Strong winds, extreme fire danger, hail in Wichita forecast. Here’s when

Michael Stavola

April 5, 2024 at 1:43 p.m.·2 min read

The unhealthy air quality Wichita is seeing Friday from a prescribed burn in the Flint Hills will be followed Saturday with strong winds with gusts as high as 65 mph.

The “strong winds and dry conditions will support very high to extreme grassland fire danger along and west of the Flint Hills,” the National Weather Service in Wichita said Friday morning. The weather system will make travel difficult and could produce nickel- to quarter-sized hail.

Friday’s air quality was improving throughout the day after the smoke pushed into the area Thursday evening. It was rated “very unhealthy” Friday morning but was at “unhealthy for sensitive groups” at noon as the worst of the bad air moved west across the state, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s air quality map.

On Saturday, the winds are expected to increase from 10 a.m., reach a peak around 4 p.m. and then start to slowly drop, but still remaining high.

A very smoky downtown Wichita on Friday afternoon. The unhealthy air quality is from a prescribed burn in the Flint Hills will be followed Saturday with strong winds with gusts as high as 65 mph.

During the worst of it, the forecast calls for sustained south winds between 30-40 mph and gusts between 50-60 mph, but possibly as high as 65 mph, the NWS said.

One big area of concern for drivers, especially semi trucks, will be along I-70, where strong winds in the past have caused semis to be blown over and the highway to eventually be shut down.

The stormy weather, including possible hail, is most likely between 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday.

Western Kansas is expected to see even sustained winds and gusts on Saturday that will linger until Sunday afternoon. The NWS in Goodland is forecasting gusts up to 70 mph, with possible blowing dust.

Sunday will be windy across the state as well.

In western Kansas, sustained winds in the 40s and gusts above 60 mph are still forecast through noon Sunday before starting to taper off.

Cental Kansas, and around Wichita, is also expected to have high winds on Sunday, with sustained winds in the 20s and gusts around 40 mph. Sunday’s winds are forecast to peak around 3 p.m. before dropping off.

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