Cross-country winter storm expected to affect millions. Here’s updated forecast in Wichita
A cross-country winter storm bringing snow, ice and severe weather this weekend could affect millions of people, including those in the Wichita area.
“A strengthening storm is expected to bring snow, ice and possibly severe thunderstorms to parts of the central and eastern United States as it slides across the country this weekend into early next week,” the Accuweather Global Weather Center said.
In Wichita, the storm is expected to start Saturday, peak Sunday and end Sunday night. It could bring a wintry mix of freezing drizzle, freezing rain, sleet and snow, according to the National Weather Service.
A detailed NWS forecast shows a 50% chance of patchy drizzle, freezing rain and sleet between noon and 3 p.m. on Saturday. Going into the night there is a 60% chance of rain likely before midnight, and then rain, snow, freezing and sleet.
Sunday will see a 60% chance of snow, freezing rain and sleet before noon.
The storm also is expected to bring colder temperatures. A sunny high of 41 degrees and a low of 27 are expected Friday. Saturday is forecast at a cloudy high of 36, with a low of 22. Sunday is expected to have a high of 28, dropping to 8 degrees overnight, the NWS forecast shows.
The city of Wichita said Thursday that it is prepared to treat its main streets and emergency routes as the season’s first storm rolls in.
“With over 5,000 lane miles and limited resources, it’s impossible to effectively treat all of the city streets in Wichita,” Mayor Lily Wu said at her weekly media briefing Thursday.
Wu said the police department’s Homeless Outreach Team is contacting homeless residents to encourage them to use the city’s emergency winter shelter.
“Capacity has not been reached at that shelter,” Wu said.
Contributing: Kylie Cameron of The Wichita Eagle
This story was originally published January 1, 2025 at 4:50 PM.