Morning showers welcome in KC after dry spell

Unexpected but welcome showers rolled through the Kansas City metro area Sunday morning, bringing about a half inch of rain after a 19-day streak of dry weather.

Clearing is expected this afternoon, and then drier and warmer weather on Monday and Tuesday.

Confidence wasn’t high among forecasters for Sunday rain until a weak disturbance in the upper atmosphere developed overnight, said meteorologist Scott Blair of the National Weather Service.

Rain first was reported at Kansas City International Airport on the northern side of the metro area about 6 a.m. and moved steadily south to downtown by about 7 a.m. and south of Interstate 435 by about 7:30 a.m.

“It was a nice, steady rain,” Blair said. “Any steady rain like this is a welcomed thing in August.”

Rainfall in June and July was just a fraction of an inch below the 10 inches normally expected, Blair said. But the 19 consecutive dayswithout measureable rainfall before Sunday may have left the impression that this has been an unusually dry summer, he said.

The next good chance of rainfall will come on Wednesday and Thursday, Blair said.

This story was originally published August 3, 2014 at 11:16 AM with the headline "Morning showers welcome in KC after dry spell."