High temperatures didn’t quite reach the forecast projections Tuesday, so heat index readings weren’t quite as impressive as expected.
Emporia’s high temperature got to 88 degrees, off slightly from the 92 that was anticipated — meaning the peak heat index was 100 degrees instead of the 105 in the forecast.
Wednesday’s forecast has warmer conditions — a high of 93 — but also slightly drier conditions, although that still means a potential peak heat index of 101 by late afternoon.
Wednesday’s forecast also brings another potential round of severe weather to the area.National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Wolters is expecting another potential round of severe weather developing across the area by mid- to late afternoon, possibly affecting area counties into the mid-evening hours.
There is a slight to enhanced risk for severe weather involving area counties, with areas along and east of a line from Council Grove to Saffordville to Olpe to Burlington in the enhanced risk. All hazards are possible Wednesday.
Thursday has a marginal risk for the area, with hail and wind the main concerns areawide and a non-zero tornado risk just east of the Kansas Turnpike. Aside from Friday, there is a storm chance all the way through Monday, and Wolters says the weekend could see some heavy rainfall on top of ground that’s saturated or nearly saturated after rainfall the past week — including 1-3.50 inches of rain Monday night. The Weather Service Forecast Points information page indicates 2 inches or more are possible for Emporia this upcoming weekend.
Meanwhile, utility companies serving the KVOE listening area have largely completed their power restoration work after the damaging storms from Monday night, including 80 mph wind gusts in several locations. Evergy reports a handful of small-scale outages along Kansas Highway 31 in and near Harveyville, as well as a few outages on US Highway 56 near Burlingame and a handful of outages near Kansas Highway 58 east of Madison. 4 Rivers and Flint Hills Rural have cleared their outages from Monday night. There were about 3,000 total customers offline shortly after 12 am Tuesday as a direct result of storm activity.
Get updates on KVOE, KVOE.com and KVOE social media.
