The Spring of 2026 was a wet one for much of southeast Kansas, but not all of it, with above average temperatures.
The National Weather Service in Wichita reports Chanute’s March-May precipitation – what’s considered meteorological spring – came to 16.22 inches, 4,22 inches above normal. Chanute is the climate station of record for southeast Kansas, and May rainfall came to 5.16 inches, about 3/4th of an inch below average.
To contrast that,, the cooperative observer in Independence only saw 3,16 inches of rain in May, less than half of average, with spring rainfall at 10.73 inches, 3.34 inches below average.
The spring of 2026 in Chanute was the 3rd warmest on record, at 61.4 degrees, their weather records going back to 1894. May’s average temperature of 66 degrees was actually about a degree below average.
