Summer rainfall tallies and trends

The first half of August has been far from a wash out for St. Joseph, with just over half an inch of rain falling at Rosecrans Memorial Airport since Aug. 1.

Despite a local trend for the drier side in recent weeks, all of Northwest Missouri and much of Northeast Kansas remains drought free, thanks to a wet pattern through the first two months of summer.

If you found yourself reaching for an umbrella more often in June and July of this year, you weren’t alone. Since meteorological summer began June 1, Rosecrans Airport has recorded 13.82 inches of rain, above the average seasonal total of just over 11 inches by mid-August. 

St. Joseph is no stranger to wet summers. This time last year, the seasonal rainfall tally was over 15 inches and flooding was more of an issue in June and July.

The Missouri River ran high several weeks in a row in 2024, maintaining minor to moderate flood stage along its banks from Rulo, Nebraska, to Kansas City for a considerable amount of time, cresting on Independence Day near 23.5 feet at the gauge in St. Joseph.  

So far this year, local water levels along the Missouri River have yet to reach minor flood stage, with the highest level so far barely reaching action stage at 14 feet on June 28.

The same week in June was more impactful for other smaller waterways, after 5 to 10 inches of rain fell across parts of far Northern Missouri, spurring more significant flooding over much of Gentry and Worth counties. Runoff from that rainfall event caused the Platte River to swell to moderate flood stage for about two days at the gauge in Agency on June 25 and 26. 

Since the earlier months of summer, flooding has been less of a concern. This will continue to be the case in the near and mid-range forecast. Dry time continues this weekend as another heat wave moves into Northwest Missouri and Northeast Kansas. This drier pattern is expected to persist to some extent, according to the Climate Prediction Center with near to below average rainfall forecast for the region in the 6 to 10 and 8 to 14 day precipitation outlooks.