Strong winds prevailed across Western Kansas during the afternoon with a few peak gusts in the warning category.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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.
Strong winds prevailed across Western Kansas during the afternoon with a few peak gusts in the warning category.
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 22, 3:29 AM CST, 6 hours 31 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 329 AM CST MON DEC 22 2008 .DISCUSSION... DAYS 1-2... THE MAIN FORECAST CHALLENGES ARE STRONG WINDS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AND SNOW CHANCES ON TUESDAY NIGHT. ALSO TEMPERATURES INTO TUESDAY NIGHT. A DEEP UPPER TROUGH OVER THE GREAT LAKES WILL MOVE EAST TODAY WHILE ANOTHER DEEP UPPER TROUGH OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST MOVES INTO THE INTERMOUNTAIN WEST. A STRONG UPPER LEVEL JET WILL MOVE AHEAD OF THE TROUGH INTO CENTRAL COLORADO BY THIS EVENING CAUSING LOW PRESSURE TO DEEPEN RAPIDLY IN EASTERN COLORADO. THIS WILL FORCE A TIGHT PRESSURE GRADIENT INTO SOUTHWESTERN AND SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS THROUGH MIDNIGHT. VERY TIGHT PRESSURE GRADIENT AND MIXING TO AROUND 820MB SHOULD PROVIDE SURFACE WIND SPEEDS TO MAKE IT WELL INTO WIND ADVISORY CRITERIA OR 30 MPH SUSTAINED WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH. EVALUATION USING FORECAST SOUNDINGS AND FSL RUC GUIDANCE HAS US WELL INTO ADVISORY CRITERIA. HAVE GONE AHEAD AND ISSUED A WIND ADVISORY FROM NOON TO MIDNIGHT. DAY SHIFT OR EVENING SHIFT MAY BE ABLE TO PULL IT AS NEEDED EARLIER, HOWEVER AT THIS TIME SURFACE WINDS OFF THE DECK STRENGTHEN EVEN MORE IN THE EARLY EVENING. THE WESTERN CONUS TROUGH WILL RAPIDLY MOVE FROM THE 4 CORNERS REGION AND INTO WESTERN KANSAS BY MIDNIGHT, THEN QUICKLY EXITING THE AREA BEFORE 12Z WEDNESDAY. THE BEST LIFT AND LAYER RELATIVE HUMIDITIES WILL BE IN OUR NORTHERN CWA WITH MAY BE AN INCH OR 2 POSSIBLE ON TUESDAY NIGHT. WRF GUIDANCE HAS AROUND .01 QPF WHILE THE GFS HAS AROUND 1/4 INCH. WILL GO WITH HIGHEST POPS NORTH DOWN TO 20 POPS SOUTH. AT THIS TIME WITH SUCH A FAST MOVING SYSTEM AND ONLY MINOR ACCUMULATIONS DO NOT PLAN ON A SNOW ADVISORY. FOR TEMPS TODAY WENT WITH HIGHS IN THE MID 20S FAR NORTH TO NEAR 40 SOUTHWEST WITH INCREASING HIGH CLOUDINESS. OVERNIGHT LOWS COULD BE VERY TRICKY DEPENDING ON HOW FAST THE WINDS DECREASE BUT SHOULD STAY WELL MIXED INTO EARLY MORNING TUESDAY. LOWS COULD BE VERY MILD ESPECIALLY EAST. HAVE WARMED GOING OVERNIGHT LOWS A FEW NOTCHES INTO THE MID TO UPPER 20S. ON TUESDAY A CANADIAN COLD FRONT WILL MOVE FROM NORTH TO SOUTH AND TO NEAR DODGE CITY BY 4 TO 5 PM. WINDS WILL SHIFT FROM THE SOUTH OR SOUTHWEST TO THE NORTH. MID CLOUDS INCREASE WITH SOME VIRGA SHOWERS. HIGHS IN THE 40S LOOK GOOD AHEAD OF THE FRONT AND NEAR 50 AT MEDICINE LODGE. HAYS MAY ONLY REACH THE MID 30S BEFORE THE FRONT GOES THROUGH. ON TUESDAY NIGHT AREAS OF LIGHT SNOW ARE EXPECTED WITH NORTH WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH EARLY DECREASING TO 5 TO 10 MPH BY MORNING. LOWS WITH PARTIAL CLEARING SKIES AND LIGHT WINDS SHOULD FALL TO THE SINGLE DIGITS NORTH AND TEENS ELSEWHERE. DAYS 3-7... THE NEXT SHORTWAVE TROUGH WILL PASS ACROSS WESTERN KS FRIDAY AND FRIDAY NIGHT. THIS SYSTEM LOOKS FAIRLY PROGRESSIVE AND THE PREVIOUS SYSTEM WILL HAVE SHUNTED THE DEEP MOISTURE WELL TO THE EAST. SO LITTLE OR NO PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED. A SLOW WARMING TREND IS STILL EXPECTED BY SUNDAY AND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. FAIRLY ZONAL FLOW IS ADVERTISED BY THE GFS/ECMWF TO DEVELOP AND THIS COULD LEAD TO HIGHS WELL INTO THE 50S AND 60S. THIS PATTERN SHOULD PERSIST THROUGH JAN 3. WITH THE ZONAL FLOW, PRECIPITATION CHANCES WILL BE CLOSE TO NIL. && .AVIATION... VFR CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE. STRONG SOUTH WINDS AT 25 TO 30 KTS SHOULD DEVELOP BY 16-18Z AT THE TAF SITES. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DDC 33 28 45 14 / 0 0 0 30 GCK 33 26 41 12 / 0 0 0 40 EHA 39 27 47 15 / 0 0 0 20 LBL 36 28 47 17 / 0 0 0 20 HYS 26 21 32 9 / 0 0 10 60 P28 30 26 49 21 / 0 0 0 30 && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND ADVISORY FROM NOON CST /11 AM MST/ TODAY TO MIDNIGHT CST /11 PM MST/ TONIGHT FOR KSZ030-031-043>046-061>066-074>081- 084>090. && FN06/24
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 339 AM CST MON DEC 22 2008 KSZ030-031-043>046-061>066-074>081-084>090-231000- TREGO-ELLIS-SCOTT-LANE-NESS-RUSH-HAMILTON-KEARNY-FINNEY-HODGEMAN- PAWNEE-STAFFORD-STANTON-GRANT-HASKELL-GRAY-FORD-EDWARDS-KIOWA- PRATT-MORTON-STEVENS-SEWARD-MEADE-CLARK-COMANCHE-BARBER- 339 AM CST MON DEC 22 2008 /239 AM MST MON DEC 22 2008/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL KANSAS...SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS...SOUTHWEST KANSAS AND WEST CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT STRONG SOUTH WINDS OF 25 TO 35 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 45 MPH ARE EXPECTED BY NOON AND COULD LAST UNTIL MIDNIGHT. A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FROM NOON TO MIDNIGHT. WITH LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES ANY OUTDOOR BURNING IS DISCOURAGED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY ON TUESDAY NIGHT A STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE RAPIDLY ACROSS SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS WITH AREAS OF LIGHT SNOW. UP TO AN INCH OF SNOW MAY FALL IN THE HAYS AND WAKEENEY AREAS WHILE LESS THAN AN INCH IS ANTICIPATED ELSEWHERE. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. && FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT OUR WEBPAGE AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/DDC 06/24
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A peak wind gust of 61 mph was recorded at the Johnson City airport at 116 PM.
A peak wind gust of 61 mph was recorded at the KSN weather lab station at the Deerfield middle school at 119 PM.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, December 2008
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: 148479, 148482.