Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Extreme cold with records likely soon

Thanks for stopping by to check in on the extreme cold that we are heading into as the week continues. We are only three days into this deep freeze, and it will last much longer before we turn the corner on things. 

Remember, 10 days below freezing hasn't happened since the late 80s, but we should easily break through that with how things are setting up. Twenty four days is Wichita's longest stretch staying below 32°


How cold will things still get:

We just haven't seen the worst of it yet and won't until we get to the weekend. That's when the heart of the Siberian air will have settled over the Plains. Just compare the temperatures as we work our way through the rest of the week.

  • Wednesday


  • Friday

             

  • Sunday (this is when we should be reaching our coldest yet)


We can't overlook the wind chills that we will have heading into the weekend, because numbers like the ones shown below will lead to frostbite in under 15 minutes. We just don't see these kinds of numbers around Kansas in most winter seasons. 


Snow is coming and it could be several inches for the area: 

This is not a classic storm where we have to watch the track of the low. The setup for Friday - Sunday morning is a widespread area of light snow that will develop over the Rockies and central Plains and just hang around for about 48 hours. Because its so cold, the snow that falls will be very powdery and contain very little appreciable moisture.


It would take about 25 to 30 inches of snow to get 1 inch of actual moisture. But it could very easily snow most of Friday afternoon, all day Saturday, and then end Saturday night. Travel is going to be tough this weekend around the Plains. 

Please be careful out there and stay warm.

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