High Wind in Kansas, April 27, 2002

Name: High Wind in Kansas, April 27, 2002
Start: 2002-04-27T11:00
End: 2002-04-27T14:00
Location: Kansas

April 27, 2002 · NWS GID · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

A strong, dry westerly wind near 40 mph gusted to 60 mph during the early afternoon hours across north-central Kansas. Power poles were snapped in parts of Rooks county causing sporadic power loss.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $60,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS GID wrote it up.

A strong, dry westerly wind near 40 mph gusted to 60 mph during the early afternoon hours across north-central Kansas. Power poles were snapped in parts of Rooks county causing sporadic power loss. Minor roof damage was noted near Cawker City.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Hastings, NE wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 27, 12:00 AM CST, 11 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 27, 12:00 AM CST, 11 hours before

SOUTH CENTRAL NEBRASKA/NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
100 AM CDT SAT APR 27 2002

...FOREMOST CONCERN REMAINS SVR THREAT LTR THIS AM INTO THIS AFTN...

SIG SW TROF PER -23C 500MB TEMP AT FGZ ROUNDING THE CORNER OVR AZ
ATTM...EMBEDDED WITHIN AN INTENSE 130KT+ UPR SPD MAX. FURTHER DOWN...
LL JET CONTS TO CRANK PER PROFILER NETWORK S/W OF CWA W/INTENSE CONV
DVLPMNT SHIFTING NEWD FM GLD CWA TO HERE AS LL JET CORE SHIFTS
CONV FOCUS INTO SC NE CURRENTLY PER OBSVD PROFILER 850MB JET AXIS
SHIFT AND SFC PRES FALL MAX.

00Z RUNS IN EXCELLENT AGREEMENT SHRT TERM. INCREASING LL THETA ADVTN
AS LL JET INTENSIFIES INADV OF SIG UPR TROF LTR THIS AM ALLOW FOR
AN EXPANSION AND INTENSIFYING RAIN ACRS PARCHED CWA. XPC ELEVATED
THUNDER THREAT BUT SVR RISK MARGINAL AT THIS POINT GIVEN LTL
ELEVATED INSTABILITY...W/BTR CHC ACRS NRN KS BUT REMAINING ISOLD AT
MOST. HWVR...THE SVR RISK RAMPS UP QUICKLY BY EARLY AFTN AS MID LVL
TROF LIFTS RAPIDLY NEWD INTO CNTRL NE. BY THEN...MODELS PROG
INTENSE SFC LOW CNTR NR KS/NE BORDER. EVEN W/LTL DIURNAL SFC TEMP
RECOVERY...SUSTAINED WAA AT LLS COMBINED W/COOLING ALOFT INADV OF
MID LVL COLD POOL AS EVIDENCED PER PLUME OF STEEP MID LVL LAPSE
RATES SHLD ALLOW SFC BASED CAPE LYR TO INCREASE TO AOA 1000 J/KG ALG
AND S HIGHWAY 6...AND ANY CLD BREAKS WOULD AUGMENT THAT EVEN FURTHER.
AGAIN GIVEN LOW TROP ENVIRONMENT AND DEEP LYR SHEAR COMPONENT...WILL
NOT TAKE A WHOLE LOT TO GET SVR STORMS GOING BY EARLY AFTN. BTWN
YDA/S AND THIS AM/S PROGS...STILL LOOKS LIKE SVR INITIATION MAY
OCCUR ARND NOONTIME ALG OR SLIGHTLY EAST OF A LXN TO HLC LINE AND
THEN RAPIDLY MV NEWD BASED ON POSITION OF SFC CNTR AND BEST LL
CONVERGENCE. PRIMARY THREAT LOOKS TO BE LG HAIL AND WIND DAMAGE BUT
DISCRETE TORNADO THREAT PRESENT ALG KS/NE BORDER INVOF SFC LOW
CNTR TRACK HINGING UPON SUFFICIENT SFC DESTABILIZATION.

