Update - January 16, 2020

In the previous post I did on the 3rd (you can read that by clicking here) I discussed that most of the high plains would be dry through about the 14th through 17th.  For the high plains there wasn't much from the storm that occurred a week ago, but eastern Kansas got a pretty good amount, AGAIN!  Here is the precipitation during the past 14 days....



In that previous posting I also mentioned, that despite computer models being dry through the 20th, that there might be a pretty good opportunity around the 14th through 17th period.  Well, it looks like that is going to pan out pretty nicely! The current storm that is poised to bring rain, ice and a little snow will overspread much of the area through Friday (ending quickly west to east).  Check your favorite weather source for the forecast on this particular storm. Some areas (especially across Oklahoma, southeast Kansas and Texas) are going to get quite a bit of moisture (inches)!  Even parts of the high plains will get measurable moisture (mostly a tenth to a third of an inch - and heavier as you go east).

Here was the satellite from earlier today....




It is a pretty complicated pattern right now with, what I think, is a pretty good contribution to the atmospheric flow from a decent Madden Julian Oscillation (you can see part of that in the bottom left corer - bright colors).   The positioning of the MJO should benefit the high plains for about 10 days to 2 weeks, as far as precipitation.  The opportunities are from the current storm; a small one around Tuesday of next week (give or take a day); and perhaps an even bigger and impactful storm around the 24th/25th time frame!  Here is the latest outlook for precipitation amounts from the Weather Prediction Center through next Thursday.....



One aspect of this pattern is the really cold weather has either been bottled up across the higher latitudes of our hemisphere or has spilled into the Europe and Siberian side.  That might not hold up much going forward.  I'm feeling that the balance of January and for much of February (at least the first 20 days) will be colder than average.  That is NOT saying there won't be mild days, because there will.  But averaging it all out that period should be south of normal.  More on that later as that "could" mean quite a bit of snow during that period too.

I'll try and update again around the 22nd.