Bundle up: Forecasters say Wichita area will be chilly, wet for New Year’s Eve bashes
If your New Year’s Eve plans include a night out, consider bundling up and be especially diligent driving home. Forecasters say a winter storm system moving into the Wichita area as the weekend starts will bring frigid temperatures and precipitation with it that could make post-party traveling a little precarious.
It’s still a bit early to tell exactly what form that precipitation will take — rain, a wintry mix or snow.
But National Weather Service meteorologist Andy Kleinsasser said whatever falls from the sky Friday night into Saturday morning (except confetti) could leave walkways and paved roads slick since the overnight lows will be so cold.
“Temperatures will actually be warm enough for precipitation to start out as rain later on Friday, and then those chances (of rain) increase quite a bit Friday night,” Kleinsasser said.
But the warmer temperatures are expected to plummet pretty quickly as the cold front settles in, changing any rain over to a “wintry mix” — or even all snow by Saturday morning, he said.
Exactly how much precipitation will fall, the type and when it will start is still up in the air, though.
Kleinsasser said Wednesday that the various forecasting models “are still waffling quite a bit,” so those details aren’t set in stone.
“The main message is that the potential for impactful wintry weather is fairly high,” he said, as people are out ringing in the New Year.
For now, Kleinsasser is predicting the temperature in the Wichita area to be around freezing at midnight Friday.
As the temperature falls, any rain will likely change over to freezing rain or a wintry mix, he said.
Overnight lows Friday into Saturday could dip into the twenties or teens, and a breeze expected out of the north might make the wind chill feel below zero, he added.
“Despite all the warm weather we’ve been having, temperatures that cold will make things pretty treacherous,” Kleinsasser said, cautioning party-goers to be on guard.
“Even if we don’t see a lot of actual precipitation, even just a little bit of freezing rain, a little bit of sleet, a little bit of snow can make things pretty slick.”
