A strong cold front moved east through Northwest Kansas during the afternoon. As the cold front moved into Kansas, a wall of dust formed along the front, with the blowing dust continuing for hours afterward.
Every event with a place to put it; 14 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 cold front moved east through Northwest Kansas during the afternoon. As the cold front moved into Kansas, a wall of dust formed along the front, with the blowing dust continuing for hours afterward. As the front moved through, visibility fell immediately to near zero or lower. East ahead of the front scattered showers formed that wet the ground enough to greatly reduce the amount of dust able to blow around. Just behind the front showers formed. As the showers moved through wind gusts increased, then fell as the showers moved on. Wind gusts up to 70 MPH were reported behind the cold front due to either the large scale weather system or from the showers moving through.
There were multiple locations across Northwest Kansas that had vehicle accidents due to people stopping on the highway when they were not able to see in the blowing dust. The only accident that had fatalities or injuries was the one in eastern Sherman County. I-70 from Goodland to Colby was closed for more than 12 hours. The I-70 accident was the largest accident in the last 30 years according to the Highway Patrol. Highway 40 was closed from Sharon Springs to Oakley due to the dust storm and an accident.
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 Mar 14, 11:12 AM MST, 48 minutes earlier.
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</html>The Goodland radar (KGLD), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:51 UTC.
8 high wind, 6 dust storm, 5 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Multiple sites reported gusts of 60 to 70 MPH across the county.
Multiple sites reported gusts of 60 to 70 MPH across the county. Peak gust recorded at KKSTRIBU27 at 1330 LST.
The Goodland ASOS regularly reported gusts between 58 and 67 MPH between 12:30 and 15:00 LST. Starting about about noon LST, the main front began moving into Sherman county meaning gusts around 58 MPH may have occurred earlier than the official start time of 12:30, but no supporting observations have been found. Tailing the front by about 5-20 minutes were convective showers. An initial increase of winds occurred with the front, but the tailing storms allowed stronger, more widespread winds to mix to the surface. Around 1400 LST, convection cleared the county, but the Goodland ASOS continued reporting gusts up to 67 MPH until 1500 LST. The convectively driven winds and wind damage reports will be included as Thunderstorm Wind gusts.
The Leoti airport AWOS reported gusts up to 70 MPH and 67 MPH winds as the cold front moved over the site. Cold front entered the county around 1330 LST. Two large trees were blown over in town, an elm tree and a pine tree. Part of the elm tree fell on a house. Four roofs in town had damage varying from part edge of the roof being blown off to the entire roof being taken off down to the supports. A quarter mile west of the CR 10 and Hwy 96 intersection a metal roof was blown off an open sided shed. The high winds broke a power line line leading to a structure housing a water well north of CR L between CR 4 and 5. The structure completely burned.
The ASOS at Goodland's airport measured a brief gust up to 70 MPH, but consistent 60+ MPH gusts during this time as convection moved overhead.
UP840 recorded multiple gusts over 70 MPH while other private mesonets recorded other gusts over 60 MPH, including a 77 MPH gust from Winona. The final recorded gust was at 18:15 LST of 65 MPH from the same UP site.
Mesonet sites around Colby and the AWOS at Colby airport recorded multiple gusts over 58 MPH with a peak gust of 68 MPH around 1700 LST. Much like Sherman county, a cold front caused an initial gust of 60 MPH winds with convection following only a few minutes behind producing wind gusts up around 67 MPH until about 1545 LST.
A wall of dust formed along the cold front that was advancing across the east half of the county. Loose soil from a field near I-70 added to the dust in the air. The visibility fell to zero at MM 28 just east of Edson leading to a multi-vehicle accident in both east and westbound lanes. Seventy-one vehicles, and 80 people, were involved in the accident. All but one of the fatalities/injuries were in the eastbound lanes. All fatalities except for one occurred at the accident scene. One fatality occurred at a local hospital. The dust was so thick that rescuers standing at arm's length could not see one another; there was no frame of reference for up and down at times.
A video of quarter mile visibility in the blowing dust along Hwy 40 near Wallace was received. Roughly ten minutes later about 10 cars were involved in an accident on Hwy 40 just east of Sharon Springs. The accident occurred because drivers stopped on the highway because they could not see in the dust storm. No injuries occurred due to trailers taking the brunt of the collisions.
A second accident occurred about three miles of the Greeley County line on Hwy 27. A semi and another vehicle were involved in an accident because the semi stopped on the highway when the driver could not see in the dust. No injuries were reported.
A five car accident occurred at MM 122 on Hwy 27 near the Oxtown feedlot due to no visibility in the blowing dust. No injuries were reported.
A trained spotter reported the highest gust of 64 MPH at 15:15 LST, but both the AWOS at St. Francis and another private mesonet recorded gusts over 58 MPH during the duration.
Healthy pine tree blown down.
F6347 reported consistent gusts over 58 MPH for over an hour as convection mixed down stronger winds to the surface.
Based on dust storm reports in surrounding counties, dust storm conditions likely occurred in Logan County as well.
Mesonet station UP841 west of Monument recorded a 60 MPH gust. Multiple gusts over the following minutes were around 55-58 MPH with another 58 MPH gust occurring at 13 minutes after the hour.
Visibility estimated to be a quarter mile based on webcams at Colby and the Mingo exit on I-70.
Reduced visibility down to 200-400 yards in Leoti from blowing dust. Quarter mile visibility measured at the AWOS on the south side of town. Less than quarter mile visibility reported 11 N of Leoti.
The AWOS in Oberlin reported a 58 mph gust.
UP846 measured a 61 MPH gust with overhead convection.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dust Storm, Sherman | 2025-03-14 | Other | Indirect | ||
| Dust Storm, Sherman | 2025-03-14 | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect | ||
| Dust Storm, Sherman | 2025-03-14 | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect | ||
| Dust Storm, Sherman | 2025-03-14 | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect | ||
| Dust Storm, Sherman | 2025-03-14 | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect | ||
| Dust Storm, Sherman | 2025-03-14 | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect | ||
| Dust Storm, Sherman | 2025-03-14 | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect | ||
| Dust Storm, Sherman | 2025-03-14 | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Kansas in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in Kansas, March 2025
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: 1241091, 1241100, 1239315, 1241098, 1241070, 1241092, 1241096, 1242416, 1242433, 1242435, 1241078, 1241093, 1241097, 1242450, 1241086, 1242418, 1242436, 1241087, 1241099.