
Wasn’t it around this same time last year that we started drying out and we ended up in a drought. And now things are turning wet again.. this might be a sign of the future pattern…
That plus the fact this storm is not behaving like anything in the LRC from the past year, and the last storm didn’t either. Both last and this storm were approcers from the southwest. This one cut off and is spinning through again.
No at all, August 2017 was moist and average temps. Remember the rain at the beginning, middle and who could forget 7”++ on the Solar Eclipse day.
August 2017 was well below-average temperatures. It was the third-coldest August on record, in fact. Averaged 81.6/62.0 (normal 87.4/66.8). There were two big precipitation events, ~2 inches on the 5th and ~7 inches before and after the eclipse. The rest of the month’s 10.19-inch total came from other, scattered events like the 16th and 27th.
Jsquibble, I was thinking the same thing. After the eclipse (a very rainy day) last year, the storms came further apart. I remember a rainy early October…and then the spigot shut off. I remember rains picking up in August in other drought years, especially in 1980. Perhaps this is all wishful thinking, but I am wondering if the old pattern, still in place, is gradually morphing into a new pattern. A new pattern doesn’t happen overnight, but emerges over time…so maybe this is the beginning of something good. Time will tell.
Rains did get a little more regularity but was still happening in a bunch when it did rain. After the October 22nd storm that wrecked the northland, that’s when it got dry.
If we get a system like this over the winter… goodnight
We were blessed with a wonderful, slow, soaking, 2 1/2″ up here in Maryville! Looks like some more today. Bring it on. We need the moisture, as we are in a D-4 drought. Maybe later this week we will get bumped to a D-3. Have a great day Bloggers!
Michael
Denver tied 79 yr old record low of 46 yesterday.
I think I read somewhere (maybe Jeff’s blog over the weekend) that we might come close to a record low high for today.
Rain wrapping around headed to KC Metro. This is a totally different storm than any in last year. New beginning of LRC maybe!!! Gary what do you think.
Radar estimates all very conservative, they weren’t calculating the extra high Precipitable water values we had yesterday. We got about 1.4″ at farm but radar only says .75″
Yea I agree it’s only showing a tenth for Chillicothe but we had a half inch in the gauge. Wanted more for the beans but a good soaker
Yes, VERY conservative. NWS radar-estimated storm total has me at .8″, but I had just under 3″ in the gauge when I checked about 15 minutes ago.
1.14″ yesterday and lite showers this morning combined with 1.04″ a few days ago makes 2.18″ here SWW of Hiawatha. Most rain in a long time and much needed.
Gary the NWS is showing 70% chance Thursday night for North MO. Is that just for this area? Thanks
2.25″ yesterday just a few miles SE of Lawrence. Way above radar estimates.
Mower Mike has proclaimed again that West Liberty, MO is the center of the rain universe. Pay no attention to those drought maps – they don’t know what they’re talking about.
Paltry amounts again in JOCO, KS. No letup to the drought. Rain now makes no difference to the crops. Corn heads and bean pods are set. Taxpayers will be on the hook for loads of crop insurance claims.
Just about all of your post is inaccurate. You need to read how the drought maps are prepared rather than just looking at them. A number of areas throughout the greater KC area have received adequate moisture, some have not. The drought maps are general in nature and DO NOT reflect an accurate assessment of every single geographical area. This drought has been very strange as it has been sporadic in nature. As for the crops, yes, it is too late for corn, but not for beans. These past few rains have been important any timely for bean development .
Anonymous, (Bill Z, Theo)
Did you not read my entire post? I said, things since around July 18th have been much better. I also mentioned how brutal it was before this most recent period came. I did not once doubt that we were in a drought, I just mentioned how different things are from just a month ago.
I’m not in a drought up here that is damaging. (I’m 5 inches of moisture behind for the year) Drive up here and see for yourself. I’m sure others in this area can back my claim. It has been much wetter and cooler the last 30 days then the previous 90 days.
“Paltry amounts again in JOCO, KS. No letup to the drought”…… bloggers have been posting 1-2 inch totals down there. Also, I was just down there checking over property this morning, looked awful green and wet down there. Are you speaking of a different JOCO? I didn’t know droughts had wet periods with green vegetation.
Last few summers it seems like mid July on summers dye out. Starts strong like this year but at the end it ends up being a “normal” summer
In 1993 when we had the historic flood, August is when the pattern changed. In 2012 when we had the drought, same thing. There is something about August. Worth a deeper look.
It must’ve been buried in the comments of an older blog earlier this summer, but there was some point where Gary laid out how quickly the transition happens. Right now, at the end of August/early September, we might be about 5% into the new LRC. But in about 6-8 weeks we’ll be around 95% into the new LRC. There have been several systems this year that “should” have been like this one, so it isn’t a huge surprise that the first hints of change can start bringing them back to life.
Got an even 2″ of rain from the first round, and have gotten an additional 0.15″ from the backswing (and it is still sprinkling). We are now only 2.24″ below the year-to-date average, so our D-2 drought status will probably be D-0 (abnormally dry) on the next report, and if we get an additional 0.17″ of rain before the end of the month we will exceed our 4″ August average.
It is currently 64°, sprinkling with a strong northwest wind (25 miles north of Manhattan)
VERY heavy rainfall in Omaha and western Iowa today. Reports of up to 7″ leading to considerable flash flooding.
Today feels exactly like it did when that system came through around June 20th/21st this year. There was a fine mist/light rain, low 70s temps, and a breeze to make it feel like mist fan outside. This is my favorite kind of weather.
Glad you were so blessed with rain – we got 0.15” up in Kirksville, & almost 15” below average precipitation. 10 years ago there was major flooding. Just the opposite this time.
I think the radar is underestimating the rain. A few times since noon today in downtown Independence, we’ve gotten some decently heavy rain that didn’t look like it was amounting to much on the radar.
It could be due to a very super saturated environment in the atmosphere. A lot of super cooled fat rain drops forming, but that it’s a guess. Haven’t looked into any skew ts near your area
Its “uptown” Independence, haven’t you heard? lol
Yup, I mentioned on Hume’s post above that the radar estimate on the NWS website was almost 2″ off. It had me in .8″, but we received a little under 3″ total. I hope it’s a sign of things to come.
Man, lovin this weather !
At least the 90’s that Gary is talking about won’t last long.
But then in a few months we will be saying its too cold ! Haha
I’m sure my memory is off but I don’t remember back to back days of rain, at least here, in a while. I know not everyone is getting today’s rain but here in the big town of Leavenworth we have had some heavy light rain often today.
My rain gauge measured 1.5″ yesterday and 1.4″ on Thursday night last week. I guess we were in the right spot both times.
Lovin this weather !
The 90’s will be back but won’t last long.
In a matter of a few months we will probably be saying its too cold ! Haha
Weather in the midwest. Gotta love it
Sorry for the dual post folks. Weird, the first one wasn’t there when I came back just now.
But when I reposted both showed up after I post 2nd one. Oops
Looks like the Euro model was the big winner this time!
Today has been just as much of a soaker as yesterday. Additional half inch in the gage. Wow!
The new NAM has me excited. What? Well, let’s see if there is a trend towards another good chance of rain. Remember we are now 98% old LRC and perhaps 2% new LRC at this point. Could that 2% finally tip us into the right direction.
Gary
Most places I saw received only 0.1″ or so today.
Not here. Just under a half inch. Rained almost four hours solid on / off.