textproduct: Wichita

KEY MESSAGES

- Very hot temperatures will continue through at least Thursday with confidence increasing that Friday will also be hot.

- Increased storm chances for Thu and Fri evening, with central and especially western KS having the highest chances.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 311 AM CDT Tue Aug 11 2026

Currently have a broad area of upper ridging spanning from the Four Corners region down through the Lower Mississippi Valley. At the surface, a diffuse stationary front extends from northwest KS into eastern Nebraska. Some scattered showers developed a few hours ago in an area of 850-700mb moisture transport that maybe aided by what looks to be an MCV tracking along the KS/NE border.

Scattered showers will continue slowly pushing east early this morning and should be exiting central KS by around 12z. With 850mb temps warmer and 1000-850mb thicknesses greater than yesterday, highs today will be similar or even a couple degrees warmer than they were on Monday. This would bring highs in the 102-106 degree range with heat indices close to or a couple degrees above these temps. There is decent model agreement in the cold front stalling out near or just north of I-70 by Wed afternoon. This may provide enough convergence is get a storm or two do develop after 21z. The bad news is the front will still be too far north to provide any relief from hot temps.

Still looking for shortwave troughing to take place Wed into Wed night from the Pacific Northwest down into Southern CA. This will deepen lee troughing and increase low level jet Wed night, aiding in the development of an MCS across Nebraska that will likely last through Thu morning. There is decent agreement now between most of the models in outflow pushing through most of western and north central KS on Thu. This may bring some heat relief to parts of central KS along with increased chances for showers and storms, mainly across central KS. Troughing out west will allow a series of monsoonal impulses to lift across the Rockies and out into the Plains for Thu night through Fri night and will result in continued high storm chances from northwest KS through Nebraska, especially during the overnight hours. Unfortunately, most of this activity will stay north of the forecast area. In addition, confidence is increasing that the very hot temps will remain through Fri and possibly into Sat. Upper ridging is forecast to push slightly southeast for Sat night into Sun and may allow some slightly cooler air to work south for the end of the weekend into the start of the work week.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY/

Issued at 1203 PM CDT Tue Aug 11 2026

VFR is expected to prevail across the region with gusty SSW winds of 15-20 knots, gusting to around 25-30 knots at times this afternoon. A developing LLJ will result in increasing LLWS after midnight while diminishing early on Wed.

ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

Extreme Heat Warning until 7 PM CDT Friday for KSZ032-033- 047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100.