St. Patrick’s Day will be dry, but cloudy in KC; heavy rain, severe storms looming
After a dry, but cloudy St. Patrick’s Day, the Kansas City metro area will likely be soaked as storms moves into the area, according to FOX4 meteorologist Karli Ritter.
“Later on today we will be fighting clouds once again,” said Ritter, who provides weather updates to The star. “It’s going to be a little bit warmer with highs on either side of 50 degrees.”
There will be no big weather issues for Kansas City on Tuesday. But for Wednesday and Thursday, storms will move into the area bringing better chances for rain and even thunderstorms, she said.
“Anytime after midnight, showers will be developing and moving in from the west and impact our forecast here,” she said. “Most likely tomorrow morning’s rush hour is going to be very soggy and there may even be some rumbles of thunder around during the morning rush.”
Most of the rain will be winding down by lunchtime Wednesday, with the afternoon turning drier and highs possibly climbing back into the 60s, she said.
“Then we have more rain in the forecast for Thursday — and thunderstorms as well — as we see spring-like weather returning before the big drop on Friday,” Ritter said.
Highs on Thursday are expected to reach into the mid-70s. It’ll be much cooler Friday, with highs in the low 40s.
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The Star produced this weather update in partnership with the local FOX4 television station. The station’s meteorologists create forecast videos multiple times a day for the newspaper to include in its weather reports.
Heavy rains, severe weather possible
The National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill said moderate to heavy rains are possible from the storms as they sweep across the region. Between 1 and 2 inches of rain is expected, with some areas seeing the potential for higher amounts.
This could lead to flash flooding in some areas as well as minor river flooding, the weather service said.
No severe weather is expected with the morning storms on Wednesday. However, severe weather is possible late Wednesday and early Thursday, with strong winds and hail being the main threat. A strong storm or two is possible Thursday evening, with strong winds and hail possible, according to the weather service.
The rain comes in what has been a wet start of the year. So far this month, 2.46 inches of precipitation has fallen in Kansas City. Normally, the Kansas City area sees 2.37 inches of rain for the entire month, according to the weather service.
For the year, Kansas City has had 5.94 inches of precipitation. Normal for this time of year in the metro is 3.61 inches.
This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 7:06 AM.
