Two of the most significant weather records on the books were rewritten in Wichita this year: most rain overall and most rain in a 24-hour period.
But 10 other weather records fell this year, according to the National Weather Service data.
Not surprisingly, the majority of them involved rainfall. February 5, March 17, May 26 and August 9 all set records for most rain for that date.
Just last Friday saw a new record high in Wichita for the day after Christmas: 69, snapping the old record of 64 set in 1976.
May 23, June 7 and November 4 set marks for warmest low temperatures. Records for coolest high temperature, meanwhile, were set on back-to-back days: September 5 and 6. Not surprisingly, the new marks were only one degree apart – 63 on the 5th and 62 on the 6th.
It rained like never before in Wichita in 2008.
The city recorded its highest annual rainfall total in history this year – 52.91 inches as of Christmas Eve – and also its heaviest rainfall over a 24-hour period: 10.31 inches on September 12, which easily outdistanced the previous 24-hour record of 7.99 inches in September 1911.
Thunderstorms racing 60 miles an hour – long after sunset.
Hail…strong winds….tornado watches covering at least one-third of the state.
All on the day after Christmas — in Kansas.
No tornadoes touched down, according to the Storm Prediction Center, but there were several reports of hail – including in Valley Center and Derby. But conditions were nonetheless favorable enough for tornado watches to be issued.
I would not be surprised to hear of a tornado or two this time of year on the Gulf Coast, but the Sunflower State? Mind you, local meteorologists would be quick to tell you that tornadoes have been reported in Kansas every month of the year. But I’d expect any December reports to come very early in the month, from vestiges of warm weather that surge through the region before winter sets in.
For tornadic conditions to materialize even after spells of polar weather have shoved temperatures below zero in the state is remarkable indeed.
Merry Christmas, Wichita!
As Christmases go, this one is shaping up to be right along the norms for the city. A high in the 40s is right in line for this time of year, based on historical data.
Yes, it’s not a white Christmas, but only about 10 percent of Wichita Christmases are.
As you might expect – this being Kansas and all – the temperature extremes for Dec. 25 are pretty substantial. The record high is 65, set in 1960. The record low, on the other hand, is -6, set in 1983.
It won’t be a white Christmas in Wichita this year – but then, that’s hardly unusual.
Wichita has a white Christmas only about 10 percent of the time, according to research by the National Weather Service. Last year was one of those times. In fact, the four inches of snow on the ground in 2007 tied the record for snowiest Christmas in Wichita history, first set in 1894.
There have only been 13 white Christmases in the city since records began being kept about 120 years ago.
Not likely. A white Christmas Eve? That’s another matter.
The Wichita branch of the National Weather Service is calling for a chance of flurries after midnight tonight. Depending on one’s definition, that alone could qualify as a white Christmas Eve. But the flurries aren’t expected to offer much more than a dusting at best.
“We just don’t have any moisture” to generate more snow, said Leon Wasinger, a meteorologist with the weather service.
Another forecasting service, Accuweather, is offering a different forecast for Christmas Eve: 1 to 3 inches of snow in the Wichita area.
There’s a reason for that: a hearty batch of moisture is currently down in Texas and Oklahoma, and at least one forecasting model has that moisture moving north into Kansas. If a cold front currently parked in northwest Kansas slides southward, those two forces could collide and provide measurable snow for the metropolitan area, Wasinger said.
Highs Wednesday are expected to only reach the mid-30s. But if there’s snow cover on the ground much of tomorrow, the mercury will struggle to get that high. Even with sunny skies, it would be difficult for several inches of snow to melt in a single day.
All of which means – if everything falls together in a certain way – that a white Christmas in Wichita could happen.
But don’t count on it, National Weather Service forecasters say. Folks who live in central Kansas and north of I-70 have a much better chance of a white Christmas this year.
The mention of “freezing fog” in recent local forecasts has more than a few folks scratching their heads, because they’ve never heard of fog freezing before.
But it happens – particularly on mountaintops exposed to low clouds. Freezing fog occurs when liquid fog droplets freeze to surfaces, forming what is called “white rime ice.”
Not rhyme ice. Rime ice…which according to the Web site MiMi.hu is “an opaque coating of tiny, white, granular ice particles” that form when water strikes a surface well below 32F and rapidly freezes.
Black ice, by contrast, is a thin – almost invisible – layer of ice formed when rain falls on a surface that is below freezing. It is especially dangerous, because it is difficult to detect…until you’ve lost your footing or your car is gliding somewhere out of control.
The National Weather Service has created a snowfall accumulation map to answer that question. The heaviest snowfall didn’t miss Wichita by all that much.
That heavier snowfall up north helps explain why the low temperatures dropped below 0 last night between Hays and Salina.
….I am wondering: Should freezing drizzle be called “frizzle?”
Forecasts this morning warned of freezing fog. It’s probably good we haven’t dubbed it “frog,” because that would almost certainly confuse folks who jump to a different conclusion than the forecasters intended.
The freezing drizzle is expected to fall overnight, so commuters should be particularly wary of bridges and elevated roadways.
A look at the Kansas Department of Transportation’s map of road conditions shows that most major thoroughfares in the state are mostly or completely snowpacked this morning.
That translates into travel challenges.
Forecasts show that there won’t be much opportunity at all for melting before freezing rain arrives Thursday morning to glaze southern and central sectors of Kansas.
This winter’s starting to resemble last year’s version, when wintry precipitation cloaked Wichita and the surrounding area every few days. That got old pretty fast for folks who had become accustomed to the milder winters of the previous decade.
Perhaps those were merely aberrations, instead of a “new normal.”
Hunker down: winter’s not even officially here until next Monday.