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 ...WICHITA WEATHER SUMMARY FOR 2000...



ALTHOUGH THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION FOR 2000 WERE

ONLY SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL...IT CERTAINLY WAS A YEAR OF

EXTREMES FOR WEATHER IN SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS.



THE BIG WEATHER STORY AT THE BEGINNING OF 2000, WAS HOW WARM

AND WET IT WAS. AFTER 8.2 INCHES OF SNOW FELL IN WICHITA ON JANUARY

26TH through the 27TH, IT BROUGHT THE TOTAL SNOWFALL FOR JANUARY TO 10.2

INCHES. THIS MADE JANUARY 2000 THE 9TH SNOWIEST ON RECORD. THE

RECORD IS 19.7 INCHES IN JANUARY 1987. ON JANUARY 3RD 2000, A 40 TO 50

MILE WIDE AREA OF HEAVY SNOW DUMPED 6 TO 13 INCHES ON PARTS OF

BARTON, ELLSWORTH, SALINE, RICE, MARION, RENO AND HAVREY COUNTIES. 54

MPH WINDS WERE RECORDED WITH THE SNOW IN GREAT BEND.



ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION

CONTINUED INTO FEBRUARY. IN FACT, FEBRUARY 2000 HAD AN AVERAGE

TEMPERATURE OF 37.8 DEGREES, MAKING IT THE 8TH WARMEST FEBRUARY

ON RECORD. FEB. 1991 AND 1992 WERE THE WARMEST AT 41 DEGREES. WHILE NO

SIGNIFICANT SNOW FELL IN WICHITA, 2.72 INCHES OF PRECIPITATION

FELL, MAKING FEBRUARY THE 5TH WETTEST ON RECORD. 4.61 INCHES IN

1915 IS THE RECORD FOR FEBRUARY. THE FIRST REPORT OF SEVERE

WEATHER OCCURRED ON THE 7TH OF FEBRUARY, WHEN PENNY SIZE HAIL FELL AT

21ST AND WEST 119TH STREET IN WICHITA.



THE WINTER OF 2000, DECEMBER 1999 THROUGH FEB. 2000, WILL GO DOWN AS THE

2ND WETTEST WINTER ON RECORD, 7.70 INCHES, THANKS TO THE 2ND

WETTEST DECEMBER EVER IN 1999, AND THE 5TH WETTEST FEBRUARY.

THE WETTEST WINTER WAS 1948 to 1949, WHEN 8.34 INCHES OF

PRECIPITATION FELL.



THE ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION PERSISTED INTO MARCH, WHEN

5.99 INCHES WAS RECORDED AT WICHITA. THIS MADE MARCH 2000 THE

3RD WETTEST MARCH ON RECORD. MARCH 1973 WAS THE WETTEST AT 9.17

INCHES.  FROM JAN 1, 2000 THROUGH MARCH 30, 2000, 9.63 INCHES

OF PRECIPITATION WAS RECORDED AT WICHITA. THIS MADE FOR THE WETTEST

FIRST 3 MONTHS OF THE YEAR SINCE 1973, WHEN 13.10 INCHES OF

PRECIPITATION WAS RECORDED. JANUARY  THROUGH MARCH 1973 AND JANUARY THROUGH MARCH 1949,

10.1 INCHES, ARE THE ONLY TWO TIMES IN OUR WEATHER RECORDS THAT

MORE PRECIPITATION FELL THAN IN 2000. MARCH 23RD, 2000 WAS THE

DATE WHEN THE FIRST CONFIRMED TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN THE AREA. IT

WAS AN F0 THAT BRIEFLY TOUCHED DOWN 1 MILE EAST OF PAWNEE ROCK IN

BARTON COUNTY.



IN APRIL 2000, WICHITA EXPERIENCED THEIR FIRST MONTH OF BELOW

NORMAL PRECIPITATION, 1.21 INCHES, SINCE NOVEMBER 1999. IT WAS

ALSO THE FIRST MONTH OF BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES, 55.1 DEGREES,

SINCE SEPTEMBER 1999.



