Watch NBC Action News through the morning as we track the Arctic blast. And, then watch at 5, 6, and 10 PM as we look ahead and this cycling weather pattern!
Good morning bloggers,
Here is the 7 AM surface map. The wind shift has moved through the entire Kansas City metro area as of 7:20 AM, but the Arctic air is lagging around two hours behind the front. Look at the below zero temperatures across northern Iowa.
A strong very dry Arctic front is now blasting through at 7 AM. Winds will increase to near 40 mph this morning. This front is moving extremely fast and temperatures will crash today. While you were sleeping it warmed all the way up through the 30s to near 40 degrees, as we had forecast yesterday, with southwest winds ahead of the Alberta Clipper (It was 41 degrees at KSHB, just north of the UMKC campus on the east side of the Plaza at 7 AM). I just walked Breezy and Stormy to get them outside before the Arctic blast arrives, and I am glad they got outside early as it will be 20 degrees colder by noon with tempereatures dropping into the teens this afternoon, possibly later this morning. This will be an interesting day to see the temperatures fall, but this is a dry front and the sunshine should help temper the extreme cold until the sunsets and we dive down to below zero by tomorrow morning.
Are you frustrated by the lack of snow? One of the bloggers made a statement last night saying they heard from other sources that this would be the last Arctic blast of the season. I will put it this way. I didn't issue an Arctic Air Watch for this situation because these are just strong shots of Arctic air in this part of the cycle, the LRC. I wanted to wait to issue one because I am strongly confident that in the stromier much more active part of this years LRC we will be seeing stronger, longer lasting surges of Arctic air and with storm systems moving in and out. So, I will likely be issuing an Arctic Air Watch later in the month for that even more impressive set up. Just go and look at our long range forecast issued a week ago for the next few months ad I am expecting our forecast that went all the way into April to verify quite well, just like last years LRC based forecast. I talked about the high likelyhood of the strongest and coldest build up of Arctic air forming near the end of the month. And, sure enough it is now showing up on the models in some form or another. So, this should tell you how I feel about hearing what other sources are saying about the rest of this winter. Just stay with us and be patient. I know it is frustrating for many of us this winter as we watch other parts of the nation getting blasted by winters worst, or best depending on how you look at it.
When this more active part of the LRC returns not only will we have more blasts of Arctic air, but there will be some huge temperature swings that may be even bigger than the last time through the cycle. It is just a characteristic of this years weather pattern. There will be storm systems and it will begin precipitating again. We will need it because it is drying out. But, will we have a Major Winter Storm? I think our region just has to have one of these more substantial storm systems sometime within the next 5 weeks. Go to www.LRCWeather.com for more details on these developments.
More in a few minutes....
Gary