The rain may ease up, but Kansas could see wave of heat, humidity next. Here’s when
Hot, humid weather moving into Wichita and other parts of Kansas this week is part of a larger surge of summer heat expected to hit 40 U.S. states.
After a series of storms earlier this week, the weather in Wichita is expected to calm down, but the heat is forecast to rise. Thanks to the wet weather throughout this month, the hot temperatures will also bring a lot of humidity.
“With how much moisture that we’ve had, how saturated our surfaces [are] and stuff like that ... it’s going to be more humid, and it’s going to feel more humid,” Vanessa Pearce, a forecaster with the National Weather Service, told The Eagle. “We typically have humid days in summer, but I think especially with the recent rainfalls, that’s just going to kind of create an even more humid sort of feel out there.”
For its report on the humidity surge across the U.S., The Washington Post used data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts to create a map that shows humidity expected across the country from June 17 through Wednesday, July 2.
Projections for Kansas vary from moderate, high, very high to extreme, while the Sedgwick County area is labeled as expecting “very high” humidity. The majority of U.S. states east of Kansas are all forecast to see “very high” and “extreme” humid conditions, the Post reports.
Humidity happens when water vapor is present in the air. The more water vapor present, the higher the humidity gets. Wednesday afternoon, the humidity levels in Wichita sat at 65% relative humidity, according to the NWS.
Relative humidity is the percentage of moisture in the air compared to how much moisture could be held at that same temperature. Anything above 60% is generally considered high, though humidity levels feel different depending on the person.
How hot will Wichita be this summer?
Starting Thursday, high temperatures in Wichita are forecast to be in the 90s this week. The hottest day is expected to be Friday, with a high around 96 degrees.
How does that compare to what’s expected this summer? The current outlook from the Climate Prediction Center shows a 55 to 65% chance that Kansas will experience warmer-than-normal temperatures from Saturday, June 28 through Friday, July 11. That same map shows the majority of the country experiencing above-normal temperatures.
In Wichita, June has been a cooler month than average, and the highs in the 90s expected to arrive this week are considered normal for this time of year. Meanwhile, rainfall is higher at this point of both the month and the year than the average for Wichita.
But the heavy rainfall hasn’t been all bad. Levels at Cheney Lake, the source of Wichita’s water, have risen to 90.58% full. This is about 28% higher than it was when Wichita first entered phase two of its drought response plan.
Here’s a look at this week’s weather forecast, according to the NWS:
- Thursday: Sunny with a high of around 90 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of around 72.
- Friday: Sunny and breezy with a high of about 96 and a low of around 76.
- Saturday: Sunny with a high of around 94 and a low of 75.
- Sunday: Sunny and breezy with a high near 94 and a low of 74.