APRIL ALSO BROUGHT THE WORST TORNADO OUTBREAK TO OUR AREA IN 2000.

ON THE 19TH, SIX TORNADOES TOUCHED DOWN BETWEEN 7 AND 9 PM IN

SOUTHEAST KANSAS. THE 2 MAJOR TORNADOES INJURED 30 PEOPLE AND

BROUGHT 71.8 MILLION DOLLARS IN DAMAGE. OF THE 30 INJURIES, A

LARGE MAJORITY WERE MINOR, CUTS FROM FLYING GLASS.

THE STRONGEST TORNADO, F3, WITH 158 TO 206 MPH WINDS, WAS 21 MILES

LONG AND TRACKED ACROSS THE TOWN OF PARSONS. THIS TORNADO CAUSED

70 MILLION DOLLARS IN DAMAGE. PARSONS RESIDENTS HAD 16 MINUTES

LEAD TIME BEFORE THE TORNADO STRUCK. THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF

PEOPLE ATTENDING AN OUTDOOR CARNIVAL IN PARSONS BEFORE THE

TORNADO STRUCK. AN F2 TORNADO, WINDS 113 TO 157 MPH, HIT ERIE. THIS

TORNADO WAS ON THE GROUND FOR 15 MINUTES AND CAUSED 1.8 MILLION

DOLLARS IN DAMAGE.



DESPITE OUR MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURE BEING BELOW NORMAL IN

JULY, 80.3, WICHITA EXPERIENCED OUR FIRST OF 33 DAYS OF 100

DEGREE TEMPERATURES, WHEN THE MERCURY HIT 102 ON JULY 10TH. 100

DEGREE TEMPERATURES OCCURRED FOUR DIFFERENT TIMES IN JULY.



AUGUST 2000 WILL BE REMEMBERED FOR THE HISTORIC HEAT WAVE

THAT BAKED THE AREA. IN WICHITA, WE SET A NEW RECORD FOR 100

DEGREE DAYS IN AUGUST, 23, BEATING THE OLD RECORD OF 22 SET IN

1936. FROM AUGUST 19TH THROUGH SEPT. 3RD, WE MEASURED 16 CONSECUTIVE

DAYS OF 100 DEGREE TEMPERATURES OR GREATER. THIS WAS THE 3RD

LONGEST STREAK IN HISTORY. ONLY JULY 3RD THROUGH 20TH, 1980, 18 DAYS,

AND AUGUST 7TH THROUGH 26TH, 1936, 20 DAYS, WERE LONGER. FOUR STRAIGHT

DAYS OF RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES WERE SET OR TIED FROM AUGUST

24TH THROUGH 27TH. AUGUST 2000 WAS THE SECOND WARMEST ON RECORD,

ONLY AUGUST 1936 WAS WARMER AT 89.0 DEGREES.



IT WAS VERY DRY AS WELL. ONLY 0.14 INCHES OF RAIN WAS

MEASURED AT WICHITA, MAKING IT THE 3RD DRIEST AUGUST ON RECORD.

ONLY 1913, WITH A TRACE OF PRECIPITATION, AND 1936 WITH 0.04

INCHES, HAD DRIER AUGUSTS THAN 2000. CHANUTE AND PARSONS

RECORDED NO PRECIPITATION IN AUGUST 2000. WICHITA WENT 27

CONSECUTIVE DAYS WITHOUT PRECIPITATION...FROM AUGUST 7TH THROUGH

SEPTEMBER 2ND. THIS WAS THE LONGEST STREACK OF DRY WEATHER SINCE

LATE SEPTEMBER TO OCTOBER 1999, 30 DAYS.



