Good Afternoon Everyone!

We've officially turned the corner for the week and for the forecast.  Tonight we'll see the high pressure sliding on top of us which will lead to clear skies, light winds and chilly overnight lows.  Some locations could drop below freezing, for Kansas City I went with a 34 degree low temperature for tonight.  This is the last of the chilly air for a while...as we'll finally see warmer weather back in the forecast starting Friday.  Expect highs around 70 Friday, around 76 Saturday and back to the lower 70s on Sunday.  Dry weather will also remain in the forecast through Sunday...in other words, we are in store for a great weekend!  Highs this weekend will be more typical of late September and early October, not early November, so enjoy it!

Next week is when we'll see our rain chances returning.  Monday night into Tuesday morning we'll see the next storm moving through the plains.  The big question right now is if there will be enough moisture in place to get a decent chance for rain.  Right now I'm only holding out for a light rain event at best for Monday  night into early Tuesday.  My forecast today had a 30% chance in for that time frame.  Temperatures will also drop back to the upper 50s and lower 60s (more typical of this time of the year).  This cool down will be short lived though, as it appears we'll warm back up towards the middle of next week!

Looking even farther ahead, it looks like the weekend of Nov. 14th we'll see a return to a slightly colder pattern.  Of course that is so far off, I wouldn't worry about it too much...but the mention of colder weather brings me to my next topic for today's blog: Our Winter Weather Forecast.

Our annual Winter Roundtable where the four of us sit down and discuss our predictions for the upcoming winter will be November 20th during the evening news.  We'll talk about what we think will be our lowest temperature for the winter season, along with our snowfall predictions.  Keep in mind average snowfall is right around 20 inches for KCI.  Last year we ended up with 14.6" and our coldest low -6.  This year we are going to have to take into account that El Nino is back.  Typically El Nino winters tend to be slightly above average temperature wise and precipitation tends to be slightly below or around average.  Definitely something to think about over the next couple of weeks as we all try to put together our winter forecast! 

The National Weather Service also put together there 2009 Winter Outlook, and also talked more in depth about El Nino and it's impact on our winter.  Click here to listen: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/eax/briefing/

Switching from winter weather to Tropics (yes, it is still Hurricane Season until November 30th!) we have another Tropical Depression (#11) that is currently off the coast of Nicaragua.  A recon plane is en route to the depression as I type this to see if it has strengthened into Tropical Storm Ida.  You can see the most current info here: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/index.shtml?

Have a great day everyone, and enjoy the blue skies!

-Karli