More rain and two chances for severe weather are forecast for the Lawrence area for the first full weekend of summer.

John Woynick, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Topeka, said a series of storms will fire up Saturday afternoon and Sunday as fronts move from the Rocky Mountains into the warm, moist Gulf air that settled Friday morning over northeast Kansas. Storms will first develop in the Lawrence area at about 5 or 6 p.m. Saturday, with a second round expected to move through about midnight Saturday and early Sunday morning. Another round of storms is forecast to develop in Douglas County Sunday evening and linger into early Monday morning, he said.

The first round of storms will also bring a chance for severe weather, mostly in the form of of high winds and hail, Woynick said. The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm watch for Douglas County until 10 p.m. Saturday.

Lawrence can expect between 0.75 and 2 inches of rain from the two rounds of storms forecast for this afternoon and early Sunday, depending on how quickly the storms move, Woynick said. His best estimate was for another 1 to 1.5 inches of rain before noon Sunday.

The weather is expected to clear up late Sunday morning before storms develop again Sunday evening, bringing more rain and other chance of severe weather, Woynick said.

After that final front clears the area Monday morning, more typical early-summer weather will settle over northeast Kansas, Woynick said. There will be chances of smaller, isolated overnight thunderstorms, but not widespread storms like the ones expected this weekend. Daytime high temperatures should be in the mid-80s to low 90s, and no additional widespread rain is expected through next weekend.

As of noon Saturday, the National Weather Service station at Lawrence Municipal Airport had recorded 4.35 inches of rain for the month of June and 24.3 inches for 2019, Woynick said. The monthly total was 0.27 inches more than normal and the annual total is 6.33 inches above average, he said.