A drastic change in temperatures will affect Kansas Sunday into Monday.
The National Weather Service says a strong cold front will begin to enter Kansas overnight tonight. It should arrive in central Kansas around sunrise and be through southeast Kansas by early afternoon. This front will bring extreme northwest winds which could gust to the 55-60 mile an hour range, and perhaps higher than that in some parts of central and especially western Kansas.
This front will also bring light precipitation chances to primarily central and eastern Kansas. For most areas, it will start out as rain, and mix with or change to snow during the afternoon. There might be a light dusting of snow for northeast Kansas, central Kansas areas east of a line from Smith center through Salina to El Dorado, and north of a line from there through Chanute to Fort Scott.
Travel impacts will vary widely. Patchy slick spots are possible in northeast Kansas and adjacent areas of north central and southeast Kansas, with brief busts of moderate snow producing low visibility.
High Wind Warnings have been issued for nearly all of Kansas on Sunday. Warnings will go into effect between 5-7 AM, and will last until 9-10 PM depending on location. The only part of Kansas not in the warning is parts of east central and southeast Kansas along and east of US 59 and south of the Kansas River, where a wind advisory has been issued. Winds in that area will not be quite as strong as elsewhere.
Coffey, Wilson and Woodson counties (Burlington, Fredonia, Neodesha and Yates Center) are in the high wind warning. The rest of the area, (Iola, Chanute, Garnett, Mound City and Fort Scott) are in the wind advisory
Temperatures will fall into the teens in most areas by Monday morning, with wind chills approaching zero in many locations if not colder. Daytime temperatures for Monday will be some 20 degrees below seasonal averages for mid-March.
A warming trend will begin Tuesday as temperatures return to normal. By Thursday many areas of Kansas will see afternoon highs into the 80’s, with some locations possibly flirting with 90 degree temperatures towards the end of the week. Current forecast models indicate little or no precipitation possibilities for the western 2/3rds of Kansas through the end of March, and only light amounts possible except for extreme northeast Kansas towards the end of the month.
