Update 5/6/17

Well, I wanted to post about the massive amount of rain and snow that fell last week but for the 2nd time I've lost the graphics I was working on.  Ugh.  That will have to come in the next post.  Obviously the storm last weekend was very significant.  Many have said that it's never happened that late before but many have short memories.  One of the latest spring significant snows that have occurred in western Kansas was May 21, 1931.  Another major storm on Mothers Day in (1913?) caused extensive tree and crop damage.  May 2 and 3 of 1978 and again in 1979 there was big snow.  Just 4 years ago on May 2nd there was significant accumulations of snow!  Anyway, the impacts from this latest storm (in the area of the snow) may have been more significant because of the advanced (ahead of normal) vegetative growth.   I hope to do a graphic in the next post when I get a chance next week.  I guess there are all types of issues - plant damage due to the weight of the snow - the freeze - too much water....wait too much after we went through a 2 month period of almost no moisture?  At the Dodge City airport there was a 60 day stretch of only 0.01" (mid Jan - mid Mar) and now it's the wettest start to the year (Jan 1 to May 6) on record!

Currently we're in a transition period with a huge upper ridge across the middle of the county.  The same that "could" bring a brief period of extreme heat this summer.  More on that in later posts...

Another deep weather system will approach the high plains next week.  There are still a lot of uncertainties on the strength and especially the position as it arrives.  I'm not on a computer that I can add my own graphics in this post.  But, this next storm fits perfectly in the cycle of the weather pattern.  This next storm fits the pattern of the mid-January storm.   What this means is that widespread precipitation is expected and amounts will likely be significant.  Here is the latest thinking from the Weather Prediction Center for precip through next Friday (amounts and location will likely change by this time next week):

I hope to have a chance to post later next week to discuss the outlook going into summer.  One thing that I've read and agree with is that the transition month going from spring into summer (May) can be abnormal during the time an El Nino develops.  More on that later...I'll shoot for Wednesday so check back then.