The temperature in Dodge City hit 106 on Thursday, marking the 44th day that highs hit the century mark in the old cowtown.
The old mark for most 100s in one year was 42, set in 1934. Records in Dodge City date back to November 1874.
Another temperature topping 100 is expected today in Dodge.
Winds as strong as 75 miles an hour tore roofs from buildings in Butler County, thanks to an isolated thunderstorm that fired up southwest of Wichita Wednesday night.
The thunderstorm didn’t bring much rain to the Wichita metropolitan area – only .08 of an inch fell at the National Weather Service’s official recording station next to Mid-Continent Airport – but there were several reports in Sedgwick, Butler and Sumner counties of winds between 60 and 70 miles an hour. The Viola Fire Department reported 75 mile-an-hour winds just before 7 p.m.
“It was one of those you’re not expecting,” said Scott Smith, a meteorologist with the Wichita branch of the weather service. “Everything came together just right for it to build.”
Winds of about 70 miles an hour peeled the roof off the recreation center building in Rose Hill, officials said, and two barns lost their roofs about two miles east of Rose Hill. Numerous trees, fences and tree limbs were reported down in Rose Hill, and a tree fell on a house in the town, damaging windows and siding.
Strong winds were also reported near Clearwater in Sumner County. The heaviest rain reported from the storm, Smith said, was 1.67 inches in Conway Springs.
“It was a lone thunderstorm that popped up and sat in Harper County for a while, and then slowly moved east-northeast,” bringing strong winds with it, Smith said.
In other words, he said, it was a classic late-summer thunderstorm.
Triple-digit temperatures are making an encore appearance to southern Kansas over the next couple of days, forecasters say.
Highs topping 100 are expected today and Friday across the region, with heat values today as high as 107. A heat advisory is in effect for 11 counties of southern and central Kansas from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. today.
Winds will be out of the south-southeast in the teens, with gusts topping 20 miles an hour. Overnight lows will bottom out in the low 70s, and Friday’s high under sunny skies could reach 102.
For more information on current conditions, go to our weather page.