After sunny, warm weekend, rain possible for Royals’ opener

It’s shaping up to be a great weekend in the Kansas City area, but a chance for rain is lurking for the Royals’ opener on Monday.

The rains that moved through the Kansas City area Friday morning have stopped and the skies are clearing, but the rest of the day will remain cool and blustery.

Highs are expected to top out in the low 50s.

“That’s quite a bit below normal,” said Mike July, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “That’s probably about 10 degrees below normal.”

Saturday morning will be chilly, with frost possible in some parts of the metropolitan area. Kansas City’s outlying suburbs could see temperatures drop below freezing.

But temperatures are expected to warm up Saturday.

“It’s going to be very pleasant, sunny and temperatures warming up into the mid-60s,” July said.

There will be a few more clouds on Sunday, but it will be dry and breezy, with highs climbing close to 70s.

“Easter is looking pretty nice,” July said.

Overnight lows will be pretty typical for this time of year — in the lower 40s. That means people will need a light jacket for the early Easter morning services.

“We should have a very nice sunrise,” July said.

While the forecast for Monday is still being worked on, it appears that the highs will reach in the mid-70s on Monday. The low 60s is the normal high for this time of year.

“We won’t have snow and it will be much warmer than most opening days — that’s for sure,” July said. “We have all been to an opening day where the temperatures were in the 40s. That won’t happen this time around.”

But there is a chance for late afternoon or evening storms — about 30 percent chance of storms.

Meteorologists are watching a front that will be in the area. If it’s close enough, there’s a potential for some severe weather too.

The forecast will become more firm as the weekend progresses.

It looks as though there will be a very unsettled weather pattern for the first half of the week, with rain chances for each day.

“It’s going to be warm and maybe even on the muggy side,” July said. “There’s potential there for off-and-on showers and thunderstorms for that entire period.”

This story was originally published April 3, 2015 at 1:59 PM with the headline "After sunny, warm weekend, rain possible for Royals’ opener."