textproduct: Wichita

KEY MESSAGES

- Much cooler temperatures for today and Wednesday with a return to seasonal temps for Thursday. Many areas for today and Wednesday will not see highs make it out of the 50s.

- Above normal readings for Friday and Saturday with storm chances returning for Saturday night.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 306 AM CDT Tue May 5 2026

Currently have a deep broad upper trough encompassing all of the Northern Plains into the Western Great Lakes region with the upper low centered over eastern Ontario. Meanwhile, a closed upper low is also situated over central CA. At the surface strong cold front stretches from near KCNU into western OK.

Storms have been developing over the last few hours across the Flint Hills in an area of strong 700mb theta-e advection north of the cold front. Storms will continue to push east this morning as the better mid level warm advection also shifts east. Cold front will be through the forecast area by sunrise with plenty of clouds and much cooler temps moving into the area. We also should continue to see some pockets of light rain throughout the day as the upper trough continues to dig across the Central Rockies. The western CONUS upper low will continue tracking over the Four Corners region and will phase with the northern stream trough late tonight with the trough finally swinging through KS by early Thu morning. So we are currently expecting the best chances for rain over western and parts of central KS for tonight into Wed with rain chances sinking south for Wed night. Rainfall amounts will generally be on the light side with higher amounts over western KS.

Confidence remain very high that temps today and Wed will be below normal with many locations not making it out of the 50s. These readings will be around 15 degrees below seasonal highs for this time of year.

Northwest flow aloft will be in place Thu, which will allow temps to quickly get back to normal, with most locations seeing highs back into the low 70s. Warming trend will continue into Fri as we get back into the 80s with these warm readings continuing into Sat. Storm chances will return for Sat night into Sun as some upper energy tracks out of the Northern Rockies and across the Central Plains. As this wave tracks southeast, a brief cool down is anticipated for Sun.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 632 AM CDT Tue May 5 2026

Aviation concerns will be shower/storm chances today along with some lower ceilings.

Strong cold front quickly moved through overnight with gusty northeast winds in place at most sites this morning. Some pockets of showers and isolated storms are also affecting eastern portions of our forecast area, with KSLN-KCNU having the best chance to see a storm over the next several hours, with light rain showers at the other sites. For the most part, ceilings will remain at the low end of VFR levels. However, there maybe a brief period of MVFR levels over southern KS for the next few hours. Not much is expected to change overnight with cold northeast winds and scattered light rain showers.

ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.