Over the past three weeks, California has been hammered with winter storm after winter storm, bringing feet of rainfall to low-lying areas and massive snow totals to the mountains.
Virtually none of that moisture has reached Kansas. Why’s that? National Weather Service meteorologist Chad Omitt says it all comes down to one thing: geography.
The Central Plains gets most of its moisture for rain and snow from the Gulf of Mexico, not the Pacific Ocean.
The Flint Hills have been in drought for most of the past year, but there could at least be some short-term relief. Omitt says systems could slow down enough to pull some Gulf moisture into Kansas and lead to more precipitation chances over the next week — although heavy rain totals are not expected. After that, dry weather could return.
