Drought conditions continued across the region as rainfall remained below seasonal normals. Exceptional drought (D4) or Extreme drought (D3) remained over most of southern Kansas during the month of December 2022.
Every event with a place to put it; 24 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS ICT wrote it up.
Drought conditions continued across the region as rainfall remained below seasonal normals. Exceptional drought (D4) or Extreme drought (D3) remained over most of southern Kansas during the month of December 2022.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Wichita, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 30, 11:32 PM CST, 28 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Wichita KS 1132 PM CST Wed Nov 30 2022 .SHORT TERM...(This evening through Friday night) Issued at 313 PM CST Wed Nov 30 2022 Currently have an upper trough extending from the Great Lakes into the Ohio Valley with water vapor imagery showing a weak upper impulse lifting into the Desert Southwest. At the surface, high is centered over eastern KS/eastern OK with lee troughing starting to strengthen. Southwest flow aloft will steadily increase tonight into Thu as a sharp upper trough digs across the Pacific Northwest. This will result in the surface high quickly shifting east as lee troughing continues to increase. This setup will also bring an increase in south winds for Thu afternoon and a return to seasonal temps. We are looking for south winds Thu afternoon in the 25 to 30mph range with gusts around 40 mph. By Fri morning the shortwave will be swinging across the Northern/Central Rockies and out into the Northern/Central Plains by late Fri afternoon. This will allow a cold front to surge south across the region but ahead of it, we are once again looking for strong south and southwest winds across the area. Be sure to check out the fire wx section below as strong winds and low RH's will bring elevated fire conditions both Thu and Fri. Temps on Fri will be well above normal, especially with the help of great downslope conditions. Highs should top out in the 60s to around 70 degrees. Normal highs for this time of year are around 50 degrees. .LONG TERM...(Saturday through Wednesday) Issued at 313 PM CST Wed Nov 30 2022 By early Sat morning the cold front will be situated well south of the forecast area, down across south TX, with a strong surface high over the Plains. This will provide below normal temps for Sat with highs not expected to make it out of the 40s. A fast moving upper impulse is forecast to quickly lift out of the Desert Southwest and across the Southern Plains for Sun. However, any precip associated with this feature should remain south of the forecast area. For Mon, the better precip chances will once again remain south and especially southeast of the forecast area along a warm front that will be slowly lifting north. Temps for both Sun and Mon are expected to moderate back to seasonal normals with highs in the lower 50s. Both ECMWF and GFS are hinting at another cold front moving through on Tue which would bring back some below normal readings. && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Thursday night) Issued at 1132 PM CST Wed Nov 30 2022 Increasing south winds overnight in response to the deepening lee side trof. Low level wind shear conditions developing at the start of the valid period and continuing thru mid-morning on Thursday for locations along/west of I-135. Strongest surface winds expected during Thursday afternoon. A batch of patchy dense cirrus is expected with respect to clouds thru Thursday morning with some alto or stratocu moving into southeast Kansas Thursday evening. KED && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 313 PM CST Wed Nov 30 2022 Very high grassland fire danger is expected for both Thu and especially Fri. South winds will be on the increase starting Thu, with sustained speeds in the 25-30mph range with gusts to 40mph likely. RH values Thu afternoon are forecast to be in the 30 to 35% range. South winds are also expected to stay up Thu night. For Fri, south winds will gradually turn to the southwest by early afternoon and then west by the late afternoon hours. Wind speeds will be similar to Thu, with sustained speeds 25-30mph with higher gusts. RH values for Fri afternoon will be higher for areas along and east of I-135 where values of 40%-50% will be likely. However, west of I-135, RH values will be in the 20-30% range. One limiting factor to an extreme fire wx event looks to be that ERC percentiles are much lower than they were a month or so ago, likely due to recent rains. The higher values are generally west of our forecast area. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Wichita-KICT 26 51 39 68 / 0 0 0 0 Hutchinson 25 52 37 68 / 0 0 0 0 Newton 25 51 39 67 / 0 0 0 0 ElDorado 25 50 39 67 / 0 0 0 0 Winfield-KWLD 26 51 41 68 / 0 0 0 0 Russell 25 55 37 69 / 0 0 0 0 Great Bend 27 55 37 70 / 0 0 0 0 Salina 24 53 38 69 / 0 0 0 0 McPherson 24 52 37 67 / 0 0 0 0 Coffeyville 25 51 42 66 / 0 0 0 0 Chanute 23 51 41 65 / 0 0 0 0 Iola 23 50 40 64 / 0 0 0 0 Parsons-KPPF 24 51 42 65 / 0 0 0 0 && .ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...None. && SHORT TERM...RBL LONG TERM...RBL AVIATION...KED FIRE WEATHER...RBL
