Air conditioners may roar to life as stormy, steamy week arrives in Kansas City area

It’s going to be a stormy and steamy next seven days in Kansas City.

Temperatures are expected to climb into the upper 70s or lower 80s.

“The bigger thing is the amount of humidity in the area,” said Chris Bowman, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill.

“That’s something we haven’t seen yet this spring. It will will feel pretty uncomfortable to those who aren’t adjusted yet to early summerlike temperatures.”

That may convince some people to give their air conditioners a pre-summer workout.

“I would say so,” Bowman said. “I’m probably going to be turning mine on.”

The warm and humid conditions generally make it favorable for thunderstorms to develop. That’s what it looks like for the next seven days, including Memorial Day weekend.

The forecast repeats itself each day beginning with, “A chance of showers and thunderstorms.”

There’s a possibility that some of the storms could become strong or severe, but it’s difficult to tell.

“We are not really seeing something that is lining up all the pieces to the puzzle, at least not for us locally,” Bowman said. “A lot of things depend on how the stuff from the previous day or in the morning evolves.”

Thunderstorms are likely Monday, late in the morning to early afternoon. Storms forming over western Kansas Sunday evening are expected to move eastward into the Kansas City area by midmorning or early afternoon.

Through the rest of the week, there’s a 30 to 50 percent chance of thunderstorms. There’s a lot of uncertainty because forecasters are unsure how the storms will develop before they move into the Kansas City area.

So for now, it’s a wait and see before forecasters can say whether the area will receive any strong to severe storms.

The spring storms have been good to Kansas. For the first time in six years, the entire state of Kansas is without any drought or dryness, according to information released by the U.S. Drought Monitor last week.

“They’ve (Kansas) been fortunate to get some pretty decent rains so far this year,” said Bowman, who added that some parts of Missouri haven’t been so fortunate. “It won’t take long if parts of Missouri or Kansas don’t see rainfall before drought conditions creep back in.”

This story was originally published May 22, 2016 at 8:12 PM with the headline "Air conditioners may roar to life as stormy, steamy week arrives in Kansas City area."