Damaging Wind in Kansas, April 11, 2026

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Dodge City KS
520 PM CDT Sat Apr 11 2026

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Loosely organized thunderstorm cluster to affect areas mainly
  south of the Arkansas River to the Oklahoma line late this
  evening. Severe weather risk is quite low.

- The severe weather risk for Sunday through Tuesday will be
  focused on areas mainly east of our southwest Kansas region,
  keeping our area west of the dryline and increased critical
  fire weather risk.

- Monday and Tuesday look to be the most widespread critical
  fire weather days as stronger southwest winds develop west of
  the dryline.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Issued at 1241 PM CDT Sat Apr 11 2026

A broad southwest flow pattern aloft continued across much of the
western half of the CONUS, including across western Kansas. Within
the larger scale pattern, a southern stream shortwave trough was
moving northeast out of the Desert Southwest region with quite a bit
of mid level moisture along with lower tropospheric gulf moisture.
This isn't exactly a classic severe weather pattern given the
formidable subtropical moisture involved. Surface analysis late this
morning showed a large area of southerly winds across much of the
Great Plains. There is not much in the way of low level convergence,
but the absence of a strong cap ahead of the subtropical wave will
favor isolated to widely scattered showers and a thunderstorm or two
just about anywhere across the western half of Kansas through this
evening.

Later on this evening, the best signal for at least somewhat
organized thunderstorm activity will initiate across eastern Colorado
south across far eastern New Mexico. One or two small mesoscale
convective systems (MCS) will likely move east across the
western/southern plains late tonight. The northern portion of one
such MCS may impact the southern one half to one third of the DDC
CWA, so we will keep POPs highest from roughly Arkansas River south
to the Oklahoma line tonight (30-40%). The aforementioned southern
stream jet steak will advance east on Sunday, and this will put
southwestern Kansas in a region of subsidence behind the morning
disturbance while a larger disturbance begins to mature much farther
west across the Great Basin region. The low level pattern will
adjust to the next larger system on Sunday, so winds will stay out
of the south to southwest. The increased westerly component to
surface winds Sunday will push higher dewpoints farther east, and
given the larger scale subsidence, this will lead to a dry forecast
for southwest Kansas Sunday.

The dryline will be positioned pretty far to the east Sunday late
afternoon/evening, and we will watch for redevelopment of an
isolated surface-based thunderstorm or two along the dryline from
south central KS into western OK. This morning's CAMs and even non-
CAM models show a very poor convective signal along the dryline, but
we will carry some 15 to 20% POPs across the Red Hills given some
convergence along dryline and a decent amount of CAPE (>2000 J/kg)
and deep layer shear to support supercell thunderstorm structures.

Of more concern in this pattern for western Kansas, especially as
the larger scale trough moves east Monday and Tuesday, will be
critical fire weather conditions as the dryline is expected to
remain pretty far to the east across central and south central
Kansas Monday and Tuesday. The fire weather concern will be
discussed more in the Fire Weather section.

&&

.AVIATION /00Z TAFS THROUGH 00Z SUNDAY/...
Issued at 514 PM CDT Sat Apr 11 2026

A surface trough will persist in the lee of the Rockies through
the period, but weaken diurnally after 06z. Expect winds to
remain strong from the south through 04z as the low level jet
develops and then weaken after 06z as the jet shifts eastward.
A lull in the south winds(only 10-15 kts) can be expected to
last through 16-17z before the surface trough redevelops
westward again. As a result, south winds will increase to 14-17
kts in the afternoon.

&&

.FIRE WEATHER...
Issued at 154 PM CDT Sat Apr 11 2026

Critical fire weather conditions are likely Sunday across mainly
far southwest with critical fire weather conditions likely
across a larger area of west central and southwest Kansas Monday
and Tuesday as a large upper level storm system approaches from
the west.

On Sunday, a southwesterly downslope plume will advance on
southwest Kansas, but stronger winds supportive of critical
conditions are expected to remain west of Highway 83 and
generally south of Highway 50. We have added in Haskell and
Seward County along Highway 83, however, as there is some
increased confidence in the stronger southwest winds advancing
toward Highway 83 to the south of Garden City. We will keep the
headline as a watch for now.

Monday and Tuesday are both more concerning for wider spread
critical conditions as the main upper level system draws closer
to southwest Kansas. Classic, dry southwesterly momentum push is
likely south of a deepening surface low. There is still some
question as to how far south the surface low will mature, and
this may help keep the strongest southwest winds farther south,
but for now, we will go ahead and issue the Fire Weather Watch
for all counties along/south of Highway 96 and along/west of
Highway 283. Tuesday looks like a similar set up, but we will
not hoist a Watch for Tuesday yet with the focus more on the
short term Sunday and Monday.

&&

.DDC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
Fire Weather Watch from Sunday afternoon through Sunday
evening for KSZ061-062-074-075-084-085.

&&

DISCUSSION...Umscheid
AVIATION...Finch
FIRE WEATHER...Umscheid

Hazardous Weather Outlook
National Weather Service Dodge City KS
1221 AM CDT Sat Apr 11 2026

KSZ030-031-043>046-061>066-074>081-084>090-120530-
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-
1221 AM CDT Sat Apr 11 2026 /1121 PM MDT Fri Apr 10 2026/

This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for portions of central Kansas,
south central Kansas, southwest Kansas, and west central Kansas.

.DAY ONE...Today and Tonight

A dense fog advisory is in effect until late morning across a
majority of our forecast area. See the latest Urgent Weather
Messages for more information.

Scattered thunderstorms will be possible this afternoon into the
evening hours. These storms are not expected to become severe at
this time.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Sunday through Friday

A Fire Weather Watch is in effect for far western Kansas Sunday
afternoon into the early evening. See the latest fire weather
messages for more information.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

Spotter activation will not be needed.

Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Dodge City KS
230 PM CDT Sat Apr 11 2026

KSZ066-081-112015-
Pratt KS-Stafford KS-
230 PM CDT Sat Apr 11 2026

...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL IMPACT SOUTHEASTERN STAFFORD AND
NORTHEASTERN PRATT COUNTIES THROUGH 315 PM CDT...

At 230 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm near
Pratt, moving northeast at 35 mph.

HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 50 mph and nickel size hail.

SOURCE...Radar indicated.

IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around
         unsecured objects. Minor hail damage to vegetation is
         possible.

This strong thunderstorm will be near...
  Preston around 235 PM CDT.
  Neola around 250 PM CDT.

Other locations in the path of this storm include Zenith.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.

&&

LAT...LON 3775 9847 3759 9862 3763 9872 3801 9847
TIME...MOT...LOC 1930Z 205DEG 29KT 3767 9864

MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN
MAX WIND GUST...50 MPH

BENNETT