Strong west to northwest winds behind a trough of low pressure or Pacific front occurred across the western half of the area during the morning.
Every event with a place to put it; 11 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 west to northwest winds behind a trough of low pressure or Pacific front occurred across the western half of the area during the morning.
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 Mar 16, 2:45 AM CST, 1 hour 15 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Dodge City KS 345 AM CDT Fri Mar 16 2018 ...Updated Short Term and Long Term Sections... .SHORT TERM...(Today and tonight) Issued at 342 AM CDT Fri Mar 16 2018 Water vapor loop and RAP analysis revealed very well-structured mid latitude cyclone deepening across far west central Kansas. Mid level dry intrusion was nosing up into northwest Kansas as the mid level potential vorticity anomaly was making its way across far southwest Kansas. Wrap-around shower activity was pushing into the far western counties from Baca-Prowers County, CO. This axis of shower activity is expected to wane through 13-14Z, and will carry 20-30 POPs in the far west for this. Very strong winds in the 35 to 50 mph range will likely accompany these early morning showers, with perhaps an isolated gust to 60 mph. Later on today, once insolation sets in, the boundary layer will deepen and we will start to mix down some 40 to 50 knot winds to the surface in gusts out of the northwest. The High Wind Warning remains in effect. The NAM model appears to be too weak with kinematics as compared to the GFS and ECMWF, thus is discounted. We added a few more counties to the HWW (Ness, Pawnee, Stafford, Pratt), especially considering that the latest ECMWF continues to maintain near 65 knots at 700mb. As far as temperatures go this afternoon, there should be a fairly decent gradient from lower 50s up in Scott County to lower 70s across southern Barber County this afternoon. By sunset, winds will decrease markedly to around 15 mph, with a further decrease through the late night hours. Clearing sky and light winds will allow temperatures to bottom out in the upper 20s to around 30 most locations. .LONG TERM...(Saturday through Thursday) Issued at 342 AM CDT Fri Mar 16 2018 A very intriguing forecast for Sunday Night and Monday. There is now increasing confidence in at least a moderate precipitation event across a fair portion of southwest Kansas...and if the past couple runs of the ECMWF hold any weight (which it usually does!), then potentially major precipitation event. The ECMWF remains the farthest south and strongest solution with respect to the 500mb low development. In fact, it has a 500mb low deepening from 548 to 541 decameters to the south of southwest Kansas late Sunday through early Monday. This would be a classic path along with deepening at the right time for southwest Kansas heavy precipitation. It is no surprise, then, that the ECMWF is showing a large area of 1-inch plus QPF from DDC to HYS and surrounding region. It is important to note, however (and this cannot be stressed enough!), that this track forecast is still subject to change, and if the ECMWF trends more toward the northern GFS solution and/or speeds up then much less precipitation will occur over southwest Kansas. Nevertheless, official POP and QPF grids continue to increase. Some folks (and maybe a lot?) across Kansas are going to see a very nice amount of rain with this storm as it appears to be shaping up given the vast amount of upward vertical motion with such a deepening, compact mid level cyclone. Portions of south central and even southwest KS will see thunderstorms as well on Sunday Night. As the nose of some lower 50s dewpoints pull back northwestward, MUCAPE will increase and it is distinctly possible we could see a marginally severe storm or two across far southern Kansas, perhaps including our southeastern counties. After this storm passes by Monday Night, we will see temperatures slowly climb back through the 50s (Tuesday), 60s (Wednesday), and eventually lower 70s by Thursday. && .AVIATION...(For the 06Z TAFS through 06Z Friday night) Issued at 1219 AM CDT Fri Mar 16 2018 Winds will be the main story this TAF period as they veer around from the current south direction to the northwest later on today. We will be seeing high wind conditions with sustained speeds of 30 to 35 knots and gusts to around 50 knots at times at DDC and GCK during the afternoon. This will probably lead to some patchy blowing dust which may affect DDC and GCK terminals with reduced visibility below 6 miles, although confidence in visibility reduction is not high enough to include in this TAF. Otherwise, VFR flight category is expected, even at HYS, as precipitation and any ceiling should remain well to the north toward southern Nebraska. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DDC 61 31 65 38 / 0 0 0 0 GCK 58 29 65 37 / 20 0 0 0 EHA 67 33 66 38 / 0 0 0 0 LBL 67 32 66 37 / 0 0 0 0 HYS 54 29 60 35 / 20 0 0 0 P28 71 34 64 38 / 0 0 0 0 && .DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... High Wind Warning from noon CDT /11 AM MDT/ today to 8 PM CDT /7 PM MDT/ this evening for KSZ043>045-061>066-074>081. Red Flag Warning from noon CDT /11 AM MDT/ today to 8 PM CDT /7 PM MDT/ this evening for KSZ061-062-074>078-080-081-084>090. && SHORT TERM...Umscheid LONG TERM...Umscheid AVIATION...Umscheid
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Report of an overturned pivot irrigation sprinkler 2 miles northeast of Big Bow.
Observed at the Hugoton airport.
Observed at the Liberal airport.
Observed at the Sublette airport.
Observed at a location 4 miles northeast of Hayne.
Observed at the Garden City airport.
Observed at the Garden City airport.
Observed at the Dodge City airport.
Semi truck overturned by the high wind.
Observed at a location 3 miles west of Bloom.
Observed at the Garden City airport.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, March 2018
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: 747970, 747965, 747968, 747964, 747966, 747971, 747973, 747972, 747974, 747975, 747976.