Most Kansans know the weather here can only be described as strange, but Wednesday’s area thunderstorms were considered rare even by area meteorologists.

“I wouldn’t exactly say it’s normal this time of the year,” said 6News meteorologist Tim Reith.

Though local weather reports indicated rain would fall Wednesday, Lisa Lord, a day-care provider in Lawrence, said she didn’t expect the lightning that struck her home in the 4400 block of Wimbledon Drive.

“I know the weather reports said thunderstorms but I didn’t expect it to be this bad,” Lord said. “It’s winter. You don’t usually have thunderstorms in winter.”

Lord said she and the children at her house heard a popping sound. Her daughter, Lisa, came downstairs and said she thought the house had been struck by lightning.

“The kids were all fine, but it scared the dogs,” Lord said.

Lord called the Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical Department. Firefighters came to the house but didn’t find major problems. Lord said some wiring to the house was damaged and a television wasn’t working right.

Lord wasn’t the only person to report a lightning strike. Capt. James King, battalion chief for Fire & Medical, said crews responded to three calls Wednesday of lightning strikes at homes.

“There was little to no damage to the structures,” King said.

A Sunflower School student dashes to catch a bus after class. Storms brought surprise lightning and heavy rain to Lawrence Wednesday.

Rained out

The thunderstorms dumped about a half inch of rain in Lawrence on Wednesday, said 6News meteorologist Jennifer Schack. Before Wednesday, the Douglas County area had received about 2.47 inches of precipitation. This January has been exceptionally wet compared with last January’s precipitation level of 1.12 inches for the entire month and compared with the average precipitation level of 1.25 inches.

The thunderstorms resulted from moisture and humidity being pushed into a large cold front, said Reith and Mike Akulow, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Topeka. The sharp contrast brought thunderstorms, sleet, drizzle and hail. Temperatures across the state Wednesday ranged from 30 to 60 degrees.

“It’s almost a battleground,” Reith said of the weather conditions. “If this was springtime with this activity, this could be the type of situation where we would see several severe storms.”

The storms were expected to clear off Wednesday night, but cold temperatures will strike over the next several days.

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Temperatures should top out in the 20s today. By Friday, highs likely will be in the mid-teens, Reith said.

“It’s hard to warm up with ice on the ground,” Akulow said. “It’s like a deep freeze.”

There is also a small chance of light snow on Friday, Akulow said.