2 February, 20104:27 p.m.
The National Weather Service has issued a freezing fog advisory for 26 counties in central and southeast Kansas, including the Wichita metropolitan area.
The advisory stretches from 9 p.m. today to 10 a.m. Wednesday. Streets and bridges could become glazed with ice – particularly elevated portions – as a result of the fog, forecasters warn.
“Roadways will become very slick tonight,” the advisory warns.
Visibility could be reduced to less than a quarter-mile at times during the advisory.
I’m told the abundant sunshine this afternoon in the Wichita area is likely to delay the onset of the fog until late tonight or even early Wednesday morning, but the advisory was set to begin at 9 p.m. as a precaution.
2 February, 201012:17 p.m.
The record books will state that 3.5 inches of snow fell in Wichita from the storm that came through last Thursday and Friday. That hoists the winter’s snow total thus far to 8.6 inches.
But the storm featured tight gradients, meaning locations not far apart at all recorded much different totals. Just 3 miles north of the National Weather Service’s official recording site, folks reported more than 5 inches. Six-inch snowfalls were common in northwest Wichita and Maize.
A foot of snow was reported in Reno County, outdoor writer Michael Pearce tells me, and not much less than that fell at his house in Newton.
2 February, 20107:14 a.m.
Groundhog Day offers more deja vu for the Wichita area, as patchy freezing fog cloaks the region once again this morning.
The fog should lift by about 10 a.m., forecasters say, and clouds may part enough to make way for a few spots of sunshine later today. Highs are projected to reach the upper 30s or low 40s, with winds staying calm much of the day before whispering a little from the west.
Lows will be in the mid-20s tonight, with more freezing fog developing. Wednesday will once again be foggy, with cloudy skies and highs in the mid-40s.
For more information about conditions, go to our weather page.