16 March 2023
A cold front blasted through Wichita around 11 this morning, and that has brought quickly falling temperatures to start the afternoon off. Our high this morning was 62 degrees, and temperatures will fall to freezing around sunset.
Winds will be strong through the rest of the day behind the cold front, with gusts into the 40 mph range. Wind chills will be in the teens and 20s. A Wind Advisory is in effect until 1am for the eastern half of Kansas.
Showers are ongoing across portions of central and southern Kansas as of noon and will continue to push to the east through the day. Wichita will see off and on cold rain this afternoon and evening, and once temperatures drop closer to freezing this evening, snowflakes could start to mix in. Farther west, snow could mix in earlier.
The snow bands will be very light and fast moving, so accumulations are not expected to exceed an inch. With warm ground temperatures, any accumulation would occur on elevated or grassy surfaces. Watch for slick spots on bridges and overpasses tonight, but major road impacts are not likely.
Snow and rain pulls east before midnight, and we settle in for a bitterly cold night with lows dropping to the teens. It will feel like the single digits outside tomorrow morning, so make sure to stay bundled up!
Highs tomorrow will be cold but recover to the 40s across most of the state, with north winds continuing to transport in arctic air. A bit more sunshine is expected.
Temperatures stay cold through the weekend with the coldest day expected Sunday, when we may not even reach out of the 30s for our afternoon high. Warming begins Monday but cloudcover may slow this process a bit, with highs returning to near normal by Wednesday. The rest of the coming week looks dry, but our next chance of moisture may come around next Thursday.
3/16/23 KSN Storm Track 3 Forecast from Meteorologist Jack Maney:
Wichita:
Today: Mostly cloudy, windy. 40% chance of rain. Hi: 57 Wind: S/N 15-30
Tonight: Mostly to partly cloudy, windy. 20% chance of rain and snow. Lo: 23 Wind: NW 10-25
Tomorrow: Partly cloudy, breezy. 10% chance of rain. Hi: 47 Wind: NW 10-20
Tomorrow Night: Partly cloudy. Lo: 21 Wind: N 8-18
Wichita Weekly
Sat: Hi: 41 Lo: 17 Partly cloudy, breezy.
Sun: Hi: 39 Lo: 27 Partly to mostly cloudy, breezy.
Mon: Hi: 54 Lo: 34 Mostly cloudy, windy.
Tue: Hi: 56 Lo: 38 Partly cloudy, windy.
Wed: Hi: 60 Lo: 43 Partly cloudy, windy.
Thu: Hi: 58 Lo: 37 Partly cloudy, windy.