textproduct: Wichita

KEY MESSAGES

- Near seasonal temperatures for Thursday with a return to above normal readings for Friday through the weekend.

- While there will be small storm chances each night through most of the forecast, there still isn't a good signal for high chances of more widespread rainfall.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 158 PM CDT Wed Aug 19 2026

In the upper levels, currently have ridging centered over the Four Corners/Desert Southwest region with troughing from Ontario down through the Ohio Valley. Water vapor imagery shows a vort lobe moving across northeast Nebraska. Very messy surface pattern in place this afternoon. A couple outflow boundaries pushed through southern KS into OK but didn't have much of an affect on temps. It appears the more synoptic front extends generally along Highway 50.

Morning storms dissipated as they pushed south this afternoon and were related to the mid level baroclinic zone. Meanwhile, complex of storms is tracking southeast across eastern NE and is just ahead of the main vort lobe. This activity will continue tracking southeast late this afternoon/evening, possibly affecting parts of northeast KS. Outside of this activity, it should be a fairly quite evening across the forecast area. The better chances for storms on Thu look to be along the front, which should be well north of the forecast area, over Nebraska.

Confidence in storm chances remain very low for Thu night. A couple storms that develop over NE Thu afternoon may try and move into northern KS Thu evening. There is also a slight chance that a few storms develop later Thu night along mid level baroclinic zone as the region also remains in a broad area of upper diffluence. Even if these scenarios both pan out, the majority of the area would still remain dry. For Fri, we will remain in northwest flow aloft in a broad area of upper diffluence. This setup will allow for small storm chances for mainly Fri night. For Sat into Sun, upper ridge will sink slowly south into the Southern Rockies and Southern Plains. While remaining in nw flow aloft may continue to bring some small overnight storm chances, confidence is very low on this panning out due to lack of decent upper support.

As far as temps go, highs Thu will be near or slightly above normal with a warm-up starting Fri and continuing through the start of next week. However, there has been a trend lately of pushing the more extreme heat further south, which would mainly impact the southern portion of our forecast area.

AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z THURSDAY/

Issued at 1229 PM CDT Wed Aug 19 2026

VFR conditions are expected through this TAF period as showers and storms have dissipated across the area. There may be an additional chance for showers and storms this evening but confidence is low on terminal impacts so did not include mention in this issuance. Winds are expected to shift to northerly this afternoon then to northeasterly after 02z. After 15z Thursday, winds will shift to southeasterly at GBD and RSL. Winds will remain light with speeds under 10 kts.

ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

None.