Kansas Weather March 5 Midday - Red Flag Warning

Good afternoon. Kansas. I'm Aaron Jolly. Step outside and you're looking at 50 degrees under gray skies. Feels almost spring-like. Don't get too comfortable. In the next 24 hours. Tonight kicks off 24 hours of serious weather. First wave hits late evening — thunderstorms fire up across southern Kansas around 9 P.M. and push northeast through the night. We're talking ping pong ball hail and wind gusts hitting 55 to 65 miles an hour. South central and southeast Kansas take the brunt between 9 P.M. and 3 A.M. If you're in that zone, have multiple ways to get warnings. Friday morning those storms clear out. Then it gets interesting. Another round develops late afternoon as a cold front barrels through. Dewpoints climb into the low 60s, creating an unstable mess. But here's the wildcard — morning clouds may limit heating, which makes the forecast tricky. If discrete storms fire ahead of the front between 4 and 7 P.M., all bets are off. Very large hail, damaging winds, tornadoes — the full menu. More likely scenario is a line of storms along the front Friday evening with damaging winds and embedded spin-ups. Either way. Friday evening demands your full attention. Behind that front, reality crashes back in. Saturday highs only hit the mid 50s after lows in the 30s. Welcome back to early March. But it doesn't last. Sunday warms to the upper 60s. Monday could flirt with record territory in the upper 70s. Quick look ahead — dry through Monday, then another storm system approaches Tuesday with renewed severe potential. Stay weather aware tonight and especially tomorrow evening. Keep that phone charged. For the extended outlook, check the latest forecast as confidence improves. That's your forecast — we'll be back tomorrow.