A widespread devastating storm produced total precipitation from 2 to 4+ over much of Southwest Kansas. There was even an area from Garden City to Dighton that had up to six inches of rain and freezing rain!
Every event with a place to put it; 20 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS DDC wrote it up.
A widespread devastating storm produced total precipitation from 2 to 4+ over much of Southwest Kansas. There was even an area from Garden City to Dighton that had up to six inches of rain and freezing rain! Significant, widespread damage to trees and especially utility lines, poles, and towers resulted from the 1/2 to 2 1/2 of ice accumulation. In an area from Sublette to Garden City, north through Dighton had the most severe damage. Over 60 thousand people were without electricity at one time or another from the nearly 10 thousand of power poles that were taken down from the weight of the ice. Some of these structures were high transmission towers. Tree damage was extreme! It took over a month to clean up just tree damage.|There were still people without electric service a month after th event. Crews with heavy equipment couldn't install power poles because of the deep mud on county roads. In addition, service from the poles to the home meters is not possible yet because of local damage on homes.|At the Dodge City airport, 3.21 of precipitation (rain, freezing rain and snow) fell from the storm. The only other time Dodge City, KS recorded over 3 of liquid equivalent precipitation in a single December storm was December 19-22, 1877 when 4.31 was measured. But there was even greater amounts! Up to six inches of rain and freezing rain fell in the Dighton area! The resulting ice was tremendous with several 300 foot communication towers toppled.|Snowfall of 12 to 18 inches was widespread in the far west with as much as 32 inches reported west of Johnson in Stanton county.
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 Dodge City, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 29, 4:25 AM CST, 17 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 425 AM CST FRI DEC 29 2006 .DAYS 1-2... A VERY COMPLICATED FORECAST WITH A PATCHWORK OF GRIDS CONTAINING RAIN, FREEZING RAIN, THUNDERSTORMS AND SNOW AND BLOWING SNOW. A POWERFUL STORM CENTERED OVER SOUTHEAST ARIZONA WAS MOVING SLOWLY EAST NOW. A JET STREAK EJECTING OUT TO ITS EAST SIDE WAS PRODUCING WIDESPREAD RAIN AND THUNDER FROM THE TX PANHANDLE AND UP INTO MY CWA EARLY THIS MORNING. ANOTHER STRONGER JET MAX WAS STILL ON THE WEST/SOUTHWEST SIDE. WHAT REALLY MAKES THIS FORECAST TRICKY IS THE COLD SURGE THAT HAS MOVED INTO THE NORTHWEST HALF OF THE CWA. TEMPERATURES WERE NEAR THE FREEZING MARK FROM SCOTT CITY TO ELKHART. ALOFT THE TEMP PROFILE WOULD SUPPORT FREEZING RAIN. I WILL HOIST A FREEZING RAIN ADVISORY FOR THE FAR WEST FOR TODAY...IN CONTRAST TO A WINTER STORM WARNING AS I THINK SFC TEMPS MAY HOVER AROUND 32 AND NOT FALL INTO THE UPPER 20S. IF THE LATTER DOES INDEED HAPPEN, THEN THE ADVISORY WOULD NEED TO BE UPGRADED TO WARNING. BUT, TONIGHT THINGS GET EVEN MORE COMPLICATED. IT APPEARS THE COLD AIR WILL GET DEEPER AND THE PCPN WILL CHANGE OVER TO SNOW IN THE FAR WEST. QPF FORECASTS WOULD SUPPORT HEAVY SNOW AND WINDS WILL BE STOUT SO THERE SHOULD BE A FAIR AMOUNT OF BLOWING AND DRIFTING TOO. WILL UPGRADE THE PREVIOUS WATCH TO A WARNING FOR THIS AREA. EVENING SHIFT MOVED THE PREVIOUS WATCH EAST TO COVER COUNTIES FROM LANE THROUGH MEADE. I KEPT THIS AREA AS RAIN SHOULD EVENTUALLY BECOME FREEZING RAIN AS SFC TEMPS COOL FURTHER...AND EVENTUALLY TO SNOW BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON. QPF AMOUNTS FORECAST BY THE VARIOUS DETERMINISTIC MODEL RUNS CONTINUE TO INDICATE COPIOUS AMOUNTS AND HPC IS ALSO ON BOARD WITH THIS. DECEMBER 2006 WILL LIKELY END UP AS A TOP FIVE (AT LEAST) WETTEST ON RECORD. .DAYS 3-7... CONTINUE TO SEE MODELS DIFFER IN PLACEMENT OF UPPER LOW BY SUNDAY. NAM/GFS INDICATE