‘Dress appropriately’: Kansas City dives into deep freeze as bitter cold bursts in
A cold front shoved through the Kansas City area overnight, bringing bitter cold and rapidly falling temperatures and wind chills, according to the National Weather Service.
The metro has likely seen the warmest part of the day, and while temperatures might rise a few degrees by Saturday afternoon, they will still remain below freezing.
At Kansas City International Airport, the temperature was 32 degrees shortly before midnight. By 6 a.m., it fell to 17 degrees. With winds gusting up to 35 mph, the wind chill value dropped to zero degrees.
“Something tells us there is potential for lots of people to be outside today for extended periods of time, so be prepared and dress appropriately!” the National Weather Service said.
Tens of thousands of fans will descend upon Arrowhead Stadium for the Kansas City Chiefs-Houston Texans AFC divisional playoff game, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m.
They can expect temperatures to be in the lower 20s with wind chill values ranging from the single digits to the lower teens for most of the day, the weather service said. Kansas City’s temperatures typically average around 38 degrees this time of year.
The weather service advised people to be mindful of the signs of hypothermia, which include confusion, shivering, difficulty speaking, sleepiness and stiff muscles.
Colder weather still to come
“Temperatures and wind chills will only get colder Sunday through Tuesday with minimum wind chills between -5 and -20 each morning,” the weather service said.
The weather service said another influx of arctic air will send temperatures tumbling into the single digits overnight.
While the winds should calm down, gusts around 10 mph and gusts up to 20 mph will yield wind chills below zero, as cold as 10 to 15 degrees below zero near the Iowa border, the weather service said.
On Sunday, temperatures will struggle to reach the lower teens during the day and will fall to near zero overnight.
Temperatures on Martin Luther King Jr. Day will rebound to the upper teens before plunging to below zero overnight. Snow is possible in Kansas on Monday.
“It is possible that this makes it as far east as the Missouri border, but for now we have kept the forecast dry,” the weather service said.
Slightly warmer weather is expected Tuesday, with temps reaching 22 degrees during the day.
The weather service said dangerous wind chills between -5 and -20 degrees are expected each morning from Sunday through Tuesday.
Temperatures should rebound to near normal on Wednesday, with the warm weather continuing through Friday.
