The unpredictable monster that is Kansas weather reared its ugly head this week when, what started out as a warm and sunny Monday quickly turned frigid as temperatures plummeted by almost 20 degrees as the sun sank into the horizon.

As the evening progressed, wind speeds picked up, with gusts reaching over 40 mph at times. Reports of power outages rolled in from North Topeka, where Walmart, Sonic and Dillon’s all reported losing electricity for a short period of time. Westar Energy blamed the outages on the high-velocity gusts. The high winds also caused minor property damage in areas of the Capital City.

The National Weather Service in Topeka has forecast that cold weather will remain in the area through the weekend with temperatures falling to the low teens at night and topping out in the mid-to-high 30s. Saturday will see a slight chance for rain and snow.