Snow to fall in parts of central Kansas and Wichita. Here’s when and how much

The storm moving across the state shouldn’t affect evening commuters on Wednesday — at least not in Wichita — but it could affect driving conditions Thursday morning.

It’s also will be cold.

Wichita is forecast to see less than a couple inches of snow. It is expected to start falling around 6 p.m. Wednesday and continue into the night. Increasing winds could also reduce visibility Wednesday evening, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Kevin Darmofal.

“It won’t be very pleasant to be out traveling tomorrow night,” he said.

Areas to the north and northwest of Wichita, where snowfall is going to be higher, could see snow in time to affect Wednesday evening commutes, as the storm moves from the Southern Plains and Rockies to the east and northeast across the state.

Western and north-central Kansas, southeast Nebraska and into Iowa should see some of the bigger bands of snow. In the NWS Wichita coverage area, some of the highest snowfall amounts should be in the area close to I-70.

Salina and Russell are forecast to see between 4-6 inches of snow.

Around Wichita, the wind chill Thursday morning is expected to make it feel like temperatures are in the single digits. The morning low is forecast to be around 19 degrees, with a high Thursday of around 34 degrees. Winds should be in the 20s-30s with gusts around 40 mph.

The strong winds are supposed to decline throughout Thursday.

So far, February has been a dry and warm month.

Before Tuesday’s rain, Wichita had seen only .03 inches of precipitation for the month, about a half-inch below normal, Darmofal said. Tuesday brought 0.31 inches of rain.

This winter has had 5 inches of snow compared with the normal 8.6 inches.

Remnants of the impending snowstorm should melt as Friday starts a warming trend. Sunday is forecast to have a high in the 60s.

So far in February, temperatures have been below normal. The second half of the month is trending to more normal and below normal temperatures, Darmofal said.

The second half of February has average highs in the upper 40s. This year, temperatures are expected to be lower than that.