SIMILAR STRENGTH AND LOCATION AT 12Z SUNDAY WITH LOW OVER SOUTH CENTRAL KS. ECMWF IS A BIT WEAKER WITH THE LOW CENTERED OVER CENTRAL OK. UKMET IS EVEN WEAKER WITH UPPER LOW OVER EASTERN TX/OK PANHANDLE. BY 00Z MON, BOTH GFS AND ECMWF MOVE LOW INTO MO WHILE NAM/UKMET ARE SLOWER AND KEEP SYSTEM BACK INTO EASTERN KS. AT THIS POINT, PINPOINTING THE EXACT TIME THIS POTENT STORM SYSTEM WILL EXIT THE REGION IS RATHER DIFFICULT. WILL LEAN TOWARD A MODEL BLEND FOR TIMING. LOCATION OF THE SYSTEM SUNDAY WILL ALLOW WRAP AROUND SNOW TO FALL ACROSS MUCH OF THE CWA. THE ONLY LOCATION WHERE TEMPERATURES SHOULD BE WARM ENOUGH FOR A MIX IS EXTREME EASTERN FA DURING THIS TIME. WILL MAKE MINOR ADJUSTMENTS IN THE GRIDS TO REFLECT A MIX. H85 TEMPERATURES SHOULD REMAIN ABOVE 0C EAST THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON BEFORE FALLING. ANY LINGERING SNOW SHOULD TAPER OFF AS SYSTEM PULLS NORTHEAST OF WESTERN KS SUNDAY NIGHT. BY MONDAY, THE WEATHER SETTLES DOWN A BIT AND HIGH PRESSURE BUILD ACROSS FA. REMAINDER OF WEEK SHOULD BE A QUITE ONE. WITH SUBSTANTIAL SNOWPACK ANTICIPATED ACROSS WESTERN FA INTO CO, TEMPERATURES SHOULD REMAIN A BIT COOLER. CURRENT GRIDS REFLECT THIS AND LITTLE IN THE WAY OF CHANGES ARE NEEDED. MODELS DO TRY TO BRING IN MORE MOISTURE BY WEEKS END AS ANOTHER UPPER LOW IS FORECAST TO DEVELOP OVER AND MOVE ACROSS MEXICO. TRACK OF THIS LOW IS STILL UNCERTAIN THUS WILL NOT ADD MENTION OF PRECIPITATION AT THIS TIME. WILL CONTINUE WITH NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND PRECIPITATION DURING THE 8 TO 10 DAY TIME PERIOD. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DDC 44 33 34 28 / 100 100 90 70 GCK 38 30 32 25 / 100 100 90 70 EHA 36 26 30 23 / 90 90 90 80 LBL 42 30 31 25 / 100 100 90 70 HYS 42 33 36 28 / 100 100 100 70 P28 55 48 48 33 / 100 100 80 50 && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FREEZING RAIN ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM CST /5 PM MST/ THIS AFTERNOON FOR KSZ043-061-062-074-084. WINTER STORM WARNING FROM 6 PM CST /5 PM MST/ THIS EVENING TO 6 PM CST /5 PM MST/ SATURDAY FOR KSZ043-061-062-074-084. WINTER STORM WATCH FROM THIS EVENING THROUGH SATURDAY AFTERNOON FOR KSZ044-063-075>077-085>087. && FN07/30
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 501 AM CST THU DEC 28 2006 KSZ030-031-044>046-063>066-075>081-085>090-291115- TREGO-ELLIS-LANE-NESS-RUSH-FINNEY-HODGEMAN-PAWNEE-STAFFORD-GRANT- HASKELL-GRAY-FORD-EDWARDS-KIOWA-PRATT-STEVENS-SEWARD-MEADE-CLARK- COMANCHE-BARBER- 501 AM CST THU DEC 28 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL KANSAS...SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS...SOUTHWEST KANSAS AND WEST CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY A MAJOR WINTER STORM WILL IMPACT THE WESTERN HIGH PLAINS FRIDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. IT IS TOO SOON TO SAY HOW FAR EAST THE SNOW WILL MAKE IT DUE TO AN ABUNDANCE OF WARM AIR MOVING IN FROM THE SOUTH. RAINFALL HOWEVER, WILL BE VERY GENEROUS AND WIDESPREAD WITH MANY AREAS POTENTIALLY RECEIVING UP TO 2 1/2 INCHES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. KSZ043-061-062-074-084-291115- SCOTT-HAMILTON-KEARNY-STANTON-MORTON- 501 AM CST THU DEC 28 2006 /401 AM MST THU DEC 28 2006/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHWEST KANSAS AND WEST CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY A MAJOR WINTER STORM WILL IMPACT THE LOCAL AREA BRINGING WIDESPREAD SNOW FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY. SEE THE LATEST WINTER WEATHER MESSAGES AT WEATHER.GOV/DDC/. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
20 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Power outages due to 1/4 to 1/2 inch accumulations of ice. There was also about 1/2 inch of sleet followed by 6 to 12 inches of snow in the western part of the county, lesser amounts in the east. There was 5 to six inches of moisture in all the precipitation.
