Wichita breaks 87-year-old weather record. Here’s what’s to come on wind chills, temps
Wichita broke an 87-year-old weather record Tuesday, with more possible in the midst of a winter storm.
The high for Tuesday was reported at 13 degrees about 1:30 p.m., beating out the previous record for the coolest high of 17 degrees set back in 1938, according to National Weather Service archives.
Meteorologist Chris Jakub said the weather service measures daytime highs and lows on 24-hour period from midnight to midnight when seeing if records are broken or could be broken.
Wichita could also set another record, for low temperature later Tuesday. The forecast low for tonight is -4. The current record for the lowest Feb. 18 was set at -2 degrees back in 1889.
“This Arctic outbreak, it’s pretty serious and it looks like we’re going to probably beat some more records in the next couple days for Wednesday and Thursday,” Jakub said.
Bitter cold temps continue
Wind chill values between -15 to -25 are forecast through Friday.
An extreme cold warning is in effect until noon Thursday.
Tuesday’s wind chill values are forecast at -18, with Tuesday night to Wednesday eyeing -23. Wednesday night to Thursday values are forecast at -20, and Thursday night to Friday at -6, the NWS said.
Wednesday’s high and low are forecast at 9 and -10; Thursday at 14 and 0 and Friday 24 and 14, according to a forecast.
Saturday and Sunday will see things warm up with sunny highs of 40 and 53, with lows of 27 and 34, respectively. Monday is expected to be even warmer at 64 degrees.
How much snow has fallen?
As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sedgwick County, including Wichita, had received between 4 and 7 inches of snow, meteorologist Mick McGuire said.
Great Bend had seen the greatest snowfall amount with one report at 9 inches.
McGuire said snow accumulation in Wichita should be done, with only some light blowing snow overnight. Southeast Kansas is expected to get an additional 1 to 3 inches, with Independence seeing the greatest amount at 6 1/2 inches reported at 5:45 p.m.
Southeast Kansas is expected to see anywhere from 8 to 12 inches, the NWS said.
More weather coverage
Another snow day: Wichita-area school districts again cancel classes amid storm
Wichita under an extreme cold warning through Thursday. Here’s how to dress & stay warm
This story was originally published February 18, 2025 at 11:04 AM.