textproduct: Wichita

KEY MESSAGES

- Low chances (under 30%) of a few showers along a northeast of a Salina-Chanute line late tonight into early Wednesday morning.

- Potential for strong northwest winds on Friday could lead to elevated fire weather concerns.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 350 AM CST Tue Jan 13 2026

Water vapor satellite imagery early this morning shows a cutoff upper low over Texas and a potent shortwave trough digging into the northern plains. Meanwhile, an upper ridge continues to meander over the western CONUS. Closer to home, surface winds continue to be out of the west, and they will continue this way throughout the day. A downsloping effect will help to catapult temperatures well into the 60s this afternoon. A cold front arrives overnight into Wednesday morning. However, other than some gusty winds Wednesday afternoon, temperatures after the frontal passage will only be knocked down to near average for this time of year. This front will also bring a few showers across locations along and northeast of a Salina-Chanute line mainly overnight into early Wednesday morning. Another front will approach the area on Thursday; however, southwest winds during the day will aid in temperatures briefly recovering to the upper 40s and 50s during the afternoon hours.

The frontal passage late Thursday night into Friday morning will bring cooler temperatures again, and more importantly, it will bring the potential for strong northwest winds throughout the day on Friday. Currently, NBM probabilities only show a 15-20% chance of wind gusts over 50 mph across the area. However, the NBM tends to under- forecast wind speeds. Additionally, the ECMWF EFI for wind gusts on Friday is trending upwards, and the deterministic global models have also been trending windier. Trends will need to monitored in upcoming forecasts as this could have an impact on the potential for wildfires and blowing dust during the day on Friday. Continued breezy conditions are forecast to persist as well as colder temperatures lingering across far eastern Kansas and Missouri for Saturday and Sunday. Temperatures are currently forecast to recover a bit going into the beginning of next week.

AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 1032 PM CST Mon Jan 12 2026

VFR conditions will prevail across central and southeast Kansas during the next 24hrs. Light westerly winds will persist through much of the day then switch to the north by Tuesday evening as a frontal boundary sinks southward.

ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.