24 February 2023
It’s a chilly end to the week, and we will struggle to get rid of the arctic air that has been hanging around the past few days.
Highs will struggle to pass the freezing mark across most of the Sunflower State, with clouds hanging tough over southeastern areas and more sunshine over western Kansas. A little bit of light freezing drizzle may happen around the Kansas Turnpike this afternoon if temperatures stay cold, but significant impacts are not expected.
Another frigid night is expected heading into Saturday morning, and you will want to keep your coats handy if you have any Friday evening plans. Temperatures will begin to rebound Saturday as south winds re-establish, and that will boost highs into the upper 40s in Wichita with 50s and even 60s over Southwestern Kansas!
The south winds continue to pick up into Sunday morning, and that will bring in warmer temperatures and cloudcover, and the moisture will prime the atmosphere for severe weather Sunday afternoon. A powerful upper level storm system will cross the Rockies and encounter the warm and moist air mass in place. This will set off thunderstorms over western Kansas in the late afternoon, and these will quickly march to the east and form into a squall line.
The primary threat still appears to be from damaging straight-line winds, but other severe hazards are not off the table. Large hail may be a threat especially early before the storms congeal into a line. Given the strong wind shear expected, a few spin-up tornadoes may be possible along the line as it moves east. Questions remain about how far north the rich moisture will make it before the storms arrive, and that may be a limiting factor to the intensity of our severe threat. The highest chances of severe weather remain over southern Kansas and down into Oklahoma.
The storms will clear out overnight and will be long gone by Monday morning. This system will not have be packing any arctic air, so temperatures will not take a huge hit.
Mildly cool highs are expected Monday in the low 60s, with a slow cooling trend later in the week as another storm system approaches around week’s end.
Jack Maney
KSN Storm Track 3 Forecast from Meteorologist Jack Maney:
Wichita:
Today: Mostly cloudy. 10% chance of rain and snow. Hi: 33 Wind: NE/SE 5-15
Tonight: Mostly cloudy. 10% chance of rain and snow. Lo: 24 Wind: SE/S 5-15
Tomorrow: Mostly cloudy. 10% chance of rain. Hi: 48 Wind: S 5-15
Tomorrow Night: Mostly cloudy. 10% chance of rain. Lo: 42 Wind: S 5-15
Wichita Weekly
Sun: Hi: 63 Lo: 48 Mostly cloudy, windy. 60% chance of showers and storms.
Mon: Hi: 64 Lo: 33 Partly cloudy, windy. 10% chance of showers and storms.
Tue: Hi: 60 Lo: 39 Partly cloudy, breezy.
Wed: Hi: 59 Lo: 32 Partly cloudy, windy.
Thu: Hi: 48 Lo: 25 Partly to mostly cloudy, windy.
Fri: Hi: 49 Lo: 27 Partly cloudy, breezy.