textproduct: Wichita

KEY MESSAGES

- Freezing fog will be possible for tonight into Thursday morning.

- After a brief warm-up today, colder air will spill into the area for Thursday and remain through Saturday.

- Flurries and light snow will be possible for Thursday night into Friday with impactful accumulation not expected.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 315 AM CST Wed Jan 28 2026

Deep upper trough remains from Ontario through the Great Lakes region with strong northwest flow aloft over the Plains. Meanwhile, water vapor imagery shows some shortwave energy moving across the Pacific Northwest. At the surface, weak high pressure remains through the Plains with a stalled front from eastern OK into central TX.

West and southwest winds today will provide some downslope that will result in highs from the mid 30s into the low 40s. This will be the warmest temps we have seen in 5 days. The impulse moving over the Pacific NW will track southeast and will be moving over the Central Rockies tonight and into southern KS by Thu morning. Ahead of this wave a surface low will develop and track just south of the KS/OK border. Moisture advection will also increase ahead of the low this evening and eventually winds will turn to the northeast Thu morning, allowing some colder air to start to spill into the forecast area. With melting snow, cold grounds and low level moisture advection, feel confident enough at this time to insert some freezing fog for tonight into Thu morning. As colder air quickly moves-in on Thu and runs into higher dewpoints, also feel that it's not out of the question we may see a brief period of freezing drizzle. However, confidence at this time is not high enough to insert into the forecast. So for now will just run with some freezing fog.

By 12z Fri, a robust vort lobe will be located over the Upper Mississippi Valley and will be quickly tracking south. It will be situated over the Ozark region by Sat morning. In addition to pulling down some very cold air, it will also allow a strong low/mid level baroclinic zone to track west across the Plains. Feel that flurries and light snow will be possible for Thu night and especially Fri, with higher chances over central KS. While we are not looking for much in the way of impactful accumulation, feel that we may see a few snow showers Fri that may briefly reduce visibility. As far as temps go, highs in the teens and 20s will be likely for both Fri and Sat with lows Sat morning near or a few degrees below zero.

Deep upper trough will be tracking into the Southeast CONUS by Sun morning leaving strong northwest flow in place across the Plain with some upper ridging approaching from the west. This setup will get the area back into south/southwest surface flow, allowing for increasing temps to start the work week with highs back into the 40s for both Mon and Tue. There is some model agreement in some weak shortwave energy approaching the Plains on Tue into Tue night and may increase precip chances. However, this does not look like a significant storm system at all.

AVIATION /12Z TAFS THROUGH 12Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 553 AM CST Wed Jan 28 2026

Main aviation concerns will be fog late tonight along with lowering cigs toward Thursday morning.

Clear skies and light winds are anticipated for today with an increase in high clouds this afternoon. An upper wave will approach the area this evening and will allow for low level moisture to increase across southern KS. This may result in fog development across central and south central KS tonight. In addition, cigs are expected to lower late tonight as winds turn to the northeast and colder air filters-in. Areas along and west of I-135 will have good chance to see IFR cigs by around 10z Thu.

ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.