Good morning bloggers,
There is a Freeze Warning tonight! It is not unusual to have one last hard freeze around the first of April. Last year the last freeze happened on April 18th. Tonight, it will likely drop into the 20s with our forecast low of 25°.
Tender vegetation is at risk tonight of freezing. Frost and freeze is capable of killing sensitive crops and other tender vegetation. There are no signs of an other freeze at this moment, after tomorrow morning, and we will keep our eye on this springs pattern closely.
Kansas City may have been the most frustrating spot to enjoy winter this year; That is if you are a winter enthusiast like myself.
- Oklahoma City had a very exciting winter and some devastating results. They had a huge unprecedented ice storm in October, that was followed up by many snow storms for a total of around 25 inches of snow.
- Wichita, KS rarely has more snow than KC, but they accomplished that goal this winter
- Chicago, Des Moines, and Omaha all had over 40 inches of snow this winter
In our winter forecast, we predicted this quite well as you can see below. This was issued in early December:
How did this winter compare to other recent winter snowfall totals? Here is the list since the 2009-2010 winter, one of our largest season totals ever with 44":
The lowest snowfall total ever in KC history is that 3.9" total from the 2011-2012 winter. There were three years in a row that had under 10" recently in 2015-2016, 2016-2017, and 2017-2018. So, 6 out of the last 7 winters have had below average snowfall.
And, now as we move through spring, the storm systems are still mostly missing our area. This is good news on a very important statistic. The severe weather numbers are very low so far. In our spring special we shared the signature part of this cycling pattern. This part of the pattern has produced tornadoes in Jefferson county, Alabama in the past three cycles. The severe weather risks will begin shifting northwest in April as the jet stream weakens and begins shifting north. Tornado season ends in late June as summer begins, but between now and then our peak severe weather season arrives in KC during May and early June.
I am expecting this April 27th to May 4th stretch to be quite stormy with several severe weather risks and some of these will likely include KC.
For now, let's enjoy this great weather moving our way. Here are our weather headlines:
- There will likely be a freeze tonight. Last year's last freeze was April 18th, so this is not unusual at all. Expect a low tonight of 26°
- A warming trend begins and will not stop until we get into the upper 70s or 80s next week
- It will continue to be dry through the weekend
Thank you for spending a few minutes of your day reading the Gabbing With Gary blog. I hope you are all doing well. Have a great day and we will go in-depth today and tonight on 41 Action News.
Gary
