Alert archive / Kansas / Heat Advisories in 2026
Heat Advisory 21, NWS Dodge City, KS
NWS Dodge City, KS issued this heat advisory at Aug 12, 2026, 1:55 PM CDT for 6 counties in Kansas. It took effect at Aug 13, 2026, 12:00 PM CDT. It was in force for 9 hr.
The area
The counties it named.
The facts
- Issued
- Aug 12, 2026, 1:55 PM CDT (18:55 UTC)
- In effect from
- Aug 13, 2026, 12:00 PM CDT
- Expired
- Aug 13, 2026, 9:00 PM CDT
- In force
- 9 hr
- Issued by
- NWS Dodge City, KS
Counties Comanche County, KS, Edwards County, KS, Ellis County, KS, Kiowa County, KS, Pawnee County, KS, Rush County, KS
The radar
The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 67 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:57 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.
Open the radar archive at this moment
The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.
The nearest sounding before it
Norman, OK (KOUN), launched 12:00Z, 6.9 hours before the alert went out and 356 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 340 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -261 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1745 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 4 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 47 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 132 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 1.4
The text
As transmitted.
662 WWUS73 KDDC 121855 NPWDDC URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Dodge City KS 155 PM CDT Wed Aug 12 2026 KSZ066-081-090-130700- /O.CON.KDDC.XH.W.0003.000000T0000Z-260813T0200Z/ /O.CON.KDDC.XH.W.0004.260813T1700Z-260814T0200Z/ Stafford-Pratt-Barber- Including the cities of St. John, Kiowa, Pratt, Stafford, Medicine Lodge, and Macksville 155 PM CDT Wed Aug 12 2026 ...EXTREME HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING... ...EXTREME HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 9 PM CDT THURSDAY... * WHAT...For the first Extreme Heat Warning, dangerously hot conditions with heat index values up to 108. For the second Extreme Heat Warning, dangerously hot conditions with heat index values up to 110 expected. * WHERE...Barber, Pratt, and Stafford Counties. * WHEN...For the first Extreme Heat Warning, until 9 PM CDT this evening. For the second Extreme Heat Warning, from noon to 9 PM CDT Thursday. * IMPACTS...Heat related illnesses increase significantly during extreme heat and high humidity events. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. && $$ KSZ031-046-065-079-080-089-130700- /O.NEW.KDDC.HT.Y.0021.260813T1700Z-260814T0200Z/ /O.CON.KDDC.HT.Y.0020.000000T0000Z-260813T0200Z/ Ellis-Rush-Pawnee-Edwards-Kiowa-Comanche- Including the cities of Lewis, La Crosse, Greensburg, Haviland, Lake Coldwater, Larned, Pfeifer, Coldwater, Protection, Kinsley, and Hays 155 PM CDT Wed Aug 12 2026 ...HEAT ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO 9 PM CDT THURSDAY... ...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...For the first Heat Advisory, heat index values up to 106. For the second Heat Advisory, heat index values up to 107 expected. * WHERE...Ellis, Rush, Comanche, Edwards, Kiowa, and Pawnee Counties. * WHEN...For the first Heat Advisory, until 9 PM CDT this evening. For the second Heat Advisory, from noon to 9 PM CDT Thursday. * IMPACTS...Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. && $$ KSZ030-043>045-061>064-074>078-084>088-130200- /O.CON.KDDC.HT.Y.0020.000000T0000Z-260813T0200Z/ Trego-Scott-Lane-Ness-Hamilton-Kearny-Finney-Hodgeman-Stanton-Grant- Haskell-Gray-Ford-Morton-Stevens-Seward-Meade-Clark- Including the cities of Garden City, Sublette, Johnson City, Montezuma, Scott City, Lakin, Minneola, Ness City, Scott State Lake, Dighton, Meade, Fowler, Syracuse, Wakeeney, Cimarron, Satanta, Dodge City, Ulysses, Hugoton, Liberal, Deerfield, Plains City, Ashland, Elkhart, Hanston, and Jetmore 155 PM CDT Wed Aug 12 2026 /1255 PM MDT Wed Aug 12 2026/ ...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 9 PM CDT /8 PM MDT/ THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Heat index values up to 105. * WHERE...Portions of southwest and west central Kansas. * WHEN...Until 9 PM CDT /8 PM MDT/ this evening. * IMPACTS...Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. && $$ JJOHNSON
1 follow-up statement
895 WWUS73 KDDC 130552 NPWDDC URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE National Weather Service Dodge City KS 1252 AM CDT Thu Aug 13 2026 KSZ066-081-090-140200- /O.CON.KDDC.XH.W.0004.260813T1700Z-260814T0200Z/ Stafford-Pratt-Barber- Including the cities of Medicine Lodge, Kiowa, Stafford, Pratt, St. John, and Macksville 1252 AM CDT Thu Aug 13 2026 ...EXTREME HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Dangerously hot conditions with heat index values up to 110 expected. * WHERE...Barber, Pratt, and Stafford Counties. * WHEN...From noon today to 9 PM CDT this evening. * IMPACTS...Heat related illnesses increase significantly during extreme heat and high humidity events. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. && $$ KSZ031-046-065-079-080-089-140200- /O.CON.KDDC.HT.Y.0021.260813T1700Z-260814T0200Z/ Ellis-Rush-Pawnee-Edwards-Kiowa-Comanche- Including the cities of Greensburg, Coldwater, Hays, Kinsley, Pfeifer, Haviland, Protection, Lake Coldwater, Lewis, Larned, and La Crosse 1252 AM CDT Thu Aug 13 2026 ...HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TODAY TO 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING... * WHAT...Heat index values up to 107 expected. * WHERE...Ellis, Rush, Comanche, Edwards, Kiowa, and Pawnee Counties. * WHEN...From noon today to 9 PM CDT this evening. * IMPACTS...Hot temperatures and high humidity may cause heat illnesses. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... Drink plenty of fluids, stay in an air-conditioned room, stay out of the sun, and check up on relatives and neighbors. && $$ BURGERT
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before this heat advisory went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Dodge City, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before this heat advisory went out at Aug 12, 12:25 PM CDT, 1 hour 30 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
- Thunderstorm chances (30-50%) return Thursday night.