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Wichita KS 341 AM CST Wed Nov 30 2022 KSZ032-033-047>053-067>072-082-083-091>096-098>100-010945- Russell-Lincoln-Barton-Ellsworth-Saline-Rice-McPherson-Marion-Chase- Reno-Harvey-Butler-Greenwood-Woodson-Allen-Kingman-Sedgwick-Harper- Sumner-Cowley-Elk-Wilson-Neosho-Chautauqua-Montgomery-Labette- 341 AM CST Wed Nov 30 2022 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of Central Kansas, South Central Kansas and Southeast Kansas. .DAY ONE...Tonight No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday Very high grassland fire danger is expected area wide on Thursday afternoon due to strong south winds and low daytime humidity levels. Dangerous fire conditions will also be in place on Friday afternoon and early evening as south and southwest winds remain strong. Very high grassland fire danger is expected area wide with a few counties along and west of Highway 14 possibly reaching the extreme category. There will be a chance for a rain-snow mix Saturday night over southern Kansas with no accumulation expected. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated tonight. && For a graphical version of this information, see our webpage at: https://weather.gov/crh/ghwo?sid=ict
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
24 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Extreme drought (D3) continued across the county, with Exceptional drought (D4) over the southern half of the county.
Exceptional Drought (D4) continued for the first part of the month. But there was some minor improvement during the end of the month, leading to of the county falling into Extreme (D3) drought.
Extreme drought (D3) continued across the entire county due to continued below normal rainfall.
Extreme drought (D3) continued across the entire county due to continued below normal rainfall.
Extreme Drought (D3) continued across the southwestern half of the county, due to continued below normal rainfall. Severe drought (D2) was found elsewhere.
Extreme drought (D3) continued across the entire county due to continued below normal rainfall.
Extreme drought (D3) continued across the county, with Exceptional drought (D4) over the southern half of the county.
Severe drought (D2) continued over the southwestern portion of the county.
Severe drought (D2) continued for most of the county, except southwestern sections which saw Extreme drought (D3).
Extreme drought (D3) continued across the county. Eisenhower National Airport only reported 0.93 inches of precipitation, which was 0.29 inches below normal.
Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county.
Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county.
Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county. There was some minor improvement to Extreme drought (D3) for northern sections of the county.
Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county.
Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county.
Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county.
Extreme drought (D3) continued across the northern half of the county, with Exceptional Drought (D4) across the southern half of the county. There was some improvement to the drought for northern sections of the county to Severe Drought (D2).
Extreme drought (D3) continued across the northern half of the county, with Exceptional Drought (D4) across the southern half of the county, there was some improvement to northeastern sections of the county, to Severe drought (D2).
Extreme Drought (D3) continued across the county.
Exceptional Drought (D4) continued across the county.
Extreme drought (D3) continued over most of the county. The only exception was over southern portions of the county where Exceptional drought (D4) was found.
Extreme drought (D3) continued across the region.
Extreme drought (D3) improved to Severe drought (D2) due to much needed rainfall during the month.
Severe drought (D2) continued over the southwest portion of the county.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, December 2022
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1072096, 1072727, 1072728, 1072730, 1072731, 1072733, 1072735, 1072736, 1072737, 1072738, 1072739, 1072740, 1072741, 1072742, 1072743, 1072744, 1072745, 1072747, 1072757, 1072759, 1072764, 1072765, 1072767, 1072768.