A wind advisory is in effect for much of Kansas again today, with sustained winds topping 30 miles an hour and gusts expected to reach 45 mph.
The advisory includes the city of Wichita, and extends until 8 p.m. in the metropolitan area. Advisories blanket the western two-thirds of the state.
The Rangeland Fire Index for this afternoon will be in the “very high” category in the Wichita area, officials say.
Wind gusts of more than 30 miles an hour, humidity readings as low as 40 percent and dormant grass will combine to create an elevated risk of grass and rangeland fires.
Fire officials are urging Sedgwick County residents to be cautious when engaging in outdoor activities such as cooking, welding and metal cutting.
All outdoor burning – including the burning of trash in a barrel – is highly discouraged.
New Hampshire’s Mount Washington has lost its distinction as the site of the fastest wind gust ever recorded on Earth, officials say.
The World Meteorological Organization posted a snippet on its Web site saying a panel of experts reviewing extreme weather and climate data turned up a 253 mph gust on Australia’s Barrow Island during Cyclone Olivia in 1996. That tops the the 231 mph record set atop Mount Washington on April 12, 1934.
“It’s obviously a big disappointment,” Scot Henley, the observatory’s executive director, told the Associated Press. “Having the world record for over six decades was such a part of the soul of this organization and for fans of Mount Washington around the country.”
It’s a wicked winter wind that’s howling this morning. No matter where you may live in Kansas, wind chills are well below zero.
Here are some wind chill readings as of 8:53 a.m., provided by the National Weather Service:
Wichita: -13
Russell: -19
Salina: -18
Great Bend: -15
Concordia: -19
Hays: -18
Goodland: -23
Topeka: -14
Ottawa: -17
Emporia: -17
Dodge City: -17
Kansas City, KS: -12
A reminder: these numbers are from the new wind chill index, which took effect in 2001. A “new” wind chill of -19 equates to a reading of -40 on the old index. A current -14 is the same as -31 on the old chart.
Snowfall totals in northern Kansas are commonly between 7 and 12 inches, with local reports of 15 inches along and north of a line from Herington to Oskaloosa, according to the National Weather Service in Topeka.
South of that line, 4 to 9 inches are widely reported. Northwesterly winds will increase in the region through the night, with steady gales of 20 to 30 mph and gusts of 40 miles an hour.
Blowing and drifting snow will reduce visibility, and wind chills will fall to between -5 and -20.
I smiled last week when the meteorologist hired to provide on-site forecasts for golf tournaments on the Nationwide Tour pointed out that the strong southerly winds that would buffet the tournament at Crestview were a good thing because they would make the hot days more bearable.
It brought back memories for this farm boy of many hot summer days during which we were grateful for any breeze at all.
Locals love to gripe about the Kansas wind, because it is so strong and so persistent. But that wind makes the dog days of summer bearable for farmers, construction workers, roofers and others who spend extended periods outdoors.
And ask Wichita city officials how grateful they were for a hearty breeze when remarkably still conditions early this spring contributed to the city exceeding EPA limits on ozone levels.
I have a tendency to roll my eyes when I hear sportscasters talking about a “strong” wind affecting a football game or golf tournament – and then say it’s blowing at 10 mph.
In Kansas, that’s merely the wind clearing its throat.
The heaviest rain from Monday night’s intense thunderstorms missed the heart of Wichita.
Only .08 of an inch was recorded at the National Weather Service’s official reporting station next to the airport, but nearly an inch was reported three miles southwest of Park City.
Another .67 was reported two miles southwest of Garden Plain and nearly half an inch seven miles northeast of Wichita.
The strongest storm of the day ripped through the Salina area Monday morning. Winds estimated between 80 and 100 miles an hour uprooted trees and snapped power poles in northcentral Kansas, and more than an inch of rain was reported with the storm – including 1.75 inches of rain nearly a mile southwest of Salina, and 1.17 northwest of Smolan.
Nearly an inch fell just east of Lindsborg, and .89 fell nine miles west-southwest of Brookville.
The wind was blowing so hard with the thunderstorm that blasted Salina Monday morning that hail stones skidded sideways across the windows of the First Southern Baptist Church at Ohio and Magnolia.
“The hail was screeching along the window,” church secretary Shirley Train said. “At first we thought someone was screaming.”
The wind and the hail was so loud no one heard the steeple snap off and stab the roof like a spear shortly after 10:30 a.m. Monday, Train said. The tip of the steeple pierced the sanctuary, protruding perhaps six feet past the ceiling tiles.
“The custodian was checking the doorways for water seepage,” Train said. “She came in and said, ‘Shirley, I need your help.’”
The damage is blamed on winds unofficially estimated at 100 miles an hour that blew through Salina with a thunderstorm Monday morning.
The National Weather Service’s official data collection site at the airport on the south side of Salina recorded maximum sustained winds of 69 knots, or about 80 miles an hour, said Dick Elder, meteorologist in charge of the Wichita NWS office.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there were winds approaching 100 miles per hour” in that storm, he said.
Perhaps 15 feet of the five-year-old steeple was snapped off, Train said. It is hollow, so it was serving as a large spout funneling water into the sanctuary.
The sound of dripping water drew the custodian to the sanctuary, where she spotted the damage, Train said. The good news is the unlikely spear missed wiring and sprinkler systems, so repairs should be pretty straightforward.
“It came through the structure in just the right way,” Train said. “I think everything will go on as usual…we’ll just carry on.”
A damage assessment by the National Weather Service yielded a large band of destruction caused by winds of between 80 and 100 miles an hour.
That core of the strongest winds stretches from the Reno/Harvey county line southeast through northern Butler County to the Labette/Cherokee county line. Winds of 60 to 70 miles an hour were reported in a broad band around the most intense core.
That outer band includes Wichita and essentially the northeast half of Sedgwick County. But Wichita escaped significant damage from the strong winds, Sedgwick County Emergency Management director Randy Duncan said.
Photographer Robin Lorenson sent me a photo of the heavy snow that fell in Mulvane on Saturday. The 6.8 inches of snow and ice pellets recorded by the Wichita office of the National Weather Service more than doubled the snowfall total for the season.
More wintry images can be found at Robin’s Web site, www.robinlorensonphoto.com
