Icy roads likely as Wichita breaks Thanksgiving rainfall record

Wichita drivers are encouraged to drive carefully Friday morning, as record-breaking Thursday rainfall will likely freeze overnight.

Wichita experienced its wettest Thanksgiving on record Thursday, receiving more than 2.1 inches of rainfall with more likely in the overnight hours.

And as day turned to evening, central and western Kansas started to see freezing rain, sleet, snow and slick roadways.

The cold temperatures began making their way into the Wichita area later Thursday evening.

Around 8 p.m., an off-duty National Weather Service employee began noticing a light icy glaze on elevated surfaces near his Clearwater home, said Jerilyn Billings Wright, a meteorologist with the service’s Wichita branch.

Temperatures were expected to drop below freezing and further overnight, Billings Wright said.

“Once we drop below 32 degrees, we’re not anticipating getting above until Sunday,” she said. “We have freezing rain as the forecast here in the Wichita area all day Saturday.”

Department of Transportation crews decided not to pre-treat the roads because the melting mixture would be swept away in Thursday’s rains, Billings Wright said.

Up to 61 plows are on standby overnight to treat the roads when temperatures begin to drop.

Billings Wright said ground temperatures are higher than normal, which could delay freezing on most roads. Bridges and elevated surfaces will freeze quicker.

Temperatures will be in the upper 20s through Saturday, with overcast skies and freezing rain predicted, Billings Wright said.

Wichita broke the Thanksgiving rainfall record of 0.81 inches, previously set in 1997, and the Nov. 26 rainfall record of 1.57 inches, set in 1935.

Forecasts project a tenth to a quarter of an inch of ice accumulation by late Friday afternoon in south-central Kansas. While a tenth of an inch would have little impact, meteorologists said, a quarter-inch could become a problem for power lines and tree branches.

This story was originally published November 26, 2015 at 5:27 PM with the headline "Icy roads likely as Wichita breaks Thanksgiving rainfall record."