Thursday’s unrealized chance for severe weather won’t return any time soon for the KVOE listening area.
Gusty winds, however, will stay in place into the weekend.
In fact, the National Weather Service has a wind advisory up for Chase and Greenwood counties from 8 am to 7 pm. Wind gusts in those counties could approach 50 mph at times Friday and reach up to 35 mph for Lyon County and other nearby counties.
Saturday could also see wind gusts up to 35 mph before winds gradually ease Sunday into Monday.
Thursday wind gusts were as high as 43 mph at the Emporia Municipal Airport.
The fire danger is already elevated, thanks to ongoing drought conditions. Chase County has been in a near-total burn ban since August. The ban remains until further notice, with the only exception being burns of invasive weeds while wind speeds are under 10 mph. Coffey County has been in a burn ban since Oct. 1.
Also, Lyon, Chase, Coffey, Greenwood and Morris counties have been in a drought emergency as announced by Kansas Governor Laura Kelly since late August. This lets cities and landowners request permission to draw water from state and federal lakes. Most of the KVOE listening area, including much of Lyon, Greenwood and Morris counties, all of Chase and Coffey counties and parts of Osage and Wabaunsee counties are in either extreme or exceptional drought — the worst on the US Drought Monitor scale. The rest of the area is in severe to moderate drought.
Severe storms in north and central Kansas died before getting into the KVOE listening area Friday evening. The current forecast says our next chance of rain involves showers Wednesday through Thursday.
KVOE and KVOE.com will keep you updated.
