Wichita is now under ‘extreme cold watch’ for winter storm expected this weekend
Wichita is now under an “extreme cold watch” for the winter storm that is forecast to hit Friday and could impact the southern half of Kansas all the way to the east coast.
It is also expected to bring 6-10 inches of snow.
Crews in Wichita started treating the roads with a brine solution on Wednesday, Mayor Lily Wu said Thursday morning.
Wichita-based National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Baerg said the “extreme cold watch” was added Wednesday afternoon following changes in the weather model that show more prolonged cold and substantial snow moving further north in Kansas than previously forecasted.
Mornings on Friday through Monday are expected to see negative wind chills, ranging from minus 6 degrees Friday morning to the coldest being minus 19 degrees Monday morning. Saturday and Sunday are both forecast to see morning wind chills around minus 12 degrees.
The storm is also forecast to bring -50 degree wind chills in northern Minnesota and North Dakota.
In Wichita, the snow is expected to start between 4 and 8 p.m. on Friday and continue on and off throughout Saturday before ending between 4 and 8 a.m. on Sunday. It’s been a year since Wichita saw as much snow as is being forecasted for this storm — Wichita had 5.9 inches fall on Jan. 9-10, 2025, and 5.4 inches fall on Feb. 18, 2025, Baerg said.
Wichita has a 57% chance of seeing over 8 inches of snow during this storm, the NWS said Thursday.
The swath of Kansas expected to receive substantial snow is south of Highway 56, which runs through McPherson, Baerg said. Previous forecasts had the substantial snow ending further south, around the Sedgwick County line.
States east of Kansas all the way to the coast will be hit by the winter storm.
“Expect heavy snow for the Southern Rockies and the south-central Plains eastward through the Mid-Atlantic,” the NWS Weather Prediction Center said Wednesday morning. “Snow-covered roads and low visibility will cause widespread travel disruptions.”
And, south of all of that, the prediction center is warning of “dangerous ice.”
“Broad swaths of freezing rain and sleet are expected south of the all-snow zone over the Southern Plains, Mid-South, and Carolinas. Treacherous travel conditions, prolonged power outages, and tree damage are likely.”
The prediction center called it a “significant winter storm.”
This story was originally published January 21, 2026 at 3:07 PM.