THE EXCESSIVE WARMTH CONTINUED INTO SEPTEMBER. WICHITA TIED

THE RECORD FOR MOST 100 DEGREE DAYS IN SEPTEMBER, 6, LAST SET

IN 1985. ON SEPTEMBER 11TH, WICHITA SET A RECORD HIGH OF 106

DEGREES, WHICH WAS THE WARMEST IT'S EVER BEEN SO LATE IN THE

YEAR. DRY WEATHER CONTINUED IN SEPTEMBER, WITH 1.06 INCHES OF

RAINFALL. THE COMBINED AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER RAINFALL TOTAL OF

1.20 INCHES IS THE FOURTH DRIEST AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER ON RECORD.

THE LAST TIME AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER WAS THIS DRY WAS 1956 WHEN

0.73 INCHES OF RAIN FELL, WHICH IS THE RECORD FOR THE DRIEST

AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER. 1.07 INCHES IN AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER 1947, AND 1.12

INCHES IN AUGUST AND SEPTEMBER 1891 WERE DRIER THAN 2000.



OCTOBER 2000 BROUGHT WELCOME RELIEF TO THE DRYNESS WITH 4.82

INCHES OF PRECIPITATION. THIS WAS THE FIRST MONTH WICHITA

EXPERIENCED ABOVE NORMAL PRECIPITATION FOR A MONTH SINCE JULY

2000. ALTHOUGH THE AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE, 61.9, WAS ABOVE

NORMAL, WICHITA SET THREE CONSECUTIVE DAYS OF RECORD LOWS...OCTOBER 8TH, 9TH, AND 10TH. THE LOW ON THE 8TH WAS 26 DEGREES,

MAKING IT THE EARLIEST IT HAS EVER DROPPED BELOW 30 DEGREES! THE

PREVIOUS RECORD WAS OCTOBER 12TH, 1917, WHEN THE LOW WAS 27

DEGREES.



BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES WERE RECORDED IN NOVEMBER 2000.

THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME THE AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE WAS

BELOW NORMAL SINCE JULY 2000. IN FACT, WICHITA WENT 17

CONSECUTIVE DAYS WITH BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES FROM NOVEMBER

6TH THROUGH 22ND. THIS WAS THE LONGEST STREAK OF BELOW NORMAL

TEMPERATURES SINCE APRIL 17TH THROUGH MAY 6TH, 1995, WHEN WE WENT 20

STRAIGHT DAYS WITH BELOW NORMAL TEMPERATURES. COLD WEATHER

PERSISTED INTO DECEMBER. THE AVERAGE TEMPERATURE IN DECEMBER WILL BE

NEAR 24.1 DEGREES...WHICH WILL MAKE DECEMBER 2000 THE 2ND COLDEST

ON RECORD. THE COLDEST DECEMBER OCCURRED IN 1983 WHEN THE AVERAGE

TEMPERATURE WAS 16.4 DEGREES). FROM DECEMBER 17TH THROUGH THE 27TH,

THE TEMPERATURE NEVER EXCEEDED FREEZING. THIS STREAK WAS THE

LONGEST STREAK SINCE DECEMBER 1983, WHEN THERE WERE 18 CONSECUTIVE

DAYS OF TEMPERATURES AT OR BELOW FREEZING FROM THE 14TH THROUGH THE

31ST.



...WEATHER STATISTICS FOR WICHITA IN 2000...



AVERAGE TEMPERATURE: 57.4 DEGREES, WHICH WAS 1.2 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL.

HIGHEST TEMPERATURE: 108 DEGREES ON AUGUST 26 AND 27TH, AND SEPTEMBER 2ND.

LOWEST TEMPERATURE:  0 ON DECEMBER 14TH.



TOTAL PRECIPITATION: 31.82 INCHES, WHICH WAS 2.49 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL.

HIGHEST MONTHLY AMOUNT: 7.00 INCHES IN JUNE.

LEAST IN A MONTH: 0.14 INCHES IN AUGUST.



SNOWFALL: 19.9 INCHES.

MOST IN A MONTH: 10.2 INCHES IN JANUARY.

MOST IN A DAY: 6.7 INCHES ON JANUARY 27.



HIGHEST PEAK WIND GUST: 60 MPH ON MARCH 8TH.