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Beyond the Forecast

January 18 in Kansas City

Weather forecasts run out after about two weeks. For any date further out than that, the honest answer isn't a single number — it's the range Kansas City actually delivers on this date, and how often.

On January 18, Kansas City, MO typically reaches 40°F, but has run anywhere from 24°F to 57°F in eight years out of ten. About 87% of January 18s see no measurable precipitation.

Daytime high40°F
24°F8 years in 10 land in here57°F
Overnight low24°F
6°F8 years in 10 land in here34°F

The odds on January 18

87%
Dry day
No measurable precipitation
87%
Freeze
Low at or below 32°F

Odds computed from the last 30 years (19972026).

Where this comes from: 745 daily observations from KANSAS CITY DWTN AP, covering 19702026. We pool every day within 7 days of January 18 — a single calendar date has only about 56 readings, far too few to place a 10th percentile you'd want to trust.

Why it's not a plain average: A climatology computed straight across 19702026 describes the middle of that period, not today, so as a statement about the present it runs cold. We fit a trend on year and shift each observation to 2026 before taking the range. The probabilities use the last 30 years instead — shifting a temperature along a trend is well defined, shifting “did it rain” is not.

What this is not: Not a forecast. It is what Kansas City, MO has actually done on this date, which is the only defensible answer once you're past the two-week horizon where real forecasts stop. Data: NOAA NCEI GHCN-Daily.

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