QUIETING DOWN TONIGHT...AS ENTIRE SYS LIFTS RAPIDLY OUT OF HERE.
WINDS IN ASSOCN/W CAA SURGE MAY REQUIRE AN ADVISORY THIS EVENING
AND WILL PASS ON TO DY SHIFTERS. SHLD BE SOME BREAK UP TO EXTENSIVE
LOW/MID CLD LYR AND DECREASING SFC GRADIENT...LEADING TO COOL
MORNING MINS. SUN...WHICH MAY START OUT SUNNY IN SOME AREAS WILL
TEND TO CU BACK IN ESP ACRS THE N HALF. DEPARTING LL COLD POCKET
RETREATS BY AFTN AS GOOD LL WAA ENSUES...ALTHOUGH BEST WARM THRUST
W HALF. GUIDANCE TEMPS LOOK TO CAPTURE THIS JST FINE W/DOWNWARD
TWEAK NEEDED E HALF. WAA CONTS SUN NIGHT AND MON AS LG SCALE HGTS
RISE OVR THE PLAINS AND LL THERMAL RIDGING SHIFTS EWD IN ASSOCN/W
ANOTHER INTENSE SRN STREAM CUTOFF OFF THE CA COAST...VRY SIMILAR TO
CURRENT SYS.

.GID...NONE.

TEH

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Apr 27, 9:28 AM CST, 1 hour 32 minutes before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-271900-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1028 AM CDT SAT APR 27 2002

CORRECTED FOR EXTRANEOUS WORDING

...SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED BY AFTERNOON...

AN INTENSE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS MOVING OUT OF NORTHWEST
KANSAS THIS MORNING...AND WILL CROSS SOUTHERN NEBRASKA THIS
AFTERNOON.

A CHANCE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT STILL EXISTS UNTIL MID
AFTERNOON FOR AREAS ALONG AND EAST OF ROUTE 281 WITH LARGE HAIL AND
DAMAGING WIND POSSIBLE. TORNADOES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY FOR
NEBRASKA AREAS ALONG AND EAST OF HIGHWAY 14...AND SOUTH OF ROUTE 30.
FOR NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS...THIS TORNADO THREAT AREA WILL EXIST ALONG
AND EAST OF ROUTE 281.  THE SEVERE THREAT WILL DIMINISH AFTER 2 PM.

RESIDENTS AND EMERGENCY MANAGERS NEED TO MONITOR THIS WEATHER
SITUATION THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON VIA NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR LOCAL
MEDIA.

09

Special weather statement, Apr 27, 10:18 AM CST, 42 minutes before

KSZ005>007-017>019-NEZ039>041-046>049-060>064-072>077-082>087-271900-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HASTINGS NE
1028 AM CDT SAT APR 27 2002

CORRECTED FOR EXTRANEOUS WORDING

...SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL LIKELY BE NEEDED BY AFTERNOON...

AN INTENSE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS MOVING OUT OF NORTHWEST
KANSAS THIS MORNING...AND WILL CROSS SOUTHERN NEBRASKA THIS
AFTERNOON.

A CHANCE FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT STILL EXISTS UNTIL MID
AFTERNOON FOR AREAS ALONG AND EAST OF ROUTE 281 WITH LARGE HAIL AND
DAMAGING WIND POSSIBLE. TORNADOES ARE ALSO POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY FOR
NEBRASKA AREAS ALONG AND EAST OF HIGHWAY 14...AND SOUTH OF ROUTE 30.
FOR NORTH CENTRAL KANSAS...THIS TORNADO THREAT AREA WILL EXIST ALONG
AND EAST OF ROUTE 281.  THE SEVERE THREAT WILL DIMINISH AFTER 2 PM.

RESIDENTS AND EMERGENCY MANAGERS NEED TO MONITOR THIS WEATHER
SITUATION THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON VIA NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR LOCAL
MEDIA.

09

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Jewell

When: April 27, 11:00 AM CST to 2:00 PM CST
Where: Jewell forecast zone
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.785, -98.218 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Mitchell

When: April 27, 11:00 AM CST to 2:00 PM CST
Where: Mitchell forecast zone
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.393, -98.209 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Osborne

When: April 27, 11:00 AM CST to 2:00 PM CST
Where: Osborne forecast zone
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.350, -98.768 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Rooks

When: April 27, 11:00 AM CST to 2:00 PM CST
Where: Rooks forecast zone
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 39.350, -99.325 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

High Wind: Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Kansas in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Kansas, April 2002

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5280880, 5280881, 5280882, 5280883.