The National Weather Service in Wichita has issued a fire weather watch for Saturday afternoon, when southwesterly winds are expected to gust as high as 30 miles an hour. Combined with low relative humidity, “explosive fire growth potential is likely” across the watch area.
That watch area includes Barton, Ellsworth, Rice, Reno, Harvey, Kingman, Sedgwick, Harper and Sumner counties.
Outdoor burning should be avoided.
Wichita was in single digits early on Wednesday morning, and it’ll see highs in the 60s on Saturday. What in the name of Punxsutawney Phil is going on?
It’s a textbook case of downslope winds bringing markedly warmer temperatures to the area. Downslope? In Kansas?
Not exactly. The winds blowing in from the west are whooshing in from the Rocky Mountains. They’ve climbed over the mountains and are sliding down the Front Range of the Rockies like riders on the first plunge of a roller-coaster. As the wind surges toward the surface, the air warms quickly – because it’s being compressed at lower altitudes.
There’s nothing to block those winds as they continue rolling west…so that warmth is brought into Kansas and other points east of the Rockies. That dramatic increase in warmth is most apparent in eastern Colorado and the western half of Kansas, but it often carries all the way to Wichita.
Front Slope winds have been known to send the mercury soaring any time during the year, but they may never be more welcome than in the heart of winter for folks growing weary of the cold.
…..has already come and gone, according to a study in Great Britain.
A Cardiff University psychologist’s formula determined that the third Monday in January is officially the most depressing day of the year. The formula takes into account wintry weather, unpaid Christmas debt, failed New Year’s resolutions and the ratio of motivational levels to the amount of work that needs to be done.
There used to be a saying that it took 10 inches of snow to equal one inch of rain. But weather officials say we shouldn’t pay attention to that, because it’s not accurate.
The moisture content of snow depends on the temperature in the atmosphere at the time the flakes are falling – both at the surface and at higher elevations.
Here’s a chart from the National Weather Service that offers rain equivalents for various snowfall amounts.
As the storm system that brought snow, sleet and freezing drizzle to most of the state departs, skies will gradually clear – and that will permit temperatures to plummet. Winds will ease into the single digits, forecasters say, but that will still push overnight wind chills well below 0 for much of the Wichita metropolitan area as well as most of central and northern Kansas.
Meanwhile, areas south and east of Wichita figure to remain icy through the overnight hours, so authorities are urging drivers to exercise caution during any travel they undertake.
….that twice in two days vandals have egged houses in the city — and the remnants have frozen to the surfaces they struck. The homeowners couldn’t even clean up the mess that was left behind, police reported.
At least they won’t have to wait very long for the clean-up: temperatures should reach the 40s within a day or two.
……in Wichita, with less than 6 inches of snow recorded so far. That puts us more than 2 inches below normal for this time of the season, the National Weather Service reports.
That means if the arriving winter storm delivers the high-end forecast of 2 inches, Wichita will almost be caught up.
Almost.
But there’s still plenty of winter left for the flurries to fly…..
I couldn’t help but chuckle as I heard various people commenting on the unusually warm weather Wichita enjoyed for most of this week.
A couple of folks described it as a cruel tease, putting them in the mood for spring already when in truth it’s still a good two months or more in the distance. Another friend said it made her ache for baseball season.
Given the fact that we’re only in late January, I took the warm temperatures as a welcome respite from the cold. Being no fan of winter, I’ve long taken the view that every warm day in December, January or February carries us one nice day closer to spring without nasty weather.
Remember how last winter wore on Wichita’s nerves? Ice or snow fell every two or three days, it seemed. It wasn’t necessarily a lot at any given time, but the wintry precipitation and cold temperatures just never….seemed….to go……away. Wichitans weren’t used to that, and they quickly grew tired of it.
So when a warm spell like this week arrives, I’m inclined to smile and say “Thank you very much.” There’s still plenty of winter left — as this weekend and early next week promises to remind us.
…..have fallen this week in Wichita.
Today is expected to be the warmest day of the week in Wichita, but even if the mercury reaches the predicted mid-60s, it will fall well short of the record for January 22: 75, in 1967.
Sunday’s high of 62 climbed within a few degrees of the record for January 18, which is 65 in 1951.
With a cold front arriving Friday, Wichita won’t be in a position to break warm-weather records for the next several days.
Hypothermia is striking many in the vast crowds filling Washington, D.C. for today’s inauguration of Barack Obama.
And no wonder.
Just before 10 a.m., the temperature was 23 and the wind chill was 10. Winds were blowing out of the northwest at 15 miles an hour.
That’s going to be hard on fingers, toes, and uncovered heads and faces.
So many cases of hypothermia are being reported among the throngs that only the most serious cases are being treated.
