Back into the closet with the golf clubs, Frisbees and baseball mitts.

The Lawrence area weather will turn ugly again this weekend.

Rain and high winds – and possibly snow – should arrive in Lawrence this weekend after several sunny days earlier in the week.

Today’s rain and possible thunderstorms should keep up for the first half of the day. The high will be about 55 degrees.

Then around midnight, rain could turn to snow, accompanied with driving winds.

“If we do see any snow, it will be blowing snow,” said Jennifer Schack, 6News meteorologist. “So there will be problems with visibility.”

Snow isn’t expected to accumulate much more than an inch by mid-day Sunday. The high for Sunday is expected to be about 38.

An inch of rain could fall by the end of today, according to the National Weather Service.

“An inch of rain on solid ground that’s right around the freezing point, we could get a lot of run-off,” said Elizabeth Konop from the National Weather Service in Topeka. “So there’s some potential for flooding problems.”

Today’s thunderstorms could resemble weather that is more typical of late spring.

Mary Knapp, climatologist for Kansas State University, said the timing of today’s thunderstorms – starting in the early-morning hours – is unusual for this time of year.

“What’s going to be more strange of this particular outbreak is the timing in that most of the severe weather will be after midnight. That is more unusual,” Knapp said.

Anyone in Lawrence who plans on traveling should heed weather conditions.

Snow is more likely in central to western Kansas.

Kim Stich, spokeswoman for the Kansas Department of Transportation, warned that if weather gets too ugly for drivers this weekend, they should know that hotel rooms in Hays – a popular stopping point for stranded motorists – are booked for a high school wrestling tournament.

She also said road closures are possible if the weather gets bad.

“Closures could come back to Salina, it’s a possibility. Unfortunately we don’t know until (today), every storm is unique,” Stich said. “That’s just one of the things we don’t know, so that’s why we want people to know that it’s a possibility so that people don’t start a trip they can’t finish.”

The weather in Lawrence should improve somewhat after Sunday, with highs in the 40s for Monday and Tuesday.

For further information on the weather throughout the weekend, keep checking back with us here on ljworld.com, or the National Weather Service in Topeka’s Web site at www.crh.noaa.gov/top/.

For road conditions, go to the Department of Transportation’s road conditions Web site at http://511.ksdot.org.