By Lucky Kidd
A slight risk of severe storms exists for later this afternoon and this evening for portions of central Kansas. The slight risk area is generally to the southwest of a line from Hays to McPherson to just east of the Wichita.
The precipitation we have seen this morning in the area is round one of two for today. Later this afternoon storms will begin to form ahead of a dryline in western Kansas, which will move east as we got towards evening. Large hail and damaging winds are expected to be the primary threats, with a slight possibility of a tornado or two, but the odds of that happening are rather slim.
On the subject of wind, south winds already sustained at 25-30 miles an hour with gusts near 40 as of mid-morning will increase as we go through the day, with wind gusts of 60 miles an hour or locally higher likely.
A high wind warning is in effect for portions of central Kansas until 7 PM this evening, generally for areas from Saline, McPherson, Reno and Kingman Counties west to along US 183 from LaCrosse to Kinsley. To the east of that area a wind advisory has been issued for winds gusting to around 50 miles an hour, which will be in effect region-wide until 10 AM Monday.
As we move into Monday, precipitation will continue, which could change to light snow Monday afternoon into Tuesday morning for areas generally north of US 50. Locally, the only areas expected to see accumulating snow are to the northwest of a Great Bend-Lincoln line.
If you’re traveling today, more intense wintry weather conditions are forecast from east central Colorado across northwest Kansas into Nebraska. The far northwest corner of Kansas including Colby and Goodland is in a Blizzard warning from late tonight through Monday evening with snowfall combined with the same winds we’ll be seeing in central Kansas today creating sharply reduced visibility and nearly impossible travel conditions.
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