Rain

A potent winter storm will plow out into the Plains Friday night into Saturday bringing our area rain and measurable snow. Friday will be chilly with more clouds than sunshine along and afternoon highs in the mid to upper-30s. Rain will move into eastern Kansas late Friday night. Freezing rain will also be possible over extreme western and northern Kansas. The transition from rain/freezing rain to snow will take place early Saturday morning followed by periods of moderate to heavy snow through the afternoon across the west.

A strong winter storm will plow out into the Plains by Saturday bringing the state a mix of rain, light freezing rain and snow. Rain will develop across eastern Kansas tonight. Rain changing to some freezing drizzle/light freezing rain will also be possible over parts of western and northern Kansas before transitioning to snow early Saturday morning.  Snow will be moderate to heavy at times through the afternoon across portions of western and northern Kansas. It will be accompanied by gusty, north winds so some blowing and drifting is possible.  Meanwhile, rain will continue over central and eastern Kansas during the day but could briefly change to snow Saturday night before ending.

A viewer recently asked....When the weather reporter forecasts rain...and we get a trace or a sprinkle, does he credit himself for a correct forecast? The answer is...not really. Our meteorologists don't really keep a running scoreboard of hits and misses. That is made nearly impossible by the fact that our Storm Team 12 weather team has to cover most of Kansas as well as parts of Oklahoma, Colorado and Nebraska. It's common for one of those areas to get quite a bit of rain, while others get just a sprinkle and some none at all. The rain totals can even vary quite a bit across an area the size of Wichita.

Wichita city crews are preparing to hit the streets as the winter storm approaches. Aaron Henning, city maintenance engineer, said he expects workers to head out sometime Saturday morning to treat Wichita roads. About 60 trucks are ready to roll. "When there's rain in the forecast, or there's a good chance of rain preceding snow, we try not to pre-treat because of the chance that it's just going to all wash away with the rain," Henning said. "We want to make the most of that material and the time that we spend to apply it. " Henning said he does not expect road conditions to be too treacherous, as long as the temperatures stay above freezing.

By Kim Hynes (HAYSVILLE, Kan.) Strong winds are blowing away the chances of a good fall harvest. Farmers in south central Kansas are hoping Mother Nature start cooperating soon. Farmer Bob Hay says he hasn't seen this much wind and lack of rain in a long time. Normally he says it's hard to get into the fields in April because of all of the moisture. He says this year they've been able to plant, but there's hardly any moisture in the ground. "Rain makes grain so that's what we have to have," Hay said.

The next couple of days will be very quiet leading up to a winter storm that will be coming through the Plains on Friday. Skies will turn partly cloudy tonight but dry weather should continue. There will not be much wind in the area tonight. Expect a mostly sunny sky for Wednesday with highs near 60 to kick off the month of February. Light winds are expected statewide. Clouds roll in on Thursday and the approaching storm will bring rain and some thunderstorms to the area Thursday night.

"Santa Fe lake is normally around 200 acres, right now it's near 50 acres," explains Rod Davis. He's the caretaker at the lake, just west of Augusta. And last week, the lake was the lowest level he's ever seen it. "Looking at the records, it seems like the 80's were the last time it got this low. " Last Thursday's temperatures were in the 90's. That would normally mean boats, jet skis and swimmers on the lake's beaches - but after a year of very little rain, there were none.

We'll see mostly sunny across the state this afternoon as high clouds continue to drift in from west to east.  Highs will top out in the lower 50s. Clouds will be on the increase tonight and especially on Tuesday as the next storm system approaches.  Rain chances will enter the picture Tuesday night into Wednesday.  There will be a little light snow too in a few areas. Warmer weather will return Thursday and Friday. __________________ Wichita Area Forecast: This afternoon :  Mostly sunny with a diminishing wind.  Wind: NW/SW 10-20.  High: 53. Tonight :  Partly cloudy.  Wind: SW/SE 5-15.  Low: 30. Tomorrow :  Turning cloudy by afternoon.  Wind: SE 10-20.  High: 54. Tomorrow night :  Cloudy with rain developing, possibly mixing with snowflakes late.  Wind: SE/NE 5-15.  Low: 33. Wed :  High:  49       Morning light snow/rain then mostly cloudy.

"The rain played some interesting tricks on us yesterday," says Kyle Lindsted. Trickier still, the wet gravel and puddles Kyle Lindsted and his crew have to work around Monday as they pack up. Fortunately, the number of boxes is few. "We worked up a sweat on the register last night, we had so many people here at certain points," says Lindsted. Kyle tells us when the rain stopped the tent was full but when there was a downpour the tent was empty again and he suspects when it was raining they lost about a thousand dollars an hour in sales.

     It's not what Maroun Faissal expected to do this weekend.      But survival training exercises are part of his job.      "We're don't run calls all twenty-four hours so in our down time we practice," says Maroun Faissal.      And Station 34 has had a lot of down time this Forth of July.      "It's not going to be near as busy as it has been," says David Matthew.      Typically, emergency calls on Independence Day keep crews out all day.      Sunday, boots and trucks are ready with no where to go.      Sedgwick County Fire Departments were expecting a lot of calls this weekend with new fireworks laws and the anticipation of warmer weather but once they saw the forecast any additional crews they were going to bring in were sent home.