- Hot temperatures again Thursday, though an advancing weak cold front may keep afternoon highs topped off in the 90s.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 12, 12:25 PM CDT, 1 hour 30 minutes before
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Dodge City KS 1225 PM CDT Wed Aug 12 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Thunderstorm chances (30-50%) return Thursday night. - Hot temperatures again Thursday, though an advancing weak cold front may keep afternoon highs topped off in the 90s. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 1219 PM CDT Wed Aug 12 2026 WV imagery indicates upper level ridging transitioning east through the Western High Plains. Near the surface, a lee side trough of low pressure remains anchored in extreme southeast Colorado. Relatively dry conditions are expected to persist early in the period with the SREF indicating an upper level ridge transitioning slowly east into the Central Plains Thursday, giving way to a southwesterly flow aloft across the Western High Plains. The overall pattern becomes more active Thursday evening into early Friday as a southwesterly flow aloft slowly develops in wake of departing ridge aloft. Near the surface, a developing low in southeast Colorado this evening is projected to push slowly into southwest Kansas early Thursday morning ahead of an approaching weak cold front that is expected to stall out somewhere across southwest/central Kansas by Thursday afternoon. Meanwhile, a return flow will enhance moisture advection into central Kansas and wrap around the low into western Kansas, pushing surface dewpoints well up into the 60s(F) and providing ample instability. This will set the stage for thunderstorm development late afternoon/early evening as H5 vort maxima associated with an upper level shortwave lifts northeast out of the Desert Southwest into the Western High Plains, interacting with the aforementioned stalled boundary. The latest HREF suggests the best chance for thunderstorms to be across west central Kansas into extreme southwest Kansas where there is a 20-40% probability of 6-hr QPF exceeding 0.25 of an inch by late Thursday evening. A similar setup is forecast Friday with little movement to the stalled boundary expected. Unseasonably warm temperatures are forecast again tonight for south central Kansas and portions of southwest Kansas, but a weak cold front moving in from the northwest may help drop temperatures back near seasonal levels in west central Kansas and extreme southwest Kansas. This is supported by the HREF showing a 70-90% probability of temperatures slipping below 70F in our west/northwest. Lows generally down into the 70s(F) can be expected elsewhere. The front will also have an effect on afternoon highs out west where the HREF paints a 20-40% probability of temperatures exceeding 90F while pointing to a 40-60% probability of topping 100F in south central Kansas. A similar temperature range is expected Friday with little movement to the stalled boundary. && .AVIATION /18Z TAFS THROUGH 18Z THURSDAY/... Issued at 1106 AM CDT Wed Aug 12 2026 VFR conditions will prevail in vicinity of all TAF sites through early Thursday. Southerly winds 10 to 20kt with gusts up to 25kt through late afternoon will begin to subside generally after 00-02Z as a lee side trough in eastern Colorado begins to edge east into extreme southwest Kansas. && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Heat Advisory until 9 PM CDT /8 PM MDT/ this evening for KSZ030-031-043>046-061>065-074>080-084>089. Extreme Heat Warning until 9 PM CDT this evening for KSZ066- 081-090. && DISCUSSION...JJohnson AVIATION...JJohnson
The office that day
Everything else NWS Dodge City, KS issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 12, 1:37 AM CDT | Extreme Heat Warning | DDC | Barber, Pratt, Stafford | 19 hr |
| Aug 12, 1:28 PM CDT | Extreme Heat Warning | DDC | Barber, Pratt, Stafford | 32 hr |
Nearby
Sources
The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.