FXUS63 KICT 060726 AFDICT Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Wichita KS 226 AM CDT Wed May 6 2026 .KEY MESSAGES... - Light rain showers, especially this morning, with the better chances shifting west by the late morning hours. - Unseasonably cool today and tonight with some record lows possible Thursday morning. - Warm-up will start Thursday and continue through Saturday with storm chances returning to the area by early Saturday evening. && .DISCUSSION... Issued at 226 AM CDT Wed May 6 2026 Currently have a shortwave trough digging across the Northern/Central Rockies with a southern stream impulse stretching from the Desert Southwest into the Four Corners region. At the surface, the strong cold front that moved through Mon night is situated from central AR into west TX. Light/moderate rain that is affecting the area looks to be the result of isentropic lift along the 295K surface which is generally in the 725-780mb range. This area of precip will continue to shift east this morning with the majority of it out of the forecast area a few hours after sunrise. With the main vort max diving south across CO today, it is still looking like the better precip chances will be over western and parts of central KS. Precip in this area will also be aided by persistent upslope flow today. So current thinking is that the western portion of our forecast area will have the higher rainfall chances today. Shortwave energy will continue to slide southeast this evening, pushing the better rainfall chances out of our forecast area. Northwest flow aloft will setup over the Plains for Thu with some weak upper energy set to track out of the Northern Rockies and across the central Plains Thu evening, with any precip it generates expected to stay north of the area. We look to stay in northwest flow aloft through the weekend with a more robust upper wave set to move out into the Central Plains by early Sat evening. This will bring our next chance for storms with most of the activity east of the forecast area by Sun morning. As far as temps go, still expecting highs today to stay in the 50s for most locations with overnight lows falling to near record values as they sink into the 30s. Most record lows Thu morning are in the low and mid 30s, which is very close to what we are forecasting. So this will be something we need to keep an eye on. We will get back into the low 70s for Thu with widespread mid and upper 80s by Sat. Sunday will be slightly cooler, but highs will still be a couple degrees above normal. && .AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z THURSDAY/... Issued at 1054 PM CDT Tue May 5 2026 Overcast skies will continue through much of the forecast time frame with scattered showers into the day on Wednesday. Cigs will fall to MVFR levels over the next few hours with IFR levels possible for RSL and GBD between 11-15Z. Ceilings will lift to VFR levels beginning after 21Z for south-central Kansas sites and after 00Z for central Kansas sites. Clearing skies are anticipated towards the very end of the forecast period. && .ICT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && $$ DISCUSSION...RBL AVIATION...AMD