704 FXUS63 KICT 071907 AFDICTArea Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Wichita KS 207 PM CDT Sun Sep 7 2025
.KEY MESSAGES...
- Chances for widely scattered showers and storms may begin as early as midnight tonight.
- While most of the activity will be benign, can`t rule out a strong to marginally severe storm Monday into early Tuesday morning.
- Near normal temperatures still expected to return by the middle of next week.
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.DISCUSSION... Issued at 206 PM CDT Sun Sep 7 2025
Water vapor satellite this afternoon shows a strong upper trough exiting eastward across the Great Lakes region along with am upper ridge building across the southwestern CONUS. The central plains reside underneath a weak northwesterly flow regime, and a subtle ripple in this flow is located across the central Rockies and will slowly approach the region late tonight through Monday afternoon.
There is already a bit surface response to increased winds aloft over the Rockies as surface pressures have started to fall across the High Plains. This will continue tonight and throughout the day on Monday leaving a tight pressure gradient across the area, and promoting breezy southerly winds. Some locations across central Kansas could see wind gusts around 30-35 mph Monday afternoon. Additionally, with the ridge building across the southwesterly CONUS, warmer mid-level temperatures are forecast to creep their way back over the central plains. As a result of this subtle mid-level WAA set to begin overnight tonight, chances for some pesky widely scattered showers and storms have been introduced into the forecast beginning generally after midnight tonight. Coverage of this activity is a bit uncertain, but PoPs for areas along and west of the Flint Hills are generally around 20-30% late tonight into Monday morning. This activity should generally wane through the late morning hours on Monday, but additional shower and storm development is possible Monday afternoon within the vicinity of I-135 and the Kansas Turnpike. There`s some uncertainty in the coverage and intensity of the activity Monday afternoon through Tuesday morning. The main wrench in the forecast is the main axis of instability (western Kansas) is likely to be somewhat offset from the better forcing for ascent (central/eastern Kansas). There could be some overlap across central Kansas where shear and instability are better, and a strong to marginally severe storm cannot be ruled out if the ingredients come together Monday afternoon and evening. With the loss of diurnal heating, the intensity of any ongoing activity should wane by Monday night, and leftover showers and storms may possibly fester across eastern Kansas through Tuesday morning.
With the mid/upper ridge axis continuing the build into the central plains on Tuesday, this will likely cap off any additional convection Tuesday afternoon, and should help to stave off most rain chances for the rest of the week (more on this soon). In addition, temperatures should warm back up closer to normal for this time of year with highs in the mid 80s and lows in the mid 60s through the remainder of the week. Moving ahead towards the middle and latter portions of the week, some of the mid/long range models are hinting that the mid/upper ridge forecast to build across the region will be somewhat weaker than previously indicated. As such, there is a small (under 20%) chance of locations along and north of I-70 seeing some shower and storm activity Wednesday night into Thursday morning, as well as this weekend as subtle perturbations in the flow round the top the ridge axis. With that being said, most locations can expect to remain dry after Tuesday.
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.AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z MONDAY/... Issued at 1220 PM CDT Sun Sep 7 2025
Showers and a few storms will be possible in central KS after 08-09Z possibly spreading into parts of south central KS during the morning hours on Monday. Some MVFR cigs will be hard to rule out under the heavier activity. Breezy southerly winds will also develop for areas along and west of the Flint Hills as we move through the day on Monday.
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.ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None.
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DISCUSSION...JC AVIATION...MWM
NWS ICT Office Area Forecast Discussion