textproduct: Wichita

KEY MESSAGES

- Cold today with highs not making it out of the 30s for most of the area.

- Warming trend to commence Tuesday and continue through Saturday, with most locations seeing highs in the 80s for Thursday through Saturday.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 240 AM CDT Mon Mar 16 2026

Deep upper trough currently stretches through the Mississippi Valley with a surface low moving through the Ohio Valley. The strong cold front that moved through on Sunday now stretches from the surface low down to along the TX Gulf Coast with an unseasonably cold airmass continuing to spill south across the Plains.

Even though we should see plenty of sunshine today, highs will be around 20 degrees below normal as they only top out in the 30s for most locations. Normal highs for this time of year are in the upper 50s to around 60 degrees.

For Tuesday, upper trough will be making its way across the Ohio Valley and into the Northeast Seaboard. This will leave northwest flow aloft across the Plains with upper ridging starting to strengthen across Southern CA into the Desert Southwest. This ridge will continue to slowly intensify as it builds east into the Southern Rockies by Thursday. This will continue to promote a warming trend with widespread 80s likely by Thursday and will remain in place through Saturday. There is also a chance that by Friday and especially Saturday, we could see some readings approaching 90 degrees for the western portion of our forecast area. There is some model agreement that a cold front will try and move through late Saturday night into Sunday, with the GFS more robust with the front compared to the ECMWF and Canadian. These differences are mainly due to the timing of a shortwave to slide across the Northern Plains and Great Lakes for Saturday into Sunday.

AVIATION /06Z TAFS THROUGH 06Z TUESDAY/

Issued at 1234 AM CDT Mon Mar 16 2026

Only aviation concern will be some gusty winds to continue overnight into Mon morning.

Deep surface low is now tracking across the Ohio Valley as high pressure is building into the Plains. Gusty northwest winds will remain in place for most of the area overnight into early Mon morning with eastern KS seeing the higher speeds, with gusts around 30kt likely. Wind speeds will very slowly decrease on Mon, especially as sunset approaches. Confidence is high that mostly clear skies will remain in place through the next 24 hours.

ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.