Good morning bloggers,
The votes are in - it seems to be unanimous that we all want great weather and we are the weather winners today. This great weather will continue through the weekend with some big changes next week. Let's take a look.
A wind shift is forecast to be just northwest of Kansas City on Thursday. It will then weaken and the south winds will take over and this will keep us in the warmer air. Look at what happens by Saturday:
This map, above, shows a strong cyclonic (counter-clockwise) circulation over the western 2/3s of the nation. This is valid on Saturday evening and this will force Kansas City and all of the plains to continue to have south wind, little cloud cover, and highs in the 70s. This cyclone is developing in response to this deep upper level trough, shown below.
This system deepens down the west coast and it will trigger that surface cyclone to strengthen. This will bring in a surge of Gulf of Mexico air and lead to low clouds and a chance of rain by Monday or Monday night. if you look a the map with the surface cyclone, you can also see the redevelopment of what was a massive hurricane that blasted Nicaragua in Central America. This is now inland and falling apart and it will likely weaken so much over land that it may be difficult to recapture any of the strength it had.
The D stands for "Tropical Depression" which is the next level of strength below Tropical Storm. And, then the L stands for "Tropical Low or Tropical Disturbance", which implies that the system is barely definable by that point. It then is forecast to reemerge out over the Caribbean Sea and it then may intensify back into a Tropical Storm and possibly track over Cuba and approach Florida as a weaker system. There are still questions on this fascinating storm. And, it could easily blow up into a stronger tropical system once again early next week.
Here in KC, that will have little to no impact on the pattern. The LRC is setting up before our eyes. This pattern that is setting up is unique, which means we have never had a pattern like this in our history. Now, what does it mean for the next few weeks, for the winter, for the next year? We will answer some of these in our winter forecast due out later this month.
Kansas City Forecast: Some thicker high clouds today with the sun shining through. A south breeze will increase to 15 mph or so with a high of 72°.
Thank you for spending a few minutes of your day reading the Action Weather Blog! Have a great Wednesday and watch 41 Action News today and tonight for your in-depth and most accurate forecast!
Gary
