Fire danger, strong winds, rain and hail all possibilities for Wichita area Friday
The Wichita area could see a stormy or fiery start to the weekend on Friday.
Strong winds and warm temperatures could pose a threat of high fire danger early Friday afternoon, followed by a chance of severe storms with hail and damaging winds Friday evening into the night, the National Weather Service in Wichita says
The high for Friday is expected to be 84 degrees with wind gusts as high as 36 mph, a detailed forecast shows. Those strong winds and warm, dry air could contribute to grass fires across parts of central, south central and southeast Kansas.
As of Thursday evening, the National Weather Service had not issued any type of warning for the fire danger.
The chances for severe storms will start around 5 p.m. and run into the night, with the greatest chance forecast from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. That daytime high is expected to drop to a low of 50.
Residents could see a 40% chance of hail up to a half dollar in size and 70 mph winds, according to a NWS hazardous weather outlook report.
Counties at risk for both fire danger and severe storms include Sedgwick and surrounding Butler, Reno, Harvey, Kingman, Sumner, Marion, Chase, McPherson and Cowley counties, the hazardous weather outlook said.
Saturday is not out of the clear completely with a 20% chance of storms before 8 a.m. and a slight chance of rain from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. The high will be 57 and will drop to 40 at night.
Fire danger remains for Saturday but anticipated rainfall could lessen the threat, the hazardous weather outlook report said.
Sunday will see clear skies with a breezy high of 66 and possible fire danger due to gusty winds and low humidity.