A strong southeastward cold front produced high wind gusts ranging from 27 to 81 mph. These high winds lasted for various durations of time, ranging from six minutes to one hour and fifty minutes after frontal passage.
Every event with a place to put it; 22 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 GLD wrote it up.
A strong southeastward cold front produced high wind gusts ranging from 27 to 81 mph. These high winds lasted for various durations of time, ranging from six minutes to one hour and fifty minutes after frontal passage. The high winds produced blowing dust with visibilities reduced to between one mile to as low as 10 yards at times across northwest Kansas. The strong winds knocked a few power lines down in Graham County which sparked a few small fires around the county and were quickly put out. The strong winds also caused a manure fire in southern Logan County to get out of hand; however, it was contained without causing damage. The most notable fire caused with this event was a grass fire caused from the embers of a burning trash fire in Graham County, which caused town-wide evacuations of Nicodemus. No injuries or structural damage occurred.
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 Goodland, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 11, 1:26 PM MST, 50 minutes earlier.
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</html>The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 dust storm, 10 high wind, 1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
As a strong cold front moved across Sherman County, strong winds ranging from 27 to 80 mph caused dirt to be lifted into the air. The blowing dust reduced visibilities between one mile to a couple hundred yards.
A strong front moved southeast across Sherman County producing winds with gusts between 55-80 mph. In northern Sherman County, up to 70 mph wind gusts were observed for a duration of one hour and 50 minutes. These strong winds snapped an 8 inch diameter tree limb off a fruit tree and another tree to fall, which crushed a fence, in Goodland. The Goodland ASOS observed a peak gust of 66 mph during the event. The high winds also caused blowing dust to occur, which reduced visibilities between one mile to a few hundred yards.
A strong cold front moved southeast across Greeley county producing high winds up to 60 mph. These high winds lifted dirt into the air at least one thousand feet above ground and reduced visibilities between one-quarter mile near the town of Horace to two blocks in the town of Tribune.
A strong cold front moved southeast across Wallace county producing strong winds ranging from 58 to 60 mph. The peak wind gust of 60 mph was observed by a mesonet near the town of Wallace.
A strong cold front moved southeast across Greeley county producing high winds ranging from 40 mph to 60 mph. The peak gust of 60 mph was observed north of the town of Tribune. These high winds lifted dirt into the air at least one thousand feet above ground and reduced visibilities between one-quarter mile near Horace to two blocks in Tribune.
A strong cold front moved southeast across Thomas County producing high winds sustained at 40 to 55 mph for one hour and fifteen minutes with gusts varying from 57 to 63 mph. Two separate mesonet stations, one near Brewster and another on the east side of Colby recorded a peak gust of 63 mph.
A strong cold front produced strong winds up to 63 mph which caused dirt to lift into the air. The blowing dust reduced visibility between one-half to one-quarter mile near the town of Halford.
A strong cold front moved southeast across Wichita County producing 62 wind gusts that lifted dirt into the air. Blowing dust reduced visibility to less than one-quarter mile in the town of Leoti for a duration of 20 minutes.
The Logan County Emergency Manager reported blowing dust associated with a strong cold front from Oakley to Russell Springs. Visibility ranged from one mile to zero.
A mesonet station near Leoti observed a high wind gust of 62 mph as a strong cold front passed over. The station lost power after the observation. The strong winds lifted dirt into the air and caused reduced visibility less than one-quarter mile in the town of Leoti.
Blowing dust associated with a strong cold front caused reduced visibilities of less than one hundred yards on Highway 83 in southern Decatur County. The nearby mesonet stations were observing gusts between 40-50 mph around the time of the report.
A strong cold front moved southeast across Rawlins County producing strong to high wind gusts ranging from 40 mph to 64 mph. The high winds lifted dirt into the air, which reduced visibility to less than four blocks in the town of Atwood.
Strong winds associated with a strong cold front lifted dirt and corn leaves into the air. The blowing dust caused reduced visibilities between one-quarter mile to near-zero on Old Highway 40 between Grainfield and Grinnell. Nearby stations have missing observations, so the wind gusts are unknown.
A strong cold front moved southeast across Rawlins County producing strong to high wind gusts ranging from 40 mph to 64 mph. The high winds lifted dirt into the air. The blowing dust reduced visibility to less than four blocks in the town of Atwood.
A strong cold front moved southeast across Graham County producing high winds sustained at 40 to 69 mph with gusts ranging from 58 to 81 mph. The Hill City ASOS station recorded a 66 mph peak gust. A mesonet station northeast of Bogue recorded a peak gust of 81 mph. During the event, Graham County Dispatch reported the high winds downed power lines which sparked a few sporadic fires around the county and cut power to the ASOS station after the 7:40 pm CDT observation. A more notable fire on south and southeast of Nicodemus due to the embers from a trash burning fire catching the grass on fire. No injuries or structural damage was reported from the fires. The high winds also lifted dirt into the air which caused reduced visibilities in Hill City of one hundred to two hundred yards. At 7:21 pm CDT, a car accident occurred due south of Hill City on Highway 283 due to the reduced visibilities. No injuries were reported.
A strong cold front moved slowly southeast across Graham County producing wind gusts ranging from 58 to 81 mph. The high winds lifted dust high into the air, which caused reduced visibilities as low as two hundred to one hundred yards in Hill City. These reduced visibilities caused one accident on Highway 283. No injuries were reported.
As a strong cold front moved southeast across Norton County, dirt was lifted in the air. The blowing dust caused reduced visibilities from fifty to ten yards near the town of Norton. The Norton AWOS station has missing observations during this time and nearby stations are measuring near zero winds, so the actual wind speeds to cause the blowing dust is unknown.
As a strong cold front moved southeast across Norton County, dirt was lifted in the air. The blowing dust caused reduced visibilities from fifty to ten yards near the town of Norton. The Norton AWOS station has missing observations during this time and nearby stations are measuring near zero winds, so the actual wind speeds to cause the blowing dust is unknown.
As a strong cold front moved across Graham County, high winds gusted between 59 to 81 mph. Around 7:13 pm CDT, Graham County dispatch received a report of an out of control trash burning fire that was burning fields near the historic town of Nicodemus. The fire was close enough to town that the entire town was evacuated for a few hours as thirty five firefighters and 15 trucks responded from multiple counties to stop the fire. The Graham County Fire Department reported the fire was 1.5 miles wide and 2 miles long. The fire occurred to the south and southeast of Nicodemus and extended south to K-18 and east to the Rooks County line. Around 9:30 pm CDT, dispatch reported the fire had moved into Rooks County and was mostly under control or out completely. No injuries or structural damage was reported.
A strong cold front moved southeast across Logan County producing high winds with gusts ranging from 55 to 58 mph. The peak 58 mph gust was observed via the AWOS station near Oakley.
A strong cold front moved southeast across Gove County producing high wind sustained at 30 to 55 mph with gusts from 59 to 62 mph for a duration of 15 minutes. The wind gusts were measured via a mesonet station near I-70 in the northeast corner of the county.
A strong cold front moved southeast across Norton County producing high winds. At the time of frontal passage, many mesonet stations and the AWOS have inaccurate or missing observations. The first observation reported by the Norton AWOS was at 7:55 pm CDT with a gust of 64 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, October 2020
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 925654, 925653, 925657, 925655, 925656, 925660, 925661, 925665, 925663, 925664, 925666, 925658, 925668, 925659, 925672, 925734, 925669, 925670, 925736, 925662, 925667, 925671.