Strong to high winds prevailed during the evening across a large area of southwestern Kansas.
Every event with a place to put it; 9 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 to high winds prevailed during the evening across a large area of southwestern Kansas.
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 Feb 20, 3:07 PM CST, 4 hours 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 307 PM CST FRI FEB 20 2009 .DISCUSSION... DAYS 1-2... FORECAST CHALLENGES MAINLY REVOLVE AROUND CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS LATER INTO THE WEEKEND, AS AN IMMINENT WINDY EVENING IS ALREADY EVIDENT. A GENERAL PERSISTENCE FORECAST IS IN STORE WITH NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES FOR THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS, AT LEAST IN THE NEAR TERM. THE UPPER FLOW HAS BEGUN TO BUCKLE A BIT MORE IN THE LAST 24 HOURS AS A DEEP BUT WEAK 700-850 TROUGH WAS IN PLACE MOVING SOUTHEAST THROUGH THE EASTERN SIDE OF THE MEAN WESTERN CONUS RIDGE. THIS FEATURE IS DRIVING A COLD FRONT AT THE SURFACE SOUTHWARD ACROSS THE DAKOTAS LATE THIS AFTERNOON WHICH WILL IMPACT SOUTHWEST AND CENTRAL KANSAS THIS EVENING. SOME DIFFERENCES EXIST IN FORECAST MODEL DEPICTIONS FOR THIS EVENINGS FROPA, ALTHOUGH ALL FAIRLY WELL AGREE ON TIMING, BRINGING THE LEADING EDGE OF THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY INTO THE NORTHERN SECTIONS OF THE CWA BY AROUND 6-7 UTC. RUC IS SUBSTANTIALLY WEAKER WITH THE SFC PRESSURE GRADIENT AND WILL HAVE TO SEE IF THE MODEL CATCHES UP TO THE ECMWF/NAM/GFS IN THE NEXT FEW RUNS. AT ANY RATE, THE PRESSURE RISES ARE NOW INTENSIFYING ACROSS WESTERN NEBRASKA AND WYOMING, AND AS ATMOSPHERE COOLS DIURNALLY THOUGH 23-01 UTC, SHOULD SEE RAPIDLY INTENSIFYING SURFACE PRESSURE RISES BEHIND THE FRONT OVER NW KS/ERN COLORADO. WILL MAINTAIN A WIND ADVISORY FROM THIS EVENING 00-06 UTC SATURDAY, AND EXTENDED THE HEADLINE TIME-WISE ACROSS OUR SOUTHEAST SECTIONS THROUGH AROUND 9Z, AS WINDY CONDITIONS MAY WELL PERSIST. VERY DRY CONDITIONS AND SUNNY SKIES SHOULD LEAD TO A NICE WARMING INTO THE LOW 50S ACROSS OUR WESTERN COUNTIES SATURDAY AFTERNOON, AND WEAK COLD ADVECTION IN THE EAST MAY CONTRIBUTE TO A SLOWER WARMUP TO AROUND 40S IN THE HAYS AREA. A CLEAR NIGHT SATURDAY NIGHT WILL LEAD TO STRONG RADIATIONAL COOLING ONCE AGAIN AND HAVE GONE WITH THE LOWER END OF NUMERICAL GUIDANCE/OUTPUT. THE NEXT HAZARD TO CONSIDER WILL BE APPROACHING RED FLAG CONDITIONS AGAIN ON SUNDAY WITH SOUTHEAST WINDS FORECAST TO GUST NEAR 25 KNOTS, AND SINGLE DIGIT DEWPOINTS/LOW TO MID 60 TEMPERATURES INCREASING WILDFIRE POTENTIAL. WILL CONTINUE TO HIGHLIGHT THIS HAZARD THE HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK. CONFIDENCE IN WIDESPREAD VERIFICATION FOR RED FLAG CONDITIONS IS NOT HIGH ENOUGH AT THIS TIME TO WARRANT A FIRE WEATHER WATCH, BUT OUTDOOR BURNING SHOULD CERTAINLY BE DISCOURAGED SUNDAY AFTERNOON. RUSSELL DAYS 3-7... WARM AND DRY CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK BASED ON PROGGED 85H TEMPS AND NW-W DOWNSLOPE FLOW. WITH SFC WINDS IN AT LEAST IN THE 15 TO 25 MPH RANGE EARLY NEXT