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 30th 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 18th 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 2nd 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 2nd; 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