Summer of 2022: Temperature rankings for 40 locations in Kansas

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In this report, we take a final look at the heat of 2022 by the numbers. Specifically, we look at the occurrence of highs of at least 90° and 100°F at 40 sites across Kansas, an update to an earlier report. The counts presented in this article are current as of October 9. While it is still possible that these counts could change slightly if there is a period of unseasonably hot weather between now and the end of the year, the numbers should not change much from the totals listed in Table 1.

As of September 30, this year ranks as the 30^th warmest out of the last 128 years, dating back to 1895. Within that period, June 1 to August 31, normally the hottest part of any given year, 2022 ranks as 18^th warmest. Given these high rankings, it should be no surprise that there were more 90°-days than normal at all 40 locations. While there were no new records for the most 90°-days in a year, the 2022 counts were top 10 at almost half of the sites, including all of the northwest, southwest, and south central Kansas sites selected for this report. Dodge City came within one of tying their record of 102 90°-days. Healy, Ashland and Syracuse also had their 2^nd highest number of 90°-days on record, but in all three cases, those counts were at least half a dozen shy of the all-time marks. Still, Ashland’s count of 113 days of 90°-days was the highest of any location in the state, four ahead of second place Liberal with 109 days. Russell, Hutchinson, Wichita, and Chanute all finished in the top 5. Northeast Kansas was the only region where none of the sites’ counts were in the top 10.

At the 100° threshold, eleven of the 40 sites had counts in the top 10 all-time for their respective locations. Healy once again came in 2^nd; their count of 47 days was one shy of their record set in 2012, but was the highest count in 2022 for any site in Kansas. Other locations where the counts of 100°-days ranked in the top 10 include Colby, Oakley, Ashland, and Winfield. Lawrence failed to reach 100°; their highest reading of 2022 was 98° on July 15, 21 and 23. Washington, Horton and Garnett had just one day with a high at or above 100°. Unlike the 90° counts, six of the 40 sites had fewer 100°-days than normal. All but one of those six sites are in eastern Kansas.

Table 1. Statistics for the counts of high temperatures at or above 90° and 100°. Average counts for each threshold are based on the period 1991-2020. Maximum annual count and ranks are based on the full period of record. Rank column contains two numbers: 2022’s rank followed by the number of years in the period of record. BOLD entries in the rank columns indicate where 2022 ranks in the top 20% of all years.

Northwest		≥ 90°F				≥ 100°F
Town	County	Avg	Max	2022	Rank	Avg	Max	2022	Rank
Atwood	Rawlins	62	97	87	7/96	14	50	38	5/96
Colby	Thomas	58	92	80	8/128	9	47	24	10/128
Goodland	Sherman	52	91	75	11/111	6	40	17	12/111
Hill City	Graham	69	103	89	9/96	17	51	34	9/96
North Central		≥ 90°				≥ 100°
Town	County	Avg	Max	2022	Rank	Avg	Max	2022	Rank
Clay Center	Clay	56	101	66	51/121	8	67	10	61/121
Concordia	Cloud	50	83	78	6/138	7	46	17	21/138
Minneapolis	Ottawa	69	110	89	14/127	14	62	22	40/127
Smith Center	Smith	61	96	77	17/83	12	50	23	16/83
Washington	Washington	55	103	56	39/70	7	33	1	60/70
Northeast		≥ 90°				≥ 100°
Town	County	Avg	Max	2022	Rank	Avg	Max	2022	Rank
Holton	Jackson	38	81	56	16/73	4	39	2	31/73
Horton	Brown	43	82	49	47/130	4	51	1	66/130
Manhattan	Riley	59	100	58	66/128	10	64	3	91/128
Marysville	Marshall	45	83	57	21/72	5	31	3	45/72
Wamego	Pottawatomie	49	98	57	45/108	6	57	3	64/108
West Central		≥ 90°				≥ 100°
Town	County	Avg	Max	2022	Rank	Avg	Max	2022	Rank
Healy	Lane	71	111	105	2/122	15	48	47	2/122
Oakley	Logan	60	99	81	17/102	11	42	29	7/102
Tribune	Greeley	65	91	71	32/113	12	39	12	43/113
WaKeeney	Trego	66	92	83	9/118	14	47	31	6/118
Hays	Ellis	66	97	90	8/129	15	54	31	16/129
Central		≥ 90°				≥ 100°
Town	County	Avg	Max	2022	Rank	Avg	Max	2022	Rank
Lincoln	Lincoln	69	130	82	35/111	17	62	19	57/111
McPherson	McPherson	64	121	84	18/130	11	68	25	20/130
Russell	Russell	64	95	86	5/73	13	43	27	7/73
Salina	Saline	69	103	83	23/118	16	63	22	34/118
East Central		≥ 90°				≥ 100°
Town	County	Avg	Max	2022	Rank	Avg	Max	2022	Rank
Emporia	Lyon	44	99	75	13/132	5	64	16	17/132
Garnett	Anderson	46	101	59	20/82	4	48	1	43/82
Lawrence	Douglas	43	93	46	61/119	5	58	0	76/119
Topeka	Shawnee	50	92	72	17/136	6	59	10	31/136
Southwest		≥ 90°				≥ 100°
Town	County	Avg	Max	2022	Rank	Avg	Max	2022	Rank
Ashland	Clark	84	127	113	2/123	23	67	43	9/123
Dodge City	Ford	71	102	101	2/148	14	54	33	6/148
Garden City	Finney	68	100	91	10/133	11	58	24	20/133
Liberal	Seward	80	131	109	7/118	16	52	32	18/118
Syracuse	Hamilton	75	115	106	2/90	14	44	33	13/90
South Central		≥ 90°				≥ 100°
Town	County	Avg	Max	2022	Rank	Avg	Max	2022	Rank
Anthony	Harper	70	113	95	16/114	14	62	23	41/114
Hutchinson	Reno	63	104	96	3/94	11	52	22	22/94
Pratt	Pratt	65	124	103	6/124	13	56	25	29/124
Wichita	Sedgwick	65	101	94	4/134	12	53	27	11/134
Southeast		≥ 90°				≥ 100°
Town	County	Avg	Max	2022	Rank	Avg	Max	2022	Rank
Chanute	Neosho	49	102	97	3/117	5	57	28	8/117
Fort Scott	Bourbon	52	115	70	36/119	6	68	4	64/119
Independence	Montgomery	54	105	87	16/130	6	58	26	15/130
Winfield	Cowley	65	126	99	7/125	12	66	29	10/125

 

Will the high temperatures continue through the fall?

Given such high counts of hot weather days, should we expect a warm fall as well? The latest outlook for the last three months of 2022 (Figure 1) calls for above-normal temperatures. Even with some chilly mornings that brought frost to parts of northwest and northeast Kansas, October is already running above normal; the statewide departure from normal for the first 10 days of October is +1.8°. Much like a football game, there is still a lot of time left on the clock in the fourth quarter, so the outcome may differ from where things stand now, but warm weather appears to be the team to beat at this point.
 

Figure 1. Seasonal temperature look for October-December, 2022. Source: Climate Prediction Center.

 

Matthew Sittel, Assistant State Climatologist
msittel@ksu.edu

Tags:  climate weather hot weather summer