Power outages due to 1/4 to 1/2 inch accumulations of ice. A 160 foot tall radio tower collapsed from significant accumulations of ice at a location 4 miles north of Syracuse. Following the freezing rain and ice, 12 to 18 inches of snow fell, blown into 10 foot drifts by high winds. Greater than 18 inches of snow fell along the Colorado border. One women was lost for a period of time traveling to Coolidge from Syracuse but was found days later at a friends house. Nearly all power and communications was out for several days.
Up to 1.25 of freezing rain caused numerous power outages and took down numerous tree branches and power lines. After the freezing rain and sleet, snow fell accumulating up 10 inches. From 4 to 5 inches of moisture was contained in the ice and snow.
There were numerous power outages due to the freezing rain and sleet. Snow followed and accumulated up to 32 inches near the Colorado border west of Johnson. A large storage building collapsed where the heaviest snow fell and caused drums of chlorine to rupture.
Ice accumulated to at least 1/4 and then snow followed. The heaviest fell near the Colorado border with 12 to 18 inches of snow was reported with drifts as high as 8 feet.
Ice accumulations up to 3 inches in radius brought three communication towers down. The entire county was without power for a time and some locations were without electrical service for about a month following the storm. Snow followed the ice and accumulated between 3 and 6 inches. There was over six inches of moisture in the snow and ice.
Ice accumulations up to 2 inches in radius brought large power pole structures down. The entire county was without power for a time and some locations were without electrical service for about 2 weeks following the storm. Snow followed the ice and accumulated between 3 and 6 inches. There was five to six inches of moisture in the snow and ice.
Heavy accumulations of ice brought down numerous power poles and lines. Snow followed the ice and accumulated to between 3 and 6 inches. Many areas were without power for over a month.
Tree limbs and power lines down due to the accumulation of 2 to inches of ice. Many areas of the county were without power for a long duration.
Tree limbs and power lines down due to the accumulation of 2 to inches of ice. Many areas of the county were without power for a long duration.
Tree limbs and power lines down due to the accumulation of 1 to 2 to inches of ice. Many areas of the county were without power for a long duration.
Tree limbs and power lines down due to the accumulation of 1 inch of ice. Many areas of the county were without power.
Tree limbs and power lines down due to the accumulation of 1 to 2 inches of ice. Many areas of the county were without power.
Numerous power poles and lines were brought down by heavy ice accumulations.
Numerous power poles and lines were brought down by heavy ice accumulations.
Numerous tree limbs, power poles and lines were brought down by heavy ice accumulations.
Numerous tree limbs, power poles and lines were brought down by heavy ice accumulations. Ice accumulations were up to 1.25 in radius.
At least 1/4 accumulation of ice was reported.
Numerous tree limbs, power poles and lines were brought down by heavy ice accumulations.
A few power poles taken down by at least 1/4 accumulation of ice.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, December 2006
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: 9450, 9454, 9457, 9460, 9461, 9464, 9465, 9466, 9467, 9468, 9469, 9470, 9471, 9473, 9474, 9475, 9476, 9477, 9479, 9480.