By RYAN CHRISTNER

rchristner@dailynews.net

After a slew of early morning showers, most parts of western Kansas have seen the rain go away. But with conditions favorable to producing thunderstorms, all signs point to a likelihood of it coming back another day.

"I think we're going to see a continued chance of storms," said Matt Gerard, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Dodge City.

That's due to a variety of weather factors, Gerard said, that converged and brought about this morning's precipitation.

Parts of Ellis and surrounding counties showed mixed data, with Catherine registering about 1.23 inches, Victoria just less than an inch and Cedar Bluff Reservoir totaling almost half an inch. A 24-hour total of 0.77 of an inch was reported at the Kansas State Agricultural Research Center south of Hays.

Factoring in the recent rainfall, current information suggests monthly and yearly precipitation accumulation is either right at or slightly below average.

Gerard said Dodge City was about an inch below normal, but Hays might be a different story. Given the frequency of rain in the past couple weeks, he said he didn't believe Hays would have that great of a deficit, if one at all.

"You might be closer to normal up there," he said.

Gerard said the early morning storms developed as a result of a cold front that moved through the western part of the state Sunday, as well as the migration of an upper-level disturbance and upper-level jet streak from Colorado.

Moist air from the Gulf of Mexico also was a contributing factor.

Jerry Killingsworth, a NWS meteorologist from Goodland, said severe weather first was detected in eastern Colorado near midnight.

For the most part, that weather weakened as it moved across Kansas, he said, but some areas did report dime- or nickel-sized hail.

Acknowledging that northwest Kansas also was at or below normal for precipitation, Killingsworth said there was a "fairly narrow band" stretching through parts of Thomas and Rawlins counties and into Decatur County that was above average.

Both Gerard and Killingsworth said additional storms could develop tonight, with chances for rain lasting until Wednesday night.

"It looks like Hays could get some significant rainfall," Killingsworth said of tonight's outlook.

Beginning Thursday, clear skies should return.

Rain or shine, temperatures are expected to stay within the 80s and low 90s.