According to the National Weather Service, the Kansas City area will experience unusually warm and humid weather over the next few days, with temperatures ranging from 10 to 15 degrees above average.
On Wednesday temperatures will be around 32 degrees Celsius and on Thursday and Friday temperatures will be around 32 degrees Celsius.
Normally, the temperature in Kansas City at this time of year is around 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
“These high temperatures will be accompanied by increasing humidity in the area,” the weather service said in its review of the forecast.
The extra moisture will push dew point temperatures into the mid to high 60s. When the dew point rises above 65, there is a lot of moisture in the air and the heat becomes oppressive.
Severe storms forecast for Kansas City
The heat and humidity will create an unstable atmosphere in the forecast area around Kansas City.
According to the weather service, this could lead to severe thunderstorms, as a cold front will move across the area on Thursday evening.
“Penny-sized hail, wind gusts up to 60 mph and an isolated tornado pose the greatest threats,” the weather service said.
The weather service’s Storm Prediction Center has identified Kansas City, Overland Park, Kansas City, Kansas, Wichita and Des Moines as areas with a marginal chance of severe weather.
The storms come as Kansas City is experiencing one of its driest Septembers on record. So far this month, Kansas City has seen only a trace of precipitation. The weather service said on X, formerly Twitter, that the driest first 17 days of September were in 1893, when no precipitation was recorded.
Cold front will ease, weather service says
The front moving through the city Thursday night and Friday will stall near the Kansas City forecast area, the weather service said, potentially bringing widespread and much-needed rainfall.
“Overall, it appears more likely that the heaviest rainfall will occur north of the river and in extreme northwestern Missouri,” the weather service said.
Most of the forecast area will see more than an inch of rain, with two to three inches in extreme northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas. The weather service said there is a slight chance northwestern Missouri will see more than three inches of rain.
Saturday and Sunday there is a chance of showers and possibly a thunderstorm. It will be a wet weekend.
“If this rainfall actually occurs, it will make a major contribution to the worsening drought in the area,” the weather service said.
Cooler weather is expected over the weekend, with temperatures in the mid-80s on Saturday and mid-70s on Sunday. The cooler temperatures will continue into next week.