WEEK CRITICAL FIRE DANGER WILL STILL TO BE AN ISSUE MONDAY AND POSSIBLY AGAIN ON TUESDAY. THE MAIN PROBLEM TUESDAY WILL BE TIMING OF OUR NEXT COLD FRONT AS IT BEGINS TO MOVE SOUTH ACROSS THE PLAINS. AT THIS TIME MODELS ARE STRUGGLING WITH THIS FEATURE SO CONFIDENCE IS NOT HIGH ON HOW QUICKLY THIS NEXT SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO THE CNTL PLAINS. GIVEN MY LOW CONFIDENCE ON THIS HAVE OPTED TO KEEP GRIDS AS WITH COOLER AIR RETURNING TO SW KS BY THURSDAY. && .AVIATION... STRONG WINDS ARE STILL LIKELY EARLY TONIGHT BEHIND A COLD FRONT WHICH REMAINS PROGGED TO BE CROSSING SW KS EARLY THIS EVENING. MAY EVEN GET A BRIEF PERIOD OF MVRF CIGS BEHIND OUR FRONT BASED ON THE BUFKIT SOUNDINGS BUT GIVEN SFC OBS UPSTREAM AT THIS TIME WILL NOT GET OVERLY EXCITED ABOUT THE CIGS JUST YET. 18 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DDC 21 47 20 59 / 10 0 0 0 GCK 20 48 18 61 / 10 0 0 0 EHA 23 53 24 65 / 10 0 0 0 LBL 23 52 22 64 / 10 0 0 0 HYS 20 41 17 53 / 10 0 0 0 P28 25 45 21 57 / 10 0 0 0 && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND ADVISORY UNTIL MIDNIGHT CST /11 PM MST/ TONIGHT FOR KSZ030- 031-043>046-061>065-074>077-084-085. WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 3 AM CST SATURDAY FOR KSZ066-078>081-086>090. && FN33/18
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS 330 PM CST FRI FEB 20 2009 KSZ030-031-043>046-061>066-074>081-084>090-211115- 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- 330 PM CST FRI FEB 20 2009 /226 AM MST FRI FEB 20 2009/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL...SOUTH CENTRAL...SOUTHWEST AND WEST CENTRAL KANSAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A STRONG COLD FRONT WILL PLUNGE THROUGH WESTERN KANSAS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. NORTH WINDS OF 30 TO 35 MPH, WITH GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 45 MPH ARE LIKELY, BEFORE DECREASING OVERNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY CRITICAL FIRE CONDITIONS ARE AGAIN POSSIBLE STARTING SUNDAY AFTERNOON AND CONTINUING PERIODICALLY WELL INTO NEXT WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED TODAY OR TONIGHT. && FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT OUR WEBPAGE AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/DDC EKB/RUSSELL
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
9 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The KSNW weather lab in Ulysses reported a 59 mph wind gust.
A wind gust of 63 mph was reported at the Ulysses airport. Winds of over 60 mph lasted from 905 until 920 PM CST.
The wind gust was recorded at the Johnson City airport.
The wind gust was recorded at the Dodge City airport.
The wind gust was recorded at the Liberal airport.
The wind gust was recorded at the Liberal airport.
Wind gust of 60 mph took down a power line in Bucklin.
The wind gust was reported at the Medicine Lodge airport.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, February 2009
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: 156970, 156971, 156974, 156975, 156976, 156977, 156978, 156981, 156982.