Kansas City gets an early-summer treat. The weekend forecast gets tricky fast
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Friday brings cooler temperatures and lower humidity to the Kansas City area.
- The Storm Prediction Center placed much of the Kansas City region under enhanced risk.
- Afternoon storms may produce very large hail, damaging winds, and a few tornadoes.
The Kansas City area is in for an early-summer treat Friday, with cooler temperatures and lower humidity making for a pleasant day. But a “complicated thunderstorm setup” awaits this weekend, the National Weather Service warns.
Temperatures are expected to climb into the mid-80s, which is normal for early to mid-June in Kansas City. Dew points have fallen into the low 60s, making it feel much more comfortable than recent days.
Skies will also be clear, and winds will remain light through early afternoon, then shift to the southeast and increase to 5 to 10 mph.
But the weather, as it usually does, will change.
Overnight, moisture will return. A complex of storms might develop over western Kansas in the evening and track east into central or southern Missouri early Saturday. By then, the storms should be weakening and are not expected to be severe. But a small leftover swirl in the atmosphere could help spark new storms later Saturday, the weather service said.
Another round of storms will develop near an advancing cold front in the afternoon across northeast Kansas, southern Iowa, and northern Missouri, possibly starting as supercells — large rotating thunderstorms — with very large hail, damaging winds, and a few tornadoes, the weather service said.
The Storm Prediction Center, part of the National Weather Service has placed a large portion of the Kansas City region under an enhanced risk (Level 3 of 5) of severe weather
The storms will then likely merge into a squall line or multiple clusters of storms, with the main concern mostly being damaging winds. This line of storms is expected to advance southeast with the cold front through the evening, the weather service said.
The very humid air could lead to torrential rainfall. With soils already wet from previous storms, flash flooding is possible.
“The storms will clear to the southeast late Saturday evening with cooler and drier air following in their wake,” the weather service said.
Sunday will be another pleasant day as northerly winds will usher in dry, cooler air into the region. Temperatures on Sunday will be in the low 70s under mostly sunny skies.
It will be mostly quiet on Monday, as temperatures warm back into the low 80s, with some humidity returning. Temperatures on Tuesday will be similar.
The next chance for storms returns Tuesday night into Wednesday, with more rain chances possible Wednesday night. Smaller chances linger into Thursday, mainly south of Interstate 70.
Southerly winds will push more warm, moist air into the region, bringing temperatures back to the mid- to high 80s, with heat indices approaching the low to mid-90s.
