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A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect until 5 a.m. for the far northeast part of the viewing area. Counties included are Grundy, Harrison, Linn, & Sullivan. An MCS has formed and is dropping southeast. Main threats with the storms are strong winds and hail.
It was a long time coming...but today marked the first 90 degree high temperatures so far this year in Kansas City! Both KCI and the downtown airport reported highs in the 90s. Officially it was 91 at KCI and 93 downtown. Heat indices were in the mid to upper 90s during the peak afternoon heating today. More of the same is on the way for Thursday with highs in the 90s and dewpoints around 70. If you are wondering...the last time KCI reached 90 degrees was on September 4, 2007 when it was 95.
Now a quick look at the forecast for tonight and Thursday. The warm front that produced showers and thunderstorms across parts of the area last night has lifted north into Iowa and Nebraska and stalled. This will be the focus for showers and thunderstorms tonight. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect until 2 a.m. for most of the southern half of Iowa and extreme northeast Missouri. None of the counties in our viewing area are included. If a thunderstorm does occur tonight in our area it would likely reside near the Iowa border. Rain chances in northern Missouri are only about 20 to maybe 30%. Here is the surface forecast heading into Thursday morning.
For tonight we can expect a muggy, warm, and dry night in KC. Lows will drop into the low to mid 70s across the area. Then on Thursday I think we probably stay dry again with highs in the 90s and a good amount of sunshine. Our attention heading into Friday will be on a cold front dropping into the region that will spark showers and thunderstorms. With a moist airmass in place we will have to watch out for the possibility of strong to severe storms developing anywhere from late afternoon into the evening/overnight hours. We'll focus on this chance on Thursday in the blog.
Thankfully areas that were hit hardest on Tuesday evening/night by heavy rains will likely stay dry tonight. I want to thank our bloggers who kept us updated all night long as to the flooding situation around Trenton, Chillicothe, etc. Here are some of the rain totals from last night.
5 mi. north of Brookfield, MO: 8.48"
Trenton, MO: 5.33" (10.12" so far in June)
Marceline, MO: 4.30"
Chillicothe, MO: 2.66"
Weather blogger Glen Briggs from Trenton told me today that the Thompson River near Trenton reached a record level today surpassing the previous record set in the summer of 1993. Here is one of several pictures that Glen sent in while checking out the flooding today. This is a raging Thompson River.
Have a great night! If you don't like the humid weather just wait until this weekend or early next week for some free air conditioning! A big storm over the Great Lakes will push some very nice weather in our direction. If the trend of the GFS continues we may see a day or two with highs in the upper 70s. We'll focus on Friday and the weekend in the blog on Thursday. Stay cool!
